free variable

Ryan T. Anderson at FT writes about the colossal failure of the “(RED)” campaign to do anything other than raise awareness of celebrities and consumer products. Please do read the article — it’s an amazingly comprehensive takedown. As far as I can tell, “(RED)” seems to exist solely to provide comfort to weaker-conscienced Americans and Europeans who have experienced some momentary and transient guilt at the existence of abstract poverty or pandemic disease. “(RED)” is nothing more than a phenomenally expensive experiment in slacktivism, like a self-righteously forwarded email petition or a rubber wristband would be if those cost $100 million but remained roughly as effective. (A standard charity operating four times as efficiently as “(RED)” would be pilloried for poor performance.) It is like an advertising campaign that merely advertises the putative concerns and thoughtfulness of the owner.