Enough Already

I heard on the radio recently that the International Bullying Prevention Association was holding its annual meeting in New Orleans. That sounds like a good place to hold it. Stella Kowalski would certainly approve, even if Stanley wouldn't be amused. New Orleans must be the ideal place for the IBPA to meet.ⁱ

But it set me thinking. When I searched for “Associations” in Yahoo! I got a return of 243,000,000 results. Google had 246,000,000, but I don't think the additional three million will make much of a difference.ⁱⁱ Both engines gave me too many results. And that sent me in two different directions. First of all, there's altogether too much information out there. Too many people are putting stuff on line for the search engines to find. Which makes it all but useless to try to study a subject exhaustively.

More to the point, though, there are too many associations, and organizations with special interests. Things have gotten out of hand. When I was growing up there were a few major American charities that pretty much covered all problems, while the English were accused of being eccentrics – of having too many organizations with weird agendas. Often they were interested in preserving some form of animal life (though it never seemed that they were equally committed to preserving humans). Now there are various American conservation organizations that are devoted to more species than I knew existed. In fact, since the internet and Facebook have appeared, there has been a penchant for forming groups of all kinds. I'm convinced that a large part of the impetus for such activity is ego.ⁱⁱⁱ I suspect that the new organization man (or woman) is thinking: “I know what's important, so just join my group, follow me, and I'll lead the rest of you to the GOOD.”

One of the most prominent manifestations of this effort is the formation of foundations for research into all manner of diseases – some of them virtually unknown to the public. It often appears to be a quest for the immortality of a lost loved-one. For every disease there appear to be several foundations named after people who suffered with it or died from it.^iv (The same is true of laws, only those statutes seem to be named after children who were victims of kidnaping, abuse or sexual crimes.)

I don't mean to suggest that any of these foundations is unworthy – that its aims are anything less than virtuous, or that the problem that it was established to battle isn't deserving of public aid and attention. I'm cheered that there are so many who are eager to help their fellows. But at a time when voluntarism is less than it has been in the past, and when the state of the economy doesn't contribute to generosity, the multiplicity of organizations that will increase the burden on these resources may act in a way contrary to our interests. Too often a new organization is created whose aims parallel those of one or more bodies already in business.^v Either the new founders are unable to identify existing organizations,^vi or would prefer to start their own – perhaps to obtain the immortality of their loved one (or of themselves). In doing so, however, there is duplication of administrative support structures as well as a competition for resources and publicity. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that if the same amount of money and effort were devoted to fewer organizations, far more could be accomplished in accomplishing the goals which they all proclaim.

Mae West is famed for (among the other attractions) saying “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”^vii I could be wrong, but somehow I don't think she was referring to helping others. It's not up to me to decide which is the best organization in a particular field, but before starting a new one, I suspect that it would be beneficial to see what institutions already exist that deal with the problem you'd like to address, and then to use your resources to support one of them.

Unless, of course, your goal is to immortalize your own name or that of a friend or relative. It's a bully great way to do so – in New Orleans or elsewhere.

Next episode: “One Liners” – Humor and politics.

i     Lest anyone misunderstand the level of brotherly love in that city, it should be noted that “The Big Easy's homicide rate (52 homicides per 100,000 residents) is 10 times higher than the national average and almost five times that of other cities of its size.” Douglas McCollam in The Wall Street Journal, November 12-13, 2011.

ii    I probably won't read all the references.

iii    In that way it's a lot like writing a blog.

iv   It's hard not to view the establishment of so many foundations – so many philanthropic memorials – as overkill.

v     In fairness to the International Bullying Prevention Association, at its founding in 2002, only a few such organizations existed.

vi    A “Google” search using “breast cancer organizations” listed more than 68 million “hits.” While these do not indicate separate organizations, the actual number must be quite high. And that is the case even if we allow for actual differences in their missions.

vii    She said many other delightful things, but I leave it to the reader to find them.