Anand Giridharadas is the author of “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World”
In his book, Winners Take All, Anand Giridharadas discusses the roles plutocrats play when they decide to “give back” after taking so much more than they could possibly need or use. He talks about how in the guise of “saving the world,” they are trying to save their reputations and maintain the status quo that has made them wealthy. Marketing philosophy has infiltrated society to the degree that giving back is couched in terms of win, win. The idea that we can not only save the world, but we can make a profit from doing so. It looks good for the brand. It is okay to sacrifice a few thousand dollars to make a few million.
We have been trained to look towards the business and tech leaders as saviors to pull us out of the ditch that they have helped to drive us into. It is some strange logic to believe that the only people that can solve a problem are the same people who have a vested interest in keeping things the way that they are.