There is a fundamental problem with, “Ontario philanthropists are world-class supporters of educational landmarks like Royal Ontario Museum.”—Save Ontario’s Science Centre
First of all, philanthropy is a symptom of social dysfunction where for anything good to happen, we have to rely on the fickle charity of the rich to bless this or that project or needy individual on a whim. Robust social services and investments for all Canadians are replaced with begging for scraps. This is aristocracy, not democracy.
Secondly, the people rich enough to be philanthropic at the level that pays for the kind of thing that happened to the ROM, they are the same people who are “Conservative” party donors. They are the people who put the corrupt government in power that undermines public services and privatizes community assets to create profit opportunities for those same rich donors. They are the real estate profiteers who are snapping at the land the OSC is in the way of. They got rich enough to be able to play at philanthropy through the very mechanism that makes that philanthropy seem like a remedy to the lack of investment in social programs that their political sock puppets perpetuate.
And thirdly… OMG! The ROM rebuild that resulted in those lopsided black pyramids was a rich family’s folly that made itself ridiculous at every turn. The design was not fit for purpose. It wastes so much space. Somehow they started to build it without considering that the design would have allowed light to damage objects on display, so on the fly during construction they had to replace many of the windows with opaque panels. They literally had not considered if that “space” was suitable for housing the ROM collection.
If you have ever been visiting the ROM when a wave of “philanthropists” is showing up at your museum for a gala, and been part of the crowd of peasants being herded out of the building, while the aristocracy arrive to claim their space, then you have had an object lesson in who principally benefits from “world-class,” 🤦🏽♂️ tax deductible, philanthropic investment.
