Why is the right so against altruism but in favour of philanthropy?

For many reasons I often think about helping people and I find it very frustrating that I am no longer able to do this very much. Thus, this thought occurred to me: why is the right so against altruism, but in favour of philanthropy?

I asked ChatGPT, since it tends not to get as annoyed about these things as I do. Here is its answer:

The right-wing political ideology generally values individualism and self-reliance over collective welfare and government intervention. They view altruism as a philosophy that can lead to over-reliance on government and the erosion of personal responsibility and self-sufficiency. On the other hand, philanthropy is seen as a voluntary act of giving by individuals or private organizations, which aligns with the right-wing belief in the power of personal initiative and private enterprise to bring about positive change. Philanthropy is seen as a means of leveraging private resources to address social problems, rather than relying on government intervention.

Always the fear of government hovering in the background, or indeed the foreground, which is a hallmark of libertarians and their obsession with selfish freedom, which usually just means, like an ill-brought up child, they just want to do whatever they like.

Stepping back from my personal negative reaction to such selfishness, I wonder if this right-wing notion of wanting to promote self-reliance is really just the ‘good’ reason for not wanting to be altruistic, where the true reason is that they despise poor people in general as failures and not fit to fight in the Darwinian battle for survival and, in tandem with this, it is also closet racism, because so many poor people don’t have white skins. Not that there are not plenty of poor white people – just look around Britain, even in the supposedly better off southeast. Also, I suspect that underlying the defence of philanthropy is the sheer enjoyment of power: a philanthropist, so-called, gets to push other people around, pull strings, make people do things, all while getting the outer glow of societal plaudits and inner glow of self-approval.

However, some authors have written critically of billionaire philanthropists, such as:

• Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.”
• Matt Taibbi, journalist and author, who has written articles critical of billionaire philanthropy for Rolling Stone magazine.
• David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy, who has written books and articles critical of the influence of billionaires in philanthropy.
• Lynn Parramore, journalist and author, who has written articles critical of billionaire philanthropy for Salon, The Guardian, and other publications.

“These writers and others argue that billionaire philanthropy often reinforces existing power structures and fails to address systemic issues, rather than truly addressing the root causes of social and economic problems.” (ChatGPT) It is hard to put it more succinctly or better. Lots of fascinating and important reading or listening (via an AI book reader) there. Also makes me think of at least one movie idea.