kinda want to research how « mutual aid » became the politically correct synonym of « charity ».
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kinda want to research how « mutual aid » became the politically correct synonym of « charity ».
They’re slightly different concepts – mutual aid is more about people directly helping each other, whereas charity is more about donating to a centralised organisation which then decides how to distribute the funds it has collected.
But I grew up with the word charity being used a lot for giving money to someone on the street, for instance. Is that not the case anymore?
I just feel like mutual aid has a huge element of reciprocity that I just… don’t see when people drop links to their payment platforms, I guess.
(Maybe a fairer word than charity for this is income redistribution, though.)
Yes, I think you’re right that the word charity is used quite broadly for giving money to someone on the street etc.
I suppose that Mutual aid does have an element of reciprocity, but over the long term. But for me mutual aid is more about a community (geographically local or online) supporting itself.
There’s definitely an overlap in how the two terms are used, though.
Thanks for these thoughts, they really help 🙂