Three Cups of Tea
The uproar over Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, continues.
The most complete collection of articles and posts written in response to the allegations of wrongdoing raised first by CBS’ 60 Minutes and, in greater detail, by former supporter and author Jon Krakauer’s Three Cups of Deceit can be found at the blog Good Intentions are Not Enough.
I won’t try to summarize the debate at this point, but I did want to take note of a few articles that I think raise some good points about our desire for the “heroic narrative” in humanitarian causes.
I wrote about this last week, in a post asking if this would be a teachable moment, and spoke to KUOW’s Steve Scher on Weekday about the danger so common in DIY aid of even well-intended people conflating their own personal success, as a leader, with the success of the mission.
Here are some more articles along similar lines:
The New Yorker: What Greg Mortenson Got Wrong
Alex Stonehill, Common Language Project: Greg Mortenson and Leadership Narrative Lies
The Guardian: Greg Mortenson’s Flawed One-Man Mission in Pakistan
Forbes: Doing Good is Hard Work
