No Free Lunch
Suckers, New Religion, and the Harm Of the Black Non-Profits
In the best-selling book The 48 Laws of POWER, by best-selling author Robert Greene; Laws #40 and 43 can be related and useful in explaining how many in the Black community continue to be naive about POWER. How the community repeatedly falls for everything without taking the necessary time to fundamentally and strategically understand how power is derived. Its functionality and utility in the universe. This basic lack of understanding of self-interest towards the Sophistication of Self-Preservation (SSP) holds Black communities back. Accordingly, when a government, bank, institution, or organization gives Black organizations “free money — grants” it always comes with strings attached. So there is no such thing as a free lunch anywhere in the universe — economics is not a morality play, it is a POWER play!
Since the horrific George Floyd event, many Black people have delved into the emotional realm of the phenomena of Wokeness culture. And what has followed has been an intensified, emotionally driven push for social justice and economic and political power. All good pursuits of course, however, as is often the case when primarily driven by emotion, and not applying intelligence strategically, things usually fall apart.
Reactionary moves don’t usually work out in the long run. Newly self-appointed leaders don’t take the time to understand the power dynamics. They have no real plan and dramatically underestimate the hardened systemic realities of hierarchical power structures that exist. In the end, actions become underlined by a misguided belief that someone owes you something.
The development of new terms like Anti-Black Racism, has added to the development of the new Wokeness industry, where many fool themselves into believing that power can be achieved from the top down. Through the goodness of others, and if pressured enough they will share their gains with them. But there is no place in the universe like that. Nevertheless, wokeness has become a new religion of sorts in having people believe nice stories, instead of facing the harsh reality of the world we live in.
The wokeness doctrines have become one based on the acceptance of a victimhood culture, which is highly counterproductive to progress and has aided in creating Black fragility.
Law 40, says you must “Despise The Free Lunch,” because it is dangerous and can lead to more setbacks because top-down generosity from others usually involves hidden agendas or obligations.
Greene says to stay away from gratitude, guilt, and deceit by others trying to exert their power over you. You can’t cut corners when it comes to the assent of power, but the top-down nonprofit agenda that claims to be helping Black economic empowerment does exactly that. You can’t get around the hard reality that wealth is created from the bottom up and then functions as a source of your power in the universe.
So Greene points out that “generosity” is just a lever for those with motives that seek to maintain their power and control over others. Again, no free lunch anywhere in the universe!
In the realm of power, things must be evaluated by their cost because everything has a price. So when governments and organizations offer free money — grants to the BNP, in exchange, a psychological obligation is tied to it. The BNP now begins to align with the government’s political agenda, which for example, is to secure the minority vote. And when banks like TD give free money…it is about fulfilling their ESG mandate which ultimately affects their stock price. Both the government and the banks are not giving you a free lunch.
I’m never going to tell anyone not to take “free money.” But they must be aware of their behaviour in light of that money, and the negative impacts it could bring if you are not consciously aware of how the universe works.
What happens next, unfortunately, is that the BNP no longer primarily serves the interest of its community, but becomes obligated to the agenda of its funders. Dependency then sets in as the nonprofit staff come to rely on those funders — Wokeness becomes a profession and industry. They need to keep the money flowing — they have mortgages and their obligations too. So in the end, everything always circles back to self-interest.
Strategic generosity through grants can corrupt, particularly when your livelihood becomes dependent on it — you become loyal to the hand that feeds you. Not the people you serve. This is human nature.
Generosity is a tactical play to soften people up, and the more desperate they are the more vulnerable they are to manipulation and control. The applied generosity distracts them from the power play happening to them, so by strategically spreading the wealth that Black people have been traditionally shut out of, they get excited and wrongly conclude that power can be achieved through the top-down generosity of others.
The powerful understand the psychological power of money and play it with sophistication to their socioeconomic interests, which can mean quelling the anger and agitation of others so they can continue to operate in their self-interest. Money is a strategic tool and when used wisely you can get good returns from it. It bends the BNP into unwittingly becoming allies of the system. It’s a seductive two-pronged approach: appeal to their emotions, anxieties and frustrations while playing to their intellectual weaknesses.
This power tactic is straightforward: Push people to despair, then give them relief, says Greene. If you can appear to relieve their pain and suffering and give them some pleasure and hope — the appearance of something for “free,” they’ll bite. Allaying their fears and giving false hope of a different future and prosperity or security, ultimately serves to reinforce systems of power.
The souls that feel alienated, disaffected, discontent and wronged, are the perfect marks.
“The difficulties in the way of persuasion lie in my knowing the heart of the persuaded for thereby to fit my wording into it…for this reason, whoever attempts persuasion, must carefully observe the feelings, wishes, and fears of those they seek to conquer”
— Han-fei-tzu, 3rd century B.C., Chinese philosopher
Quick case study analysis:
FACE, The Federation of African Canadian Economics. This organization has gotten significant amounts of money from the Government of Canada for the government’s Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP.) Essentially, a paternalistic hand-holding loan program for Black entrepreneurs administered through Canadian banks. FACE has also been given money by the likes of TD Bank, for example, for a program where FACE provides business advisory services to Black Entrepreneurs who are getting these loans via FACE.
Usually, when you lend money to businesses they have already demonstrated their ability via the lending process, and you certainly don’t direct them on how to run their business or what service providers to use. Directing them to unqualified and non-market competitive non-profits that have no experience, track record, or capacity in entrepreneurship advisory services. Is harmful.
Top-down command-entrepreneurship has never been a thing. But FACE, the Feds, and the banks have created an alternative reality that does not exist in the real world. It’s a fantasy story.
(Please note, I’m not seeking to paint all non-profits with the same brush, I’m just talking about the ones who produce harm to our communities by distorting the objective truth about how entrepreneurship, wealth and power are created; and effectively used in the real world.
Many nonprofits stay in their social-services lane and do good work for communities and should be given credit when credit is due.)
It is inherently contradictory to even imagine how nonprofits can say they know how to advise on making profits. This goes counter to logic and common sense.
In the real world, entrepreneurship is a bottom-up process, primarily funded by equity investment, not loans. How many new tech businesses do you see doing it primarily on bank loans? How do you get rich without ways to monetize your equity?
FACE, as an example, is an unwitting sucker and effectively bolsters the existing systemic power structures and dynamics.
Equity financing of good business ideas and business models for growth is how true wealth is created. And in that world failure is expected, and many businesses do often fail…that’s a hard reality. However, in the equity world, everyone understands that losing money is part of it, and entrepreneurs are not punished for not succeeding. With equity, failure is not final. But with loans, it can be. Entrepreneurs get saddled with debt, their credit may get ruined, and stand the risk of their lives being destroyed along with it. With equity, you fail but you can learn from your mistakes — bad timing, or just bad luck, but you can do it again with another good idea.
On FACE’s website it says that about 25 million dollars has been dispersed since 2021–2022; so taking into account normal failure rates, and in a higher interest rate environment. Many of those entrepreneurs will be in for long-term pain and suffering, hampering their future ability to ever be entrepreneurial again.
All these banks, however, have venture finance divisions or associations with private capital networks which they refer clients to every day. Why then is it that Black entrepreneurs are moved to be set up outside the mainstream, saddled with loan programs? Why are they steered towards much higher long-term peril relative to the mainstream? If you are not asking these critical questions and applying your intelligence, you’ll eventually become an easy mark too, a sucker to the system.
Power flows bottom-up through authentic entrepreneurship — there is no other way proven to create intergenerational wealth. It must originate from somewhere. There is no evidence in history showing any other sustainable way to create wealth and power — money is power — there can be no political power without it flowing from wealth. Therefore, it is critical that you know how the universe works or you’ll be led astray by fantastical thinking.
The Jews have provided us with valuable lessons about creating power if we are willing to pay attention. They’ve demonstrated the art of not relying on others but on themselves, and the community, to create strong vectors of power. They’ve done it by coming together and investing in each other’s businesses, not chasing government grants and creating flawed top-down, talk-shop organizations that fake entrepreneurship.
Israel, a minuscule piece of land approximately 20,770 km2 (8,019 sq mi), has become one of the most influential and powerful nations on earth, a leader in technology, they’ve done so by not complaining, becoming entrepreneurial and resilient — antifragile!
They did not sit around begging for money or asking their past suppressors for help or to share their wealth with them. Nevertheless, the usual suspects will make all the usual excuses about their history being different and Black people suffering more etc. However, what is indispensably true is that no one is coming to rescue you, absolutely no one, and if you don’t rescue yourself, you’ll drown.
Black people don’t engage in any of the universal long-term wealth creation behaviours similar to the Jews. They complain instead, sitting around as if someone owes them something. Such a mindset leads to nothing!
Many Black professionals who have succeeded in the corporate world are particularly harmful, after George Floyd many formed organizations to help Black economic empowerment. But many ended up being fake; mainly organizations to pay homage to themselves and run around intoxicated towards becoming nonprofit celebrities.
One of the most harmful is the Black North Initiative (BNI). After George Floyd, its founder created a reactionary organization that has now become nothing more than a distractive hindrance to real progress for Black Canadians.
BNI flagship CEO Pledge; signed by Canadian CEOs to address systemic anti-Black racism and increase diversity and inclusion in Canadian businesses and boardrooms. Like that was ever going to happen.
As I predicted in my article: Winter is Coming, the Peril of the Black North, April 16, 2022; the CEO Pledge was a bust, and never materialized into anything of any value for Black people. The CEOs got a free pass to sign a nothing pledge and do nothing about systemic racism in their companies. BNI made suckers out of a vulnerable Black community with a bogus agenda. In the end, it ended up wasting a lot of people’s time. The CEO Pledge is now long gone from the BNI website.
As my wife’s Jamaican uncle used to say: Nothing-a-go-so…what-happen-to-you — you mad or what? So common sense and being honest with oneself is still a valuable attribute to have. Honestly and always seeking the objective truth about things, will set you free and keep you away from nonsense.
In reality, decision-making is a process fraught with many contributing dependent and independent variables. Therefore, when putting forward solutions, we must recognize that they are essentially theoretical arguments and must be evaluated through the application of scientific values, based on cognitive rationality. Plainly stated, offered-up solutions must be logically coherent and empirically warrantable.
If Black people can’t understand how the universe works, or can’t stop avoiding the objective truth about their existence — what they must do on their own, or not bothering to read and educate themselves about the realities of the universe — how wealth and power flow. Then no wealth outcome will ever be achieved, and power will remain out of reach.
We must always think critically and strategically and apply our intelligence effectively to problem-solving. Otherwise, we’ll continue to believe in nice stories while those who stick to reality will continue to prosper over us.
