Jon Krakauer's new article/e-Book Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way, has some very interesting tales of Mortenson's misuse of funds, misuse of trust, and an aversion to being held accountable for his actions while claiming to build schools in Afghanistan as described in his book Three Cups of Tea. Page 68 has an analysis which will sound all too familiar to followers of the AEHI saga: (emphasis added)
"During the past several months, as I came to grasp the magnitude of Mortenson’s deceit, I felt ashamed at being so easily conned. How could those of us who enabled his fraud—and we are legion—have been so gullible? Ted Callahan attributes the uncritical acceptance of Mortenson and his shtick to the seemingly endless war raging in Central Asia. “The way I’ve always understood Greg,” Callahan reflects, “is that he’s a symptom of Afghanistan. Things are so bad that everybody’s desperate for even one good-news story. And Greg is it. Everything else might be completely fucked up over there, but here’s a guy who’s persuaded the world that he’s making a difference and doing things right.” Mortenson’s tale “functioned as a palliative,” Callahan suggests. It soothed the national conscience. Greg may have used smoke and mirrors to generate the hope he offered, but the illusion made people feel good about themselves, so nobody was in a hurry to look behind the curtain. Although it doesn’t excuse his dishonesty, Mortenson was merely selling what the public was eager to buy."
The book is a great read- it is filled with many, many more specific examples which have an uncanny similarity to AEHI's antics over the past couple of years.
The Dude recommends.
Very interesting. However, any thought that AEHI's Don Gillispie ever had any thoughts of helping anyone but himself to your money is to give him the benefit of the doubt he does not deserve. Some would say that Greg Mortenson actually did some good.
ReplyDeleteGillispie has only caused only harm everywhere he has gone unless you consider making a couple of bucks off of penny stock fraud a good thing. But yes, the similarities to the scam are somewhat striking particularly sending a message that people wanted to believe. Case in point, AEHI's latest (and likely last) victim, Payette county.