Clickbait & Switch: How a Photo Finish Led to Board Game Blues

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Imagine being so miffed you’d give up your seat at the high table of philanthropy because someone you approved of didn’t get a pat on the back. Pulitzer-Winning Photographer David Hume Kennerly chucked his toys out of the pram and off the Ford Foundation Board over them not falling over to honor Liz Cheney. Yes, the same Cheney family with a political resume that reads like a “War and Peace” anthology on aggressive foreign policy.

Now, the irony of an artist getting restless over recognition is as rich as the Ford Foundation endowment, but let’s dive deeper into the absurd world where board meetings are the newest battlegrounds for political patsy games. Here’s “The Breakdown”:

The Breakdown

1. Boardroom Battles: Where dignified discourse goes to die. Apparently, the stage for our latest national drama isn’t on the floors of Congress or even Twitter, but rather the musty chambers of philanthropic governance. Kennerly’s exit is less ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ and more ‘Mr. Photographer Throws a Hissy Fit’.
   • Detail: The departure wasn’t a silent protest; it was a seismic event of self-righteous indignation. Somehow Cheney not getting a cookie turned into an Oscar-worthy performance of principle.
     
     
2. Cheney as a Liberal Darling: The spin cycle on this narrative could power a small city. Liz Cheney, of the Darth Vader-esque political legacy, is now decked in liberal laurels for standing up to Trump. It’s like rooting for Godzilla because he’s not King Kong.
   • Detail: It’s a topsy-turvy world where anyone against Trump suddenly gets a hero cape, even if their past portfolio includes supporting the Patriot Act or the Iraq War.
     
     
3. The Snubbed Snubber: You get snubbed; you snub back harder. Kennerly’s protest resignation is less about Cheney and more about how much he can elevate his own social justice score by public resignation.
   • Detail: Optics over action; because quitting is the new fixing, at least on the societal perception front. Kennerly’s Instagram activism wins hearts, if not minds.
     
     
4. Foundation Fracas: Foundations are supposed to support the arts, sciences, and well-being. But here we are, watching them become playgrounds for political soap operas.
   • Detail: When did philanthropic organizations become echo chambers for affirmation rather than action? I missed the memo on the new agenda settings.
     
     
5. Spotlight Starvation: Maybe this is all a misunderstanding, and it’s about Kennerly missing the warmth of the spotlight, with a side dish of moral grandstanding served at room temperature.
   • Detail: Kennerly’s exit stage left isn’t silent or subtle; he exited all cannons blazing, snapping pictures of his own silhouette against the burning bridge.
     

The Counter

1. Throwing Shade for Change: Maybe the new way to stimulate change is by stomping your feet loudly as you exit? If that’s the case, Kennerly’s decibels might just be the sound of progress… or petulance.
   
   
2. Foundation Facelift: Scrapping over who to honor is a new strategy for foundations; keeps the blood flowing and the checks showing. No news is bad news, right?
   
   
3. Return of the Moral Compass: Kennerly equals North Star now. His dramatic exit is less about him and more about setting the course for political purity—never mind the murky waters he gladly sailed before.
   
   
4. Political Popularity Contest: Cheney’s non-recognition is a calculated snub, or perhaps it’s just another Tuesday in the land where flavor-of-the-month politics dictates who gets the crown.
   
   
5. Artistic Integrity: Kennerly took a snapshot of the current climate and developed it in the darkroom of integrity, hung it out to dry in the gallery of public opinion. That’s one art piece not going quietly into storage.
   

The Hot Take

Listen, I’m all for theatrics; a good table flip now and then is healthy for the soul. But the problem isn’t the philanthropies lacking in ticker tape parades for every politician with a momentary pang of conscience. It’s about the institution’s role in society’s chorus, not its solo performances. Maybe we fix this with a simple solution: “The Everybody Gets a Trophy Foundation,” where no good deed, however minor, goes without a brass band. Heck, toss in free cake; everyone loves cake.

To really right the ship, we could work on philanthropies focusing on their missions rather than the whims of wanderlust board members. Yes, even in the noble halls of giving, vanity projects lurk in the shadows. Let’s light those corners with reason, focus on the beneficiaries, and if drama must unfold, let’s save it for reality TV, where it truly belongs.

Source: Pulitzer-Winning Photographer Quits Ford Foundation Board in Protest of Cheney Snub