1. NO MORE HEROES
GRASSROOTS CHALLENGES TO THE SAVIOR MENTALITY
BY: JORDAN FLAHERTY
Part One: Chapter 1-5
Chelsea Lafferty
Kristina Laukaitis
Carly Smith
2. VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN WAR
REFUGEE WRITER VIET THANH
NGUYEN
“Armored cosmopolitanism is the
new spin on the white man’s
burden, where the quaint idea of
civilizing the world becomes
retailored for culturally sensitive
capitalists in the service of the
United States, the World Trade
Organization, and the
International Monetary Fund.”
3. INTRODUCTION
“Social Movement have an unfortunate history of following the leadership of charismatic hero
figures. I’ve come to think of this as the savior mentality, the idea that a hero will come and
answer our societal problems.”
“I have learned firsthand the importance of systemic solutions to the problem we face...with the
privileged position I was born into, it is important to speak up against white supremacy,
patriarchy, and other systems that uphold the advantages I have.
“My purpose in writing this book is not to supplant the voices of those with less privilege, but to
create a tool and resource for all of us to challenge these systems and stand together with
already existing movements to create a better world.”
Questions for Discussion:
As social workers do you believe we battle with the savior mentality? Why or why not?
How do you keep the savior mentality/ savior complex in check?
5. Flaherty traces the “savior mentality” through the history of colonialism and neocolonialism, describing the
ways in which many of the invasions, genocides, and wars throughout Western history were rooted in a
discourse of “saving” a people from themselves.
“Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the
road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves.” - Pope Urban II, launching of the Crusades
“I knew that they [Native Americans] were a people who could be more easily freed and converted to our holy faith by love than by force” -
Christopher Columbus
“The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.” - Laura Bush, speaking of the “War on Terror”
Savior mentality:
Desire to help others but refusal to listen to the guidance from those you wish to help
“Saviors want to support the struggle of communities that are not their own, but they believe they must remain in charge.”
“Saviors adopt trendy labels such as social entrepreneurs or change agent.” They use buzzwords “like engagement, innovation, and sharing
economy.”
Question for Discussion:
In our MSW program, we are taught to encourage “resiliency” within our clients and the communities we work with. However “resiliency”
implies that it should be the client/communities responsibility to bounce back from oppression and if they are unable to do so, it is due to a
failing of “resiliency.” Critics, such as Flaherty, seem to argue this is another buzzword, a form of neoliberalism, and an example of the savior
mentality in social work practice. Do you agree? Should it be our goal to cultivate resiliency within our clients or something else? What should
that something else be?
7. Flaherty discusses the globally minded savior mentality, which he labels the White Savior
Industrial Complex (WSIC).
The individual white savior is typically from the U.S. but focused on foreign countries, usually Africa, but
always so-called developing countries.
Examples: Peace Corps, military, voluntourism, Save Darfur campaign, Kony 2012
Flaherty describes the Save Darfur campaign of the early 2000’s in depth and uses it as an
example of all that is problematic with the WSIC approach to international politics.
The Save Darfur campaign was centered on graphic images of violence, without providing background on
the issue.
Save Darfur advocated for military intervention, and thus acted as a distraction from the War in
Afghanistan in which the U.S. was perpetrating violence equal to that of the Janjaweed
Allowed followers to simply sign a petition or send a letter to a Congressman to feel that they had actively
participated without encouraging further engagement.
Question for Discussion:
Traditional narratives of recent history have criticized President Clinton for not acting during the 1994
Rwandan Genocide. Many argue that perhaps millions would have been saved had the U.S. supported
U.N. peacekeeping efforts or at the very least named the violence as “genocide.” However, Flaherty
seems to argue that such intervention is not helpful and typically harmful. Are there certain instances
when intervention into another country's internal affairs is warranted?
9. Flaherty describes Brandon Darby: a Post- Katrina activist and example of a charismatic
leader who did more harm than good in the communities he worked in.
• Darby as leader of Common Ground: Volunteer group to rebuild New Orleans.
• Mostly young, white volunteers from out of town; Darby acted as “cult leader”
• “A city with hundreds of years of history of resistance to white supremacy faced the
indignity of being ‘taught’ how to organize by an endless stream of privileged white twenty-
year-olds”
• “A person acts as if he is destined to lead the struggle of poor people who implicitly are
unqualified to lead their own struggle”
• Disaster Masculinity- Post-Katrina relief work: contest of machismo, culture of misogyny,
sexual assaults
• “Sexism is seen as an issue that is ‘less important’ than the other revolutionary struggles we are
involved in” (p. 68).
Question for Discussion:
Flaherty describes how post-Katrina relief organizations prioritized certain social issues, at the
detriment of others (ignoring sexual assault at volunteer sites supposedly promoting social
justice): Is it possible to be effective in a social movement if you are focusing on one social
issue, but ignoring another?
11. Flaherty describes the way our media perpetuates white savior complex
• “Our culture creates and celebrates saviors. Films, books, TV, comics: we are surrounded by
the message that we should wait for a hero to save us, and that hero will most likely be white
and male”
• Focus on the individual vs. group movements: “the dominant cinematic storyline followed the
brave individual triumphing alone”
• Those who create the media tend to come from a homogenous social group and class: “Like
nonprofit leadership, most degrees in film require degrees from elite institutions.”
• “The logic of Hollywood has long dictated that Black stories, even if about Africa, must be
told through white eyes”
• “If we want to change our world, we also need to change our popular culture”
Question for Discussion:
Why is the storyline of the individual savior (versus collective action) so prevalent in
our culture? How much do you feel our media is a reflection of this reality versus
directly creating these concepts and mentalities in the public?
13. “Journalists are not only shaped by the systems of oppression that shape the rest of our society,
they then help to codify and give legitimacy to oppressive systems by accepting those oppressive
framings. They shape the worldview that says we need saviors”
•“Race, gender, or class identities are of course not the only variables important for a good reporter. But when a
community is not represented in the staff of a media outlet, it often means their stories are also left out.”
•Flaherty challenges the myth that journalism, as a profession, is always neutral and good. Flaherty bring up key
examples of time the profession has fallen short or let down the public. Examples being lack of reporting on
police violence in black communities following Hurricane Katrina to the excessive media coverage of the Donald
Trump phenomenon. Flaherty claims that journalist like to believe in themselves as a check on the powerful, but in
relativity they are one of the elites creating the systemic issues. Flaherty takes aim at one journalist in particular,
Nicholas Kristof, a proclaimed journalist-activist. Who ‘has never met a savior he didn’t like.’ Kristof is a New York
Times columnist who writes about American out in the middle of nowhere doing good works. This technique gives
the readers of the paper a protagonist to relate to.
14. •Flaherty demystifies a few of Kristof’s big stories by giving more background and context in
regards to; Greg Mortenson (a mountain climber building schools in Pakistan that was caught
in a web of lies), Kony 2012, Mam and Pros (two former Cambodia sex trafficking victims who
created a NGO to rescue females from sex trafficking), and his criticism of the Black Lives
Matter (Kristof criticized BLM for picking the ‘wrong’ murder victim to advocate for).
•“NGOs know that donors and journalist want a certain kind of hero and a certain kind of
victim, and they shape their narratives to deliver to people like Kristof the protagonists they
want.”
•“Much of our media reflect and re-create the savior. If we want to build a different world. We
need new media, media not afraid to challenge the powerful, and need to promote and
support voices reporting on their own communities.”
Question for Discussion:
•How can social workers help society and journalist see the bigger systemic issue that they are
contributing to?
•What did Flaherty mean by “there is much more to doing good work than ‘making a
difference’”? How can social workers live this out?
•Are the Band-Aids to systemic issues effective? Why or why not?
•What are some example in the media of ‘the savior’ that Flaherty refers to?
