I was about to respond to somebody with "She's not exactly Mother Theresa"

[conuly]

when I remembered that a. Mother Theresa isn't the best example and b. in that place, people probably know that.

Opinion time! What (female) name should I use when disparagingly comparing a person to a really good, philanthropic person? Should be somebody recognizable, with no fairly well-known bad behavior. No propping up corrupt dictators, no comments about how the suffering of the poor is "beautiful", no hypocrisy, and so on.

Edit: No people who are mostly famous for having died in awful ways, or otherwise being in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially if they are still (or died when they were) minors and young adults and didn't have much of a chance to be particularly good or bad people.

Comments

[highlyeccentric]

I was going to suggest 'Florence Nightingale' but had the foresight to google 'florence nightingale problematic' first.

[conuly]

See, it's tricky.

[dark_phoenix54]

I"ve got to keep an eye on this entry; that's a factoid I need, too! I still blurt out the Mother T thing, and then pull up short when I think about how miserably she treated the dying.

[conuly]

And she got kudos for it too.

[jtthomas]

Hmm. Whoopi Goldberg? Google... Bill Cosby defender, but that's all she has against her, and there's a whole lot for her.

Elizabeth Warren sets a good record for "how to apologize" given the raised-thinking-she-had-a-whole-lot-of-Native-American-heritage thing.

Definitely wouldn't recommend Julie d'Aubigny, given the duelling and all, but getting her girlfriend out of a convent by burning it to the ground is definitely memorable.

[conuly]

"Charity" doesn't spring first to mind when I think of Whoopi Goldberg, all her wonderful qualities notwithstanding. And Warren is too in-the-news and political right now.

[alexseanchai]

Malala Yousafzai

[conuly]

As per my addendum, no. Still a young adult, mostly famous for the bad luck of being in a place where it's hard for girls to get an education and then getting one anyway. Which, not to downplay it, is hard! but not what I'm looking for. In fact, I was specifically thinking of her and Anne Frank when I made that edit.

[redbird]

Eleanor Roosevelt?

[conuly]

That's a thought.

[sathari]

Marian Wright Edelman? I didn't find anything awful about her, and many, many good and impressive things.

[conuly]

Worried about name recognition.

[amaebi]

Helen Keller would be good, except that she's best known for her disabilities, her activism having been largely suppressed.

[conuly]

I suppose I could be like "She's not exactly a renowned social activist like Helen Keller"

[amaebi]

Notorious RBG.

[conuly]

There's an idea.

[archersangel]

i was going to say a saint or some sort, but 1. i'm a bad Catholic & can't think of any. & 2. most are probably problematic in some way, shape or form.

[conuly]

The only one I remember off the top of my head is Lucy, because she has her eyeballs on a plate. (No, I don't remember why.)

[killing_rose]

Noor Khan.

[conuly]

Putting her on the possibles list.

[senmut]

Maya Angelou?

[conuly]

She did explain to me why the caged bird sings.

[jessie_c]

Princess Di? She did a whole bunch of good stuff in her short lifetime.

[conuly]

Mmm. In the wrong crowd she's tainted by her massive wealth.

[hannah]

Ida B. Wells?

[conuly]

Putting her on the list.

[lydy]

Now that I'm signed in:

Dorothy Day? If you are talking to a Catholic, they are unlikely to confuse her with Doris Day.

My person hero is Emma Goldman, but, well, that's me.

[landofnowhere]

I would have confused here with Dorothea Dix (who could also make the list).

[siderea]

If you're looking for female philanthropists, Oprah?

[pauamma]

My mind went to Greta Thunberg, but she may be still too young by your criteria.

[okojosan]

Hmmm, not sure if she really fits, but Cyndi Lauper has a done a lot for LGBT homeless youth.

And then there's Dolly Parton, who has done a lot to support literacy efforts and helping her local community in the Appalachian area.

[jack]

Gosh, I'm bad at this.

Harriet Tubman? She fits into a different place in my head, but could potentially fit better.

[gwydion]

Coretta Scott King

[baronessekat]

Audrey Hepburn.

The woman spent most of her post acting life in Africa working humanitarian misions.

[nodrog]

It’s always nice to find exceptions to what “Hollywood Babylon” is known for, people who use what they’ve been given for more worthwhile goals.  Or simply doing more with themselves:  Hedy Lamarr invented a frequency-hopping algorithm the US Navy [eventually, reluctantly] used for electronic countermeasures, while Vincent Price became a respectable art collector in his own right - and an accomplished chef as well!

“Hey, Lindsay Lohan opened a nightclub!”

And enough other things too - bottles, &c.

[thekumquat]

Could they be fictional?
Was thinking Santa Claus - maybe La Befana if you wanted a female version?

I can't think of a female saint where the santification wasn't more for martyrdom and/or resisting sex, than for anything we'd think of as philanthropic.

Dian Fossey?

[fred_mouse]

Mary Mckillop? I can't find anything bad about her other than her being quite the headstrong individual. Might not manage recognition outside Australia though.

Late to the Party

[nodrog]

Hedy Lamarr.  She was amazing.  Being Hollywood-goddess beautiful was just a crowning touch, almost irrelevant to this aristocratic mathematician inventor.  If Thos. Jefferson had met her, history would be irrevocably changed.

[acelightning]

Clara Barton

[spikethemuffin]

Irena Sendler?