Harkle Humanitarianism

When you work for a social cause solely because of something you want to change to benefit yourself. Otherwise you wouldn’t do anything to help. You use other people as props for a social “problem” you want changed to stop people from criticizing you or to get credit for something you never actually do, or both.

Meghan Markle: Harry, I’m the most trolled person in the world! Let’s start a foundation and never give money of our own. We just need to attach ourselves to small established charities and then take over their activities and put our name first. That way we give very little to nothing and yet we get all the credit! And for the mental health day, let’s call it a “summit” and get People magazine to say Archewell is hosting it and don’t mention all the real charities that organized this day and worked with the real victims. Act like we are the big donors. And then we can take credit for it, sit on stage with microphones, next to the US Surgeon General & Carson Daly, and pontificate about the topic! We’ll be the best humanitarians in the world & go after all the issues we don’t like. Like people who criticize us on social media or in the press. I mean the 1st Amendment IS bonkers, right?! That’s our brand! Harkle Humanitarianism!”

by Olderwiser64 October 11, 2023

garbage humanitarian

Noun - Someone who is trying to save the world by donating to charity and reducing their plastic use with a reusable water bottle, but still buys McDonald’s or Fast Food and an occasional item or two from Amazon or Walmart.

Evangeline was fully aware she’s being a garbage humanitarian, but the guilt is not enough to keep her from snacking on her favorite Chicken Filet Nuggies, waffle chips and Poly Sauce in the employee parking lot of the Non-Profit Corporation where she works. I’m no bigot or homophobe! I’m just HUNGRY! No one will really know. Who cares.

by Ang Dax May 10, 2024

Arts and Humanities Scholar

Somebody who hang toilet paper in the wrong way

Look at the toilet paper dispenser, it's seems some Arts and Humanities Scholars arrived in our office

by distress69 September 19, 2018

Fuckin' Fake Humanitarian hoe

A person who acts as if they're a humanitarian

Kourtney: Kim, there's people that are dying.

*7 or 8 years later*

Kim: ...Fuckin' fake humanitarian hoe. I actually do shit for the world and fucking fake it all day long and act like Oh, there's people dying Kim(Mocking Kourtney). And what the fuck are doing about it. So shut the fuck up.

by ZJay412 November 5, 2020

Critical Theory of Humanities

The application of Critical Theory to the humanities—literature, philosophy, history, art, and related fields—examining how they've been shaped by power, how they've served domination or liberation, and how they might be transformed. Critical Theory of Humanities asks: Whose stories are told in the canon? Whose are excluded? How have the humanities justified colonialism, racism, sexism? How might they serve struggles for justice? Drawing on postcolonial, feminist, and critical race theory, it insists that the humanities are never just about culture—they're about power. Understanding the humanities requires understanding their politics.

"The Western canon is just great books, they say. Critical Theory of Humanities asks: great by whose standards? Selected by whom? The canon excludes women, people of color, colonized peoples—not because they didn't write, but because power decided they didn't matter. Humanities that ignore power just reproduces it. Critical theory insists on asking: whose voices are missing, and why?"

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 4, 2026

Contextualism of the Humanities

A philosophical framework holding that understanding in the humanities—history, literature, philosophy, art—is inherently context-dependent. A text's meaning is not fixed but emerges from the contexts of its creation, its reception, and its interpretation. A historical event cannot be understood outside its time; a philosophical argument draws on concepts available in its era; a work of art speaks differently to different audiences in different circumstances. Contextualism in the humanities opposes the idea of timeless meanings or universal interpretations, insisting instead that meaning is made, not found, and that making meaning requires attending to context. It demands that humanists be historians of their objects, tracing the contexts that shape what things mean.

Example: "His contextualism of the humanities meant he refused to interpret ancient texts without first understanding the world in which they were written—the assumptions they shared, the questions they asked, the answers they couldn't yet imagine."

by Dumu The Void March 20, 2026

Perspectivism of the Humanities

A philosophical framework holding that interpretation in the humanities is always from a perspective—that what a text means, what history signifies, what art communicates depends on the interpreter's standpoint, values, and commitments. Perspectivism rejects the idea of a single correct interpretation, insisting that great works sustain multiple readings, that history looks different from different positions, that art speaks differently to different audiences. A poem means one thing to its author, another to its first readers, another to contemporary audiences, another to critics working in different traditions. Perspectivism doesn't claim that any interpretation is as good as any other, but that validity is always validity-from-a-position. It demands that interpreters be explicit about their own standpoint, recognizing that their perspective shapes what they can see.

Example: "Her perspectivism of the humanities meant she taught literature by asking students: what does this text mean from a feminist perspective? From a postcolonial perspective? From a working-class perspective? The meanings multiplied, and understanding deepened."

by Dumu The Void March 20, 2026