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I feel like every other month Gates guest edits the Verge or has an interview there. Or I see his annual letter all over LinkedIn, or an AMA... He gets so much

I feel like every other month Gates guest edits the Verge or has an interview there. Or I see his annual letter all over LinkedIn, or an AMA... He gets so much exposure I imagine because he’s a “good billionaire trying to fix the world.” I guess it’s the most we can hope for these days from our growing class of ultra wealthy, but I really don’t think that means they should get the right to shout their opinions at us from every corner of the web.

aglavine 8y ago
You'll be surprised how many people ignore Gates Foundation's deep involvement on ending Polio
- reaperducer 8y ago
  It's at least as any as the number of people who ignore the way George W. Bush is hailed as a hero for his work stemming the tide of AIDS in Africa. https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/george-w-bushs-legacy-on-africa-wins-praise-even-from-foes/ https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/george-w-bushs...
  - metabagel 8y ago
    His ledger is still in the red.
- walrus01 8y ago
  The problem with ending polio is primarily with religious fundamentalists in Pakistan, who spread rumors that all western-funded vaccination programs are a secret plot by the CIA to sterilize people, or some similar nonsense. https://ourworldindata.org/polio https://ourworldindata.org/polio
  - what_ever 8y ago
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...
    - walrus01 8y ago
      yes, I'm aware. The anti-vaccine nonsense was going on long before this became public knowledge in 2011. The same ideology of fundamentalists who were behind the events surrounding the siege of the lal masjid in 2007 were spreading the "westerners want to sterilize your children" stuff since at least the early 1990s.
- marricks 8y ago
  As a complete novice on the subject all I know (and have heard) was the Gates Foundation was involved in ending Polio and it was Bill’s pet project. I’m sure other people were involved but I have no clue who because the media loves focusing on one face for an effort because it’s easier than representing the diverse group required to tackle such an issue.
keithwhor 8y ago
This is the strangest get off my lawn comment I’ve read on HN. The internet doesn’t belong to you, and what spreads around generally operates around a free market of ideas and opinions. It turns out a lot of people are interested in the thoughts of a prolific philanthropist and founding father of the modern software industry. He’s not “deserving” of anything, there’s just an n >> 0 market demand for, well, his ideas and opinions.
- Barrin92 8y ago
  >operates around a free market of ideas and opinions. this is not really much of a market, free or otherwise. Public philanthropy, which is highly managed and personalised has more to do with gilded age ventures than with markets. And you are starting to see this lack of distribution and local management when you look at some of the larger missteps in philanthropy, for example Zuckerbergs 100 million Newark school project. Right from the start experts and local leaders were arguing that it wasn't going to be effective, but billionaire philanthropy crowds out local decision-making in favour of often emotional decisions of single individuals. If you want a market don't have celebrities distribute money in activist fashion, but redistribute it and move it to more institutions and individuals.Billionaires with committees and boards and agendas resemble the proverbial soviet planner with a clipoard more than they do ... actual markets.
cooperadymas 8y ago
I'm baffled by this comment in so, so many ways. Everybody has the "right to shout their opinions at us from every corner of the web." That's one of the incredible things about the web. And of course being a successful, well-liked billionaire buys you privilege and a greater audience! Why is any of this considered shouting? It's certainly not being shoved down your throat. You're not being harassed by a constant barrage of "Bill Gates" ads on every site you visit, or spam emails promoting his AMA. What made you take it as an affront? Who would you rather fill the Internet with content than a billionaire who is trying to fix the world? Should Gates just stop producing content now that he's a billionaire simply because it might annoy a few people?
x__x 8y ago
There will come a time in history when Microsoft will be looked back on as an evil company who gave up all it's users personal data to big GOV. Bill doesn't want this to be his legacy. He wants to be remembered as a philanthropist, not as historys biggest sellout.
- maximente 8y ago
  i think it's more accurate to say that bill gates amassed a fortune with very shady and illegal business practices and now uses those ill-begotten gains to do generally good works. unfortunately, it's him who is deciding what those good works are, not the people of the US, which is really unattractive to a lot of people, especially when issues like homelessness are really, really needing attention here at home.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rconti 8y ago
You have the right not to listen.

aglavine 8y ago

You'll be surprised how many people ignore Gates Foundation's deep involvement on ending Polio

reaperducer 8y ago
It's at least as any as the number of people who ignore the way George W. Bush is hailed as a hero for his work stemming the tide of AIDS in Africa. https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/george-w-bushs-legacy-on-africa-wins-praise-even-from-foes/ https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/george-w-bushs...
- metabagel 8y ago
  His ledger is still in the red.
walrus01 8y ago
The problem with ending polio is primarily with religious fundamentalists in Pakistan, who spread rumors that all western-funded vaccination programs are a secret plot by the CIA to sterilize people, or some similar nonsense. https://ourworldindata.org/polio https://ourworldindata.org/polio
- what_ever 8y ago
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...
  - walrus01 8y ago
    yes, I'm aware. The anti-vaccine nonsense was going on long before this became public knowledge in 2011. The same ideology of fundamentalists who were behind the events surrounding the siege of the lal masjid in 2007 were spreading the "westerners want to sterilize your children" stuff since at least the early 1990s.
marricks 8y ago
As a complete novice on the subject all I know (and have heard) was the Gates Foundation was involved in ending Polio and it was Bill’s pet project. I’m sure other people were involved but I have no clue who because the media loves focusing on one face for an effort because it’s easier than representing the diverse group required to tackle such an issue.

keithwhor 8y ago

This is the strangest get off my lawn comment I’ve read on HN. The internet doesn’t belong to you, and what spreads around generally operates around a free market of ideas and opinions. It turns out a lot of people are interested in the thoughts of a prolific philanthropist and founding father of the modern software industry. He’s not “deserving” of anything, there’s just an n >> 0 market demand for, well, his ideas and opinions.

Barrin92 8y ago
>operates around a free market of ideas and opinions. this is not really much of a market, free or otherwise. Public philanthropy, which is highly managed and personalised has more to do with gilded age ventures than with markets. And you are starting to see this lack of distribution and local management when you look at some of the larger missteps in philanthropy, for example Zuckerbergs 100 million Newark school project. Right from the start experts and local leaders were arguing that it wasn't going to be effective, but billionaire philanthropy crowds out local decision-making in favour of often emotional decisions of single individuals. If you want a market don't have celebrities distribute money in activist fashion, but redistribute it and move it to more institutions and individuals.Billionaires with committees and boards and agendas resemble the proverbial soviet planner with a clipoard more than they do ... actual markets.

cooperadymas 8y ago

I'm baffled by this comment in so, so many ways. Everybody has the "right to shout their opinions at us from every corner of the web." That's one of the incredible things about the web. And of course being a successful, well-liked billionaire buys you privilege and a greater audience! Why is any of this considered shouting? It's certainly not being shoved down your throat. You're not being harassed by a constant barrage of "Bill Gates" ads on every site you visit, or spam emails promoting his AMA. What made you take it as an affront? Who would you rather fill the Internet with content than a billionaire who is trying to fix the world? Should Gates just stop producing content now that he's a billionaire simply because it might annoy a few people?

x__x 8y ago

There will come a time in history when Microsoft will be looked back on as an evil company who gave up all it's users personal data to big GOV. Bill doesn't want this to be his legacy. He wants to be remembered as a philanthropist, not as historys biggest sellout.

maximente 8y ago
i think it's more accurate to say that bill gates amassed a fortune with very shady and illegal business practices and now uses those ill-begotten gains to do generally good works. unfortunately, it's him who is deciding what those good works are, not the people of the US, which is really unattractive to a lot of people, especially when issues like homelessness are really, really needing attention here at home.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

rconti 8y ago

You have the right not to listen.