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Why are people hating on Gates these days? The others all spent their wealth on occasionally bizarre self-indulgent passion projects; Gates went into philanthro

by _jab 4y ago

Why are people hating on Gates these days? The others all spent their wealth on occasionally bizarre self-indulgent passion projects; Gates went into philanthropy. I know the man isn’t perfect but surely he’s a tier above those other three.

jacquesm 4y ago
Did you miss all of the shite Microsoft pulled while Gates was still at the helm and the Epstein connection? I don't think you should be able to spend your way out of a bunch of stuff like that.
- chasd00 4y ago
  There's an entire generation that only knows Gates as some sort of saint. Older folks here see him, rightly, as only trying to buy his way into heaven now that most of the blood has been washed off the money.
2devnull 4y ago
I’m amazed anyone could think that. What’s your take on Soros?
- malfist 4y ago
  Why would their take on Soros matter at all here?
  - philjohn 4y ago
    It's always interesting as well, that Mercer and Koch do all of the things certain segments accuse Soros of, but they aren't up in arms about them in the same way. The "teamification" of politics is complete.
    - 2devnull 4y ago
      I’m not a “they.” Truly, I have no team and I sort of feel bad that others do. Soros didn’t make his money in a very honorable way, nor did the Koch brothers. They both have decided to use politics to exercise the same avarice that made them rich, perhaps deluding themselves and others into thinking that it’s ok if they are “doing good for the public.” Unending greed for political influence isn’t much better than greed for cash. It’s all just will to power. I feel similarly about most professional politicians, which is why I don’t have a team.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
frakt0x90 4y ago
I agree with you. The argument I've heard is that Gates used to be just as much of a shark as any of the others back in the 90s/early 2000s but spent a lot to reverse his public image into a philanthropist. While that may or may not be true, it's certainly true that he does an extraordinary amount of charity with his money now in contrast to most of the others on the list.
- 2devnull 4y ago
  They call it reputation laundering. His wife left him after the Epstein thing blew up. Former associates describe him as a pretty terrible person. Being evil and then making a show of your charity, which is often just another outlet for your own personal power trips doesn’t suddenly make you a good person. It’s just buying indulgences, but instead of the church it’s a corrupt fourth estate.
  - cjbgkagh 4y ago
    People who know him think he’s terrible, the whole humble Warren Buffet act is done for PR (the same reason Warren Buffet does it). He wasn’t just palling around with Epstein, his friendship continued after Epstein was convicted. His excuse was that Epstein gave him access… as if Bill G wasn’t the richest person on the planet at the time.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    And more often than not those foundations are tax dodges in disguise, you can't spend that much money in a reasonable fashion anyway.
    - timsneath 4y ago
      It seems that this is a common misperception for some reason. There are certainly many charities that are ineffective at their mission, inefficient with their funds or working on a mission that few would consider worthwhile. (And there are also some great charities out there that are effective, efficient and important, such as https://givedirectly.org https://givedirectly.org.) But charities (of which non-profit foundations are a subclass) aren't a "tax dodge". Money that you give to a charity is untaxed, so you can claim a refund on income taxes you've already paid on that money. But you don't get new money that you haven't already earned from the IRS; every penny given is money that you already had, and the tax refund is purely of tax that is no longer due on that money. It's possible to be cynical of the motives of some philanthropic gifts, but Gates (and others) aren't financially better off from their giving itself.
fmo1973 4y ago
Do a search on jeffrey epstein and bill gates
rtpg 4y ago
Guy personally lobbied against having vaccine tech be put in the public domain. Hard to imagine what can counterbalance that (if ethics worked like carbon credits, which they don't)
- sumedh 4y ago
  > Guy personally lobbied against having vaccine tech be put in the public domain. I think the reason was that he didnt want company to manufacture vaccines with defects and no quality control. In theory that sounds reasonable.
lost_tourist 4y ago
Only thing I can figure is cheating on his wife and cursory friendship with Epstein? It doesn't take a whole lot for the far left and far right to hate people and simplify complexity down to one or two character flaws for the "hate to flow"
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Cursory? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...
catach 4y ago
It's difficult to compare them: Gates has had 14 years of philanthropic retirement to redeem his image. Bezos stepped down from Amazon in 2021, not sure if it counts as a retirement yet. Musk is still two years away from Gates' retirement age. And Zuckerberg is 15 years away from Gates' retirement age.
gnu8 4y ago
Have you used BeOS or Netscape lately? Do you recall when Internet Explorer became the dominant web browser and then saw no development for five years? Do you remember when the most widespread malware on the internet was Windows 2000? Bill Gates is nothing but mindless aggression and wanton destruction. He is Vladimir Putin for your computer. Giving some money away does not erase his misdeeds or change him into a good person. We know his character.
somenewaccount1 4y ago
For myself, Microsoft crushing everything in the 90's, and more recently, shorting Tesla. I could care less about Elon, the car is still dope and pushes humanity forward while every aristocrat tried to snuff it, Bill included. The philanthropy bit I think is just a PR stunt. Bill is not a nice man, or a good man, IMHO.
coffeeblack 4y ago
Gates is buying a good name. He’s not really doing any good imo. Hop on a plane and look at what the foundation is actually doing in places where they are doing it. I have never seen anything useful. But it “sounds” really awesome to people back in the West. Not sure about your hate on Musk though. Fighting climate change, preserving the only life in the universe that we know of, bringing connectivity to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged globally, among many other good things. Not sure what’s bad about that.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  If Musk stuck to fighting climate change and his Mars mission I'd be fine with him. But he doesn't. He uses his money to actively destroy people and their reputations just for the lolz, is a continuous source of noise rather than signal and is about equal parts destructive as he is creative. Given another couple of years like the last two I would not be surprised if he final tally ends up as a significant net negative for society.
  - coffeeblack 4y ago
    For example? Who did he “destroy for the lolz”?
    - Xylakant 4y ago
      Remember the episode with the cavediver rescuing children from a flooded cave that musk called a pedophile and then refused to back down? That one for example.
      - coffeeblack 4y ago
        You mean where he worked with the Thai government on a rescue plan, got attacked verbally by that dude, attacked back, and then the dude couldn’t take it? Yes, I remember that he apologized a day later, even though the other one started it. Sure I know, because it’s the one thing bad that’s repeated and repeated about him, and he didn’t even start it. And he apologized. Any example that is actually bad?
AlchemistCamp 4y ago
Gates was against sharing vaccine technology with India while the country's hospitals were literally running out of oxygen and people gasping for breath. Then after finally acquiescing under intense pressure, his foundation ran illegal medical trials on vulnerable groups. Honestly it's a lot more concerning than the various Twitter dramas (or any web app dramas) so many here are obsessed with. https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/why-are-indians-so-angry-at-bill-gates/ https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/why-are-indians-so-angry-at-...
fallingknife 4y ago
> Gates went into philanthropy And what does that mean to me? Successful businesses like Tesla and Spacex have done much more for the world through the technology they have developed than any donation ever has. I'm supposed to value charity more highly just because it's not profitable?
111111101101 4y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iF4k16be0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iF4k16be0
wankle 4y ago
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=81838 https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=... "Moreover, the fact that no males, only females of child-bearing age, were vaccinated..." Referenced from the above article: http://archive.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/01/29/gates_makes_10_billion_vaccines_pledge/ http://archive.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/... "We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. Referenced from the above article: https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero "Bill Gates warned that we weren’t ready for a global pandemic in a talk at TED2015. Now he’s working to make sure the world is better prepared next time around." https://singjupost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Innovating-to-Zero_-Bill-Gates-Full-Transcript.pdf https://singjupost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Innovating... "First, we’ve got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10% or 15%. But there, we see an increase of about 1.3."
DaniloDias 4y ago
[dead]

by _jab 4y ago

jacquesm 4y ago

Did you miss all of the shite Microsoft pulled while Gates was still at the helm and the Epstein connection? I don't think you should be able to spend your way out of a bunch of stuff like that.

chasd00 4y ago
There's an entire generation that only knows Gates as some sort of saint. Older folks here see him, rightly, as only trying to buy his way into heaven now that most of the blood has been washed off the money.

2devnull 4y ago

I’m amazed anyone could think that. What’s your take on Soros?

malfist 4y ago
Why would their take on Soros matter at all here?
- philjohn 4y ago
  It's always interesting as well, that Mercer and Koch do all of the things certain segments accuse Soros of, but they aren't up in arms about them in the same way. The "teamification" of politics is complete.
  - 2devnull 4y ago
    I’m not a “they.” Truly, I have no team and I sort of feel bad that others do. Soros didn’t make his money in a very honorable way, nor did the Koch brothers. They both have decided to use politics to exercise the same avarice that made them rich, perhaps deluding themselves and others into thinking that it’s ok if they are “doing good for the public.” Unending greed for political influence isn’t much better than greed for cash. It’s all just will to power. I feel similarly about most professional politicians, which is why I don’t have a team.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

frakt0x90 4y ago

I agree with you. The argument I've heard is that Gates used to be just as much of a shark as any of the others back in the 90s/early 2000s but spent a lot to reverse his public image into a philanthropist. While that may or may not be true, it's certainly true that he does an extraordinary amount of charity with his money now in contrast to most of the others on the list.

2devnull 4y ago
They call it reputation laundering. His wife left him after the Epstein thing blew up. Former associates describe him as a pretty terrible person. Being evil and then making a show of your charity, which is often just another outlet for your own personal power trips doesn’t suddenly make you a good person. It’s just buying indulgences, but instead of the church it’s a corrupt fourth estate.
- cjbgkagh 4y ago
  People who know him think he’s terrible, the whole humble Warren Buffet act is done for PR (the same reason Warren Buffet does it). He wasn’t just palling around with Epstein, his friendship continued after Epstein was convicted. His excuse was that Epstein gave him access… as if Bill G wasn’t the richest person on the planet at the time.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  And more often than not those foundations are tax dodges in disguise, you can't spend that much money in a reasonable fashion anyway.
  - timsneath 4y ago
    It seems that this is a common misperception for some reason. There are certainly many charities that are ineffective at their mission, inefficient with their funds or working on a mission that few would consider worthwhile. (And there are also some great charities out there that are effective, efficient and important, such as https://givedirectly.org https://givedirectly.org.) But charities (of which non-profit foundations are a subclass) aren't a "tax dodge". Money that you give to a charity is untaxed, so you can claim a refund on income taxes you've already paid on that money. But you don't get new money that you haven't already earned from the IRS; every penny given is money that you already had, and the tax refund is purely of tax that is no longer due on that money. It's possible to be cynical of the motives of some philanthropic gifts, but Gates (and others) aren't financially better off from their giving itself.

fmo1973 4y ago

Do a search on jeffrey epstein and bill gates

rtpg 4y ago

Guy personally lobbied against having vaccine tech be put in the public domain. Hard to imagine what can counterbalance that (if ethics worked like carbon credits, which they don't)

sumedh 4y ago
> Guy personally lobbied against having vaccine tech be put in the public domain. I think the reason was that he didnt want company to manufacture vaccines with defects and no quality control. In theory that sounds reasonable.

lost_tourist 4y ago

Only thing I can figure is cheating on his wife and cursory friendship with Epstein? It doesn't take a whole lot for the far left and far right to hate people and simplify complexity down to one or two character flaws for the "hate to flow"

jacquesm 4y ago
Cursory? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...

catach 4y ago

It's difficult to compare them: Gates has had 14 years of philanthropic retirement to redeem his image. Bezos stepped down from Amazon in 2021, not sure if it counts as a retirement yet. Musk is still two years away from Gates' retirement age. And Zuckerberg is 15 years away from Gates' retirement age.

gnu8 4y ago

Have you used BeOS or Netscape lately? Do you recall when Internet Explorer became the dominant web browser and then saw no development for five years? Do you remember when the most widespread malware on the internet was Windows 2000? Bill Gates is nothing but mindless aggression and wanton destruction. He is Vladimir Putin for your computer. Giving some money away does not erase his misdeeds or change him into a good person. We know his character.

somenewaccount1 4y ago

For myself, Microsoft crushing everything in the 90's, and more recently, shorting Tesla. I could care less about Elon, the car is still dope and pushes humanity forward while every aristocrat tried to snuff it, Bill included. The philanthropy bit I think is just a PR stunt. Bill is not a nice man, or a good man, IMHO.

coffeeblack 4y ago

Gates is buying a good name. He’s not really doing any good imo. Hop on a plane and look at what the foundation is actually doing in places where they are doing it. I have never seen anything useful. But it “sounds” really awesome to people back in the West. Not sure about your hate on Musk though. Fighting climate change, preserving the only life in the universe that we know of, bringing connectivity to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged globally, among many other good things. Not sure what’s bad about that.

jacquesm 4y ago
If Musk stuck to fighting climate change and his Mars mission I'd be fine with him. But he doesn't. He uses his money to actively destroy people and their reputations just for the lolz, is a continuous source of noise rather than signal and is about equal parts destructive as he is creative. Given another couple of years like the last two I would not be surprised if he final tally ends up as a significant net negative for society.
- coffeeblack 4y ago
  For example? Who did he “destroy for the lolz”?
  - Xylakant 4y ago
    Remember the episode with the cavediver rescuing children from a flooded cave that musk called a pedophile and then refused to back down? That one for example.
    - coffeeblack 4y ago
      You mean where he worked with the Thai government on a rescue plan, got attacked verbally by that dude, attacked back, and then the dude couldn’t take it? Yes, I remember that he apologized a day later, even though the other one started it. Sure I know, because it’s the one thing bad that’s repeated and repeated about him, and he didn’t even start it. And he apologized. Any example that is actually bad?

AlchemistCamp 4y ago

Gates was against sharing vaccine technology with India while the country's hospitals were literally running out of oxygen and people gasping for breath. Then after finally acquiescing under intense pressure, his foundation ran illegal medical trials on vulnerable groups. Honestly it's a lot more concerning than the various Twitter dramas (or any web app dramas) so many here are obsessed with. https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/why-are-indians-so-angry-at-bill-gates/ https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/why-are-indians-so-angry-at-...

fallingknife 4y ago

> Gates went into philanthropy And what does that mean to me? Successful businesses like Tesla and Spacex have done much more for the world through the technology they have developed than any donation ever has. I'm supposed to value charity more highly just because it's not profitable?

111111101101 4y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iF4k16be0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iF4k16be0

wankle 4y ago

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=81838 https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=... "Moreover, the fact that no males, only females of child-bearing age, were vaccinated..." Referenced from the above article: http://archive.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/01/29/gates_makes_10_billion_vaccines_pledge/ http://archive.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/... "We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. Referenced from the above article: https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero "Bill Gates warned that we weren’t ready for a global pandemic in a talk at TED2015. Now he’s working to make sure the world is better prepared next time around." https://singjupost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Innovating-to-Zero_-Bill-Gates-Full-Transcript.pdf https://singjupost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Innovating... "First, we’ve got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10% or 15%. But there, we see an increase of about 1.3."

DaniloDias 4y ago

[dead]