9 ms·
As people in Tech industry we should be very proud of Bill Gates and what he has done with Microsoft and his charity work. A lot of people totally miss the poi
by tn13 13y ago
As people in Tech industry we should be very proud of Bill Gates and what he has done with Microsoft and his charity work.
A lot of people totally miss the point when they say "hey anybody could do all that if they have enough money". That is simply not true. Charity is not just about throwing money at poor, it is a far more difficult job than say building a company. Working for profit is simpler where clear regulations, contracts are in place and a government which has an interest in making businesses work.
Charity is a different ball game, I remember I was in Pune-India when Bill Gates quietly flew there in his private jet sneaked into local red light area to meet the health workers and monitor the progress. No one knew about his visit, when media reached there his private security somehow managed to make him disappear. He had a review meeting with health workers and key government people, and then simply flew out. He does this in all the countries where no sane minded Billionaire would set a foot.
Throwing money and feeling good is simple. Achieving results is very difficult. Pune's red light area has benefited immensely by his efforts. There are at least 3 NGOs who have successfully managed to reduce AIDs and help the children of prostitutes rehabilitate in better professions. Over last 10 years, the sex workers in this area have reduced.
Bill Gates is actually very stingy when it comes to money. You cant simply setup a NGO in red light area and get funding from him. The whole process by which he chooses whom to help is the real USP of his work. That is something takes a lifetime to build and he has done it well.
- rattray 13y agoUSP = Unique Selling Proposition, for those who also didn't know.
- lisper 13y agoI would be a lot prouder of Bill if he hadn't made his money by breaking the law.
- jseliger 13y agoThat is simply not true. Charity is not just about throwing money at poor This is an important and underappreciated point. Ken Stern makes it in his book With Charity For All, which I wrote more about here: http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-stern-book-discussion/ http://blog.seliger.com/2013/06/02/with-charity-for-all-ken-... . In essence, we spend a lot of money on various charitable efforts without knowing what those efforts are really doing. Foreign aid is probably the most interesting part. Since 1945, I've seen estimates that say the U.S. and Western Europe have donated in the neighborhood of $1 – $2 trillion (with a "t") dollars to various developing countries. It hasn't done much. Why not? That's a question that a host of books have attempted to answer (I recommend Dead Aid, The Bottom Billion, and Why Nations Fail to the curious). I don't think we'll ever get a complete answer but we should at least be asking the right questions. (Relevant observation: I'm a grant writing consultant for nonprofit and public agencies. I see a lot of stuff that makes me. . . very skeptical, let's say. . . of many aid efforts.)
- maxerickson 13y agoPer person per year it doesn't seem like that works out to all that large a number.
- 001sky 13y agoQ: why would you assume its <>evenly<> distributed? might be the problem right there...
- coldtea 13y ago>Since 1945, I've seen estimates that say the U.S. and Western Europe have donated in the neighborhood of $1 – $2 trillion (with a "t") dollars to various developing countries. It hasn't done much. Why not? Because these money are not about helping those countries grow. It's about keeping them down, financing local lackeys, directing their progress in ways that benefit those giving the money, pushing political and cultural agendas, etc.
- rwmj 13y agoDo you have any evidence for this assertion?
- carona 13y agoThis is about one Foundation and how it was used as vehicle by CIA to launder money into other countries as "Aid to Developing nations", and achieve its political ends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation#Relationship_with_the_United_States_Central_Intelligence_Agency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation#Relationship_wi... The CIA had been laundering its funds for dozens of organizations and events, and the foundation served as one of its main fronts. If you look around you will find a lot of such covert channels.
- onebaddude 13y ago>If you look around you will find a lot of such covert channels. And if you look around you'll find far, far more examples of honest foundations, filled with honest people, doing honest work. What's your point?
- Laffs 13y agoI was awe-struck when he introduced himself as, "co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" rather than the chairman of Microsoft on his Reddit AMA (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_c...). I think it really is his life's primary focus right now.
- shutupalready 13y ago> Over last 10 years, the sex workers in this area have reduced. Hardly anyone wants to ask if that is an overall benefit to society? The sex ratio for India is 108 men per 100 women [1]. For those under 15, the ratio is 113:100, so the problem is set to get much worse in the near future. If India (pop. 1.2 billion) were to have maximal monogamous relationships and no sex workers, you'd have 577 million happy couples, and 46 million men left over who have no chance of any sexual intimacy. EDIT: Condoms, contraception, and safe sex are obviously good things. My comment is whether eliminating sex work should be the goal. If that's the goal, then please answer the following question: Should men who don't have or can't find a normal relationship be forever denied occasional intimacy? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sex_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sex_ratio
- bluekitten 13y agoWe aren't talking about independent escorts here. Here's the link for one infamous redlight area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonagachi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonagachi >5.17% of the 13,000 prostitutes in Sonagachi are estimated to be HIV positive >According to some sources, prostitutes from Sonagachi who test HIV positive are not told about the results, and live with the disease without knowing about it "because the DMSC is worried that HIV positive women will be ostracized."[5] Some prostitutes in Sonagachi have stated that "the clients, at least three quarters of them" refuse to use condoms and "if we force them to use the condom, they will just go next door. There are so many women working here, and in the end, everyone is prepared to work without protection for fear of losing trade.”[5] Weaning them off prostitution is a net positive.
- yodsanklai 13y agoThat's a rather controversial comment you're making here. I'd rather see a man deprived of sexual intimacy than a woman constrained to prostitution for lack of better opportunity. The first fate seems largely less cruel than the latter.
- shutupalready 13y ago> That's a rather controversial comment you're making here. Yes, indeed it is. My comment is so politically incorrect that I dare not make it in real life. Yet I suspect that plenty of people (though probably not the majority) would agree, but can't speak out about it.
- rodgerd 13y ago> As people in Tech industry we should be very proud of Bill Gates and what he has done with Microsoft and his charity work. Yes, but they won't be because a bunch of neckbeards are still bitter about OS/2 and Netscape dying or Apple being reduced to desktop irrelevance, or what have you, to have anything like a reasonable perspective on these things, which is a shame.