“I will give away virtually all my wealth”: The Microsoft billionaire has pledged his foundation will distribute $US200 billion over the next 20 years.
Damn, Erika must be hanging around the wrong spaces. Don’t get me wrong, the liberalist ones are full of idealistic drivel like that, it’s true, but any Marxist space will drill into you their famous quote:
The document is best remembered for its epigrammatic 11th and final thesis, “Philosophers so far have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it”, which is engraved on Marx’s tomb.
This thread is keyboard warriors complaining that a billionaire is taking action to save millions of people, from the comfort of their couches. One wise man even suggested poverty exists because countries spent all their money on Windows keys
Like I don’t like billionaires existing either, but this is objectively a good thing.
This thread is keyboard warriors complaining that a billionaire is taking action to save millions of people, from the comfort of their couches.
You say this as if Gates isn’t making their announcements in luxury. It’s an odd point, as if it would invalidate their objections somehow.
[Bill Gates announcing they will eventually donate money] is objectively a good thing.
It’s more complex when you look at the bigger picture surrounding philanthropy. (As a side note: moral concepts like “good” and “evil” can’t be objective in the first place; there wouldn’t be these arguments if it was)
Saving many innocent lives from preventable disease benefits those societies in need, I’m not disagreeing with that. I donate to fund malaria nets and vitamin supplements too, I think it’s a worthy cause, and more money does mean more help.
My objection is that this is philanthropy being used as buying good will. Bill Gates gained their money through exploiting the needy and continues to do so. We should not pretend that donating a minor chunk to charity makes this ok, can redeem Gates, or can make them a “good billionaire” (quoting others, not you). It’s better than nothing, yes! It’s also not enough to justify their actions.
Nor should we be satisfied with far-off statements, like “I’ll donate most of it to good causes when I’m dead”, or “I’ll donate most of it in 20 years”, and interpret them as selfless or noble actions - in fact, delaying some of these life-saving donations until 2045 is allowing large numbers of innocent people to die. Isn’t that clearly a bad thing?
Philanthropy is almost always reputation laundering, not some uncharacteristic Scrooge-like change of heart. It’s a simple trick and we shouldn’t enable it and defend Gates for it - we are obliged to re-iterate that Gates is still a greedy billionaire. Because Gates isn’t the first to play this transparent trick and won’t be the last.
what is bill gates sacrificing to do this? As far as I’m aware absolutely nothing at all.
i think in order for this to be praised, in order for it to be good or generous there needs to be any amount of sacrifice. Is he downsizing his mansion for this? Does even one thing about his life change?
I think if you use your eyes, you might be able to find the title that explains pretty succinctly what Bill Gates plans to give up in order to save millions of lives.
I know reading is hard Communist, but it helps us understand the world!
…you do realize that, for example, if you had 100 billion dollars, you already have every asset you ever wanted, and then you lost 99 billion, and still had a billion dollars, your life wouldn’t be impacted at all, right?
99 percent of his wealth being lost does what to him exactly? I literally can’t think of one thing he loses with this.
i think you could benefit from reading yourself, my point was about what he loses by donating the wealth, if you think money has inherent value I feel very bad for you, honestly.
He could spend billions on megayachts, private islands, hookers, and blow, or hoard it like a dragon as other billionaires do. Instead he’s making a direct material difference in millions of lives around the world.
What he’s doing saves millions of people. I know a communist might think a million lives is just a statistic, but those are individual people. Bill Gates the billionaire is doing more to make the world a tangibly better place than all the conplainers in this thread.
He could spend billions on megayachts, private islands, hookers, and blow, or hoard it like a dragon as other billionaires do. Instead he’s making a direct material difference in millions of lives around the world.
He can still do that, he still will have billions. He will likely not reduce the frequency of these purchases at all.
What he’s doing saves millions of people.
Yeah, and it’s the bare minimum. consider the hundreds of thousands that could be saved if he went down to being a millionare… He sacrificed literally nothing to save millions of people. It’s outrageous that all billionaires aren’t doing this, but it isn’t particularly noble.
I know a communist might think a million lives is just a statistic, but those are individual people. Bill Gates the billionaire is doing more to make the world a tangibly better place than all the conplainers in this thread.
of course he is, but he’s sacrificing literally nothing to do it. So, so what? It just makes it even more disgusting that he built up that amount of wealth in the first place. Nobody should be that wealthy and this should not be applauded, it should be less than even the bare minimum. If he downsizes his mansion or otherwise loses something then it’s a minor act of charity. Until his life is in someway effected this is basically nothing. If you donate a 20 dollar bill it will likely impact your life more than this will impact his.
If you donate a 20 dollar bill it will impact your life more than this will impact his
Why are you measuring this in hardship inflicted on the one donating, and not measuring it in lives saved?
I don’t give half a shit if Gate’s personal life isn’t changed, I care if small children get their polio vaccines and access to potable water.
Like the fuck you mean “so what?”, millions of PEOPLE won’t starve to death because of his personal choice to do this. You’re surely not turning your nose up at that?
Hundreds of thousands will die because of his greed, him making up for some of it doesn’t make him worthy of praise, yes obviously it’s a good thing that fewer people will suffer, but we’re discussing whether he did a good thing. My argument is that he did less than the bare minimum because he is keeping billions
your standards are so incredibly low for humanity that this is good enough to praise, my standards are not so low, I expect him to sacrifice to help others before I thinv he deserves praise.
Explain how “hundreds of of thousands” die of not affording Microsoft products, who do you think buys them lmfao? Your standards for humanity are so high i encourage you to apply them to yourself. How much of your income have you donated? How many lives have you personally saved via your efforts?
Anyone on a starvation diet doesn’t have a computer, or is at least pirating that shit. It’s not a oil, diamond, or pharma baron situation. Microsoft money isn’t taken out of the mouths of the starving, it’s from governments, corporations, and professionals who can afford it. Anyone who can’t doesnt need it or pirates that shit.
I’m only half kidding here, but the man is roughly stealing from the rich (corpos, yuppies, and boomers incapable of googling “windows free how”) and giving to the poor (children starving, sick, and thirsty). You still complain? If you were around when Robin Hood robbed the king’s cart and gave 99% of the gold back to the starving commoners, you’d still whinge he still kept his wedding ring and cottage.
Your “nothing wrong” includes frequent trips to Epstein’s island. 😬
I guess I’m just a crazy online Leftist for not thinking a nice donation to NPR is enough to even out molesting kids. I guess you want to give him a tote bag?
Yeah
Like the idiots who think philanthropy is an acceptable compromise to a fair society.
You making yourself our enemy won’t make us take your side.
I’m saying ‘saving lives is good actually’ and you declare me an enemy that “endorses capitalism and imperialism”
exhausting
Omg you’re exhausting!!
It would be better if be hadn’t fucked with our economies to start with.
Bill gates isn’t actually going to do this…
Damn, Erika must be hanging around the wrong spaces. Don’t get me wrong, the liberalist ones are full of idealistic drivel like that, it’s true, but any Marxist space will drill into you their famous quote:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theses_on_Feuerbach
This thread is keyboard warriors complaining that a billionaire is taking action to save millions of people, from the comfort of their couches. One wise man even suggested poverty exists because countries spent all their money on Windows keys
Like I don’t like billionaires existing either, but this is objectively a good thing.
You say this as if Gates isn’t making their announcements in luxury. It’s an odd point, as if it would invalidate their objections somehow.
It’s more complex when you look at the bigger picture surrounding philanthropy. (As a side note: moral concepts like “good” and “evil” can’t be objective in the first place; there wouldn’t be these arguments if it was)
Saving many innocent lives from preventable disease benefits those societies in need, I’m not disagreeing with that. I donate to fund malaria nets and vitamin supplements too, I think it’s a worthy cause, and more money does mean more help.
My objection is that this is philanthropy being used as buying good will. Bill Gates gained their money through exploiting the needy and continues to do so. We should not pretend that donating a minor chunk to charity makes this ok, can redeem Gates, or can make them a “good billionaire” (quoting others, not you). It’s better than nothing, yes! It’s also not enough to justify their actions.
Nor should we be satisfied with far-off statements, like “I’ll donate most of it to good causes when I’m dead”, or “I’ll donate most of it in 20 years”, and interpret them as selfless or noble actions - in fact, delaying some of these life-saving donations until 2045 is allowing large numbers of innocent people to die. Isn’t that clearly a bad thing?
Philanthropy is almost always reputation laundering, not some uncharacteristic Scrooge-like change of heart. It’s a simple trick and we shouldn’t enable it and defend Gates for it - we are obliged to re-iterate that Gates is still a greedy billionaire. Because Gates isn’t the first to play this transparent trick and won’t be the last.
what is bill gates sacrificing to do this? As far as I’m aware absolutely nothing at all.
i think in order for this to be praised, in order for it to be good or generous there needs to be any amount of sacrifice. Is he downsizing his mansion for this? Does even one thing about his life change?
this is just a way of buying good pr.
He’s sacrificing power and influence. That’s what the big money people are all about, right?
I think if you use your eyes, you might be able to find the title that explains pretty succinctly what Bill Gates plans to give up in order to save millions of lives.
I know reading is hard Communist, but it helps us understand the world!
…you do realize that, for example, if you had 100 billion dollars, you already have every asset you ever wanted, and then you lost 99 billion, and still had a billion dollars, your life wouldn’t be impacted at all, right?
99 percent of his wealth being lost does what to him exactly? I literally can’t think of one thing he loses with this.
i think you could benefit from reading yourself, my point was about what he loses by donating the wealth, if you think money has inherent value I feel very bad for you, honestly.
He could spend billions on megayachts, private islands, hookers, and blow, or hoard it like a dragon as other billionaires do. Instead he’s making a direct material difference in millions of lives around the world.
What he’s doing saves millions of people. I know a communist might think a million lives is just a statistic, but those are individual people. Bill Gates the billionaire is doing more to make the world a tangibly better place than all the conplainers in this thread.
He can still do that, he still will have billions. He will likely not reduce the frequency of these purchases at all.
Yeah, and it’s the bare minimum. consider the hundreds of thousands that could be saved if he went down to being a millionare… He sacrificed literally nothing to save millions of people. It’s outrageous that all billionaires aren’t doing this, but it isn’t particularly noble.
of course he is, but he’s sacrificing literally nothing to do it. So, so what? It just makes it even more disgusting that he built up that amount of wealth in the first place. Nobody should be that wealthy and this should not be applauded, it should be less than even the bare minimum. If he downsizes his mansion or otherwise loses something then it’s a minor act of charity. Until his life is in someway effected this is basically nothing. If you donate a 20 dollar bill it will likely impact your life more than this will impact his.
Why are you measuring this in hardship inflicted on the one donating, and not measuring it in lives saved?
I don’t give half a shit if Gate’s personal life isn’t changed, I care if small children get their polio vaccines and access to potable water.
Like the fuck you mean “so what?”, millions of PEOPLE won’t starve to death because of his personal choice to do this. You’re surely not turning your nose up at that?
Hundreds of thousands will die because of his greed, him making up for some of it doesn’t make him worthy of praise, yes obviously it’s a good thing that fewer people will suffer, but we’re discussing whether he did a good thing. My argument is that he did less than the bare minimum because he is keeping billions
your standards are so incredibly low for humanity that this is good enough to praise, my standards are not so low, I expect him to sacrifice to help others before I thinv he deserves praise.
Explain how “hundreds of of thousands” die of not affording Microsoft products, who do you think buys them lmfao? Your standards for humanity are so high i encourage you to apply them to yourself. How much of your income have you donated? How many lives have you personally saved via your efforts?
Anyone on a starvation diet doesn’t have a computer, or is at least pirating that shit. It’s not a oil, diamond, or pharma baron situation. Microsoft money isn’t taken out of the mouths of the starving, it’s from governments, corporations, and professionals who can afford it. Anyone who can’t doesnt need it or pirates that shit.
I’m only half kidding here, but the man is roughly stealing from the rich (corpos, yuppies, and boomers incapable of googling “windows free how”) and giving to the poor (children starving, sick, and thirsty). You still complain? If you were around when Robin Hood robbed the king’s cart and gave 99% of the gold back to the starving commoners, you’d still whinge he still kept his wedding ring and cottage.
Your “nothing wrong” includes frequent trips to Epstein’s island. 😬
I guess I’m just a crazy online Leftist for not thinking a nice donation to NPR is enough to even out molesting kids. I guess you want to give him a tote bag?
I’m with you 100%.