Bill is definitely not a good person, but he does do a lot of good things. And I’m willing to temporarily forget about all the bad things while he’s dissing Elon and forking over his cash.
Gates at least seems determined to buy his salvation.
He at least learned the ‘right’ lesson from the famous robber barons like Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc: when you make a fortune by exploiting everyone you can then you should spend that fortune to whitewash your name for future generations.
That is the right lesson. Use that money to make people love and respect you, even though you’re a bastard, by building libraries, hospital wings, and other community projects.
“He abused his workers, but he cured cancer” kind of a toss up when it hits the history book.
Billionaires can never do a good thing while remaining a billionaire.
They can do good things, but it doesn’t make them overall a good person.
I don’t think it’s possible to amass $1 billion in worth and not be a bad human.
I…think you misread me? I said a billionaire cannot do a good thing while remaining a billionaire?
They didn’t misread you; they just didn’t agree with you
People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them
I’ll just save time for my future self: He died complicit, supporting and enabling the system that creates inequality and blocks progress, and he directly stagnated technology by engaging in monopolistic practices.
Bill Gates quite obviously pays a lot for PR, and giving away wealth to those in need is obviously positive, but if he used his influence to call out Microsoft for using their technology/AI and infrastructure in war, called out the imperialism and destabilizing influence of the US empire, and so on; maybe I would have a more charitable forecast for his legacy.
I would be more than happy to be wrong and I hope I am.
Yeah instead of billionaires giving away their wealth to charity, I’d much rather tax them and let the government distribute that money.
You mean the government that uses that money for concentration camps and eradicating minorities?