• njm1314@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Bill Gates is a massive piece of shit. Don’t let all the propaganda he puts out there fool you. When you start looking closer at his so-called charity work it’s not nearly as pretty as you might think.

    • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      9 days ago

      I personally prefer all billionaires follow his path.

      I’ve looked at his charities too over the last few years and didn’t see anything that was questionable.

      Anything you want to call out?

      • theparadox@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        Bill Gates fucked the public school systems pretty hard.

        Something I think is extremely fucked up in general is that if you have millions to throw at a pet cause, you will disproportionately benefit your cause over other causes in a non-democratic manner. That means that every individual and organization involved in fields related to your pet projects are incentivized to focus on your pet projects over others. Because you have so much money, you basically individually shape public policy.

        Look at the WHO (source):

        …over 80 per cent of WHO’s funding relies on “voluntary contributions,” meaning any amount of money given freely by donors, whether member states, NGOs, philanthropic organisations or other private entities.

        The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone is responsible for over 88 per cent of the total amount donated by philanthropic foundations to the WHO. Other contributors include the Bloomberg Family Foundation (3.5 per cent), the Wellcome Trust (1.1 per cent) and the Rockefeller Foundation (0.8 per cent).

        So yeah, it’s great that they donate so much… but that also means they can stop donating… so they have control.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          Didn’t know about the charter school thing. Charter schools are such bullshit. The idea is that we’re going to get kids from public schools in impoverished areas into better schools… by causing the public schools to get LESS money?

          The number one thing hurting education since the beginning of the system is the way it is funded. It is funded from property taxes collected in the school’s district. So inevitably, poor areas get shit schools and rich areas get nice schools. It should instead all get pooled together nationwide and then handed out based on the number of students at each school.

          Charter schools and private schools do nothing but hurt. Anyone feel differently? I’m usually open to having my mind changed.

          • theparadox@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            Enthusiastically in agreement that funding of school districts and regional equity is a major problem. Funding is likely problem #1, but I think the problems with funding are more complex than just property taxes.

            Concentrating poverty also creates poor areas and exacerbates the problem. It’s so frustrating that there are so many NIMBY assholes that don’t want affordable housing near them.

      • Valmond@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        He basically gave $54BN to the “Gates and Melinda Charity”.

        Guess who controls the charity?

        Guess if the “Charity” pays taxes?

        It’s crazy how fast people simp for billionaires, old evil shitty hated-by-all billionaires too, just because they spend some publicities around.

          • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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            9 days ago

            No, it doesn’t. And I’d guess that foundation is far more efficient with it’s funds than most, given it doesn’t need to advertise or ask for money.

            People here are just desperate to find some reason to hate the guy.

          • Valmond@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            I think that you don’t understand the value of billions of dollars. He can do whatever he wants “for himself” with just $0.1BN. The rest is just a mental hoarding disease IMO.

            They love buying companies, patents and so on, just because. Maybe they miss thst rush when they “earned” their first billion or something and, like a junkie, wants to feel it again.

            • lud@lemm.ee
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              9 days ago

              So you don’t think he should give away any money or what?.

              • Valmond@lemmy.world
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                9 days ago

                Where on earth did you read he’s giving away money?

                For example, researchers don’t want “his money” because there are so many strings attached that whatever you discover, now it’s under Bill Gates ownership.

                • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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                  8 days ago

                  I definitely don’t have much love for the guy but my understanding is the money he put up to fight malaria has saved a bunch of lives.

                  The current situation as I understand it is that he makes more money from his investments than he gives away each year. If he was committed to giving all his money away like he said, wouldn’t he… get on that? He’s not getting any younger, why isn’t he throwing cash at any good cause?

            • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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              8 days ago

              I don’t see how that’s an answer to Paul McGann’s the question though.

        • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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          8 days ago

          To be clear, I’m not “simping” for Bill Gates. No one becomes a billionaire ethically and I don’t feel the need to defend him as a person. But I also don’t just read a random comment on a website from some nobody without any evidence backing up their claim spouting any such nonsense they want, so I simply asked you to be more specific with your criticisms.

          For what it’s worth, replying to such a request with the kind of hostility you showed doesn’t make me any more likely to take you at your word. You don’t come off as knowing what you’re talking about, so I don’t think you’re going to convince many people. Have a good day.

          • Valmond@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            Lol, “I don’t want to believe you because I don’t like you”.

            How grown up!

            Have a nice day you too!

    • Victor@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Yeah let’s hear it. Please elaborate on your accusations and don’t be so vague.

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      Some of that propaganda is in the form of material help to people around the world. Like sure, he’s not great, no question. But if every other CEO funded global healthcare to the extent he did to whitewash their own problems, I wouldn’t complain. Sure his charity work is by no means ideal, but even the ugly charity he does actually winds up saving lives.

      • NostraDavid@programming.dev
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        9 days ago

        In camp “BG still has 4240000x times more money than me”.

        Not to mention he executed the “trolley problem meme” by killing a million to save a million. Now, he did not literally kill people (unlike some other CEOs I’ve heard about), but he did fuck over a ton of people, all in the name of “Business” (which is PR/propaganda for “greed”).

      • Cruxifux@feddit.nl
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        8 days ago

        He’s also harmed far more people than me, and the negative positive aspect is still net negative.