this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I have mixed feelings. His gist is basically that he agrees billionaires shouldn't exist and that there's no ethical billionaire and he wants reforms to make it so they don't. But he argues that we live in a system where billionaires are inevitable and that it would be stupid not to invest wisely and make billions if he can because if he doesn't someone else just will and he can use the money for good.

However, even if you buy this narrative of good billionaire, you can just look to his ties will Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda gates foundation to see that, even if he did mean well, his perception on how to do good is completely twisted.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Oh no, not that horrible person Bill Gates who checks notes saved 50 million peoples lives

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Bill gates put a lot of effort into making monopolies. He tried to stomp out Linux. And, part of his whole weird philantrophy was trying to circumcise the men of Africa to save them from aids but inadvertanly likely increased the spread of aids which is just one case study in how his foundation can help but also does harmful bananas shit.

Listen to the behind the bastards on him. Warren buffet might get a pass if you squint, but Bill Gates is a bastard.

Edit: I would like to say that "increased the spread of aids" is probably misleading in that I make it sound like the program overall increased AIDS in Africa. That is not true. There is controversial evidence that circumcision may decrease the spread of AIDS. There's controversial evidence that circumcision led the risky behavior in circumcised men who felt they were immune after circumcision. The data, since its an uncontrollable population study, is messy. But, Bills foundation involvent in Africa has had many unintended consequences across the continent that has saves some lives and cost others and no one man should have such strong say on the health policies of an entire continent. Personally, I also feel very strongly no one man should have such strong sway on campaigns which result is mass surgery on the genitals of an entirely different group of men when there are arguably better ways to mitigate disease transmission.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

Fifty. MILLION.

The man should literally be made into a saint. "Oooh Linux blah blah" FIFTY FUCKING MILLION LIVES SAVED. The man has far outweighed anything bad he's ever done in his life.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

At the same time you could argue that his decisions have affected billions of people on this planet in a negative way and the fifty million lives saved were to whitewash everything else he's done. He's not doing it out of the kindness of his heart, he did it because 1) Melinda told him she'd fuck off if he kept being such a jackass, and 2) As one of the most hated men in the world, he needed to fix his image.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't care why he did it, and neither should you. What a ridiculous purity test.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I mean he more or less did it at gunpoint. Do you not remember how hated he used to be? He would've been shot by someone eventually for sure.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Bill Gates has saved 50 million lives according to Bill Gates. But his business and philanthropy practices have directly and indirectly led to degradation of quality of life and death in such complex ways we can't even put a number on it.

Because Bill Gates, and generally philanthropy from people of his generation, want to throw money at a problem without asking the people they are trying to help how to help them. When you just try to save people without including them in the process because you think you know better than them what's best for them, there's usually pretty unintended and bad side effects.

So, not only was he a pretty cut throat and immoral business man, but even when he tries to buy his way into being a good person with the money he makes from his business practices that rely on monopolies and unethically cheap labor, he fucks it up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The article you linked is pretty disingenuous and is obviously ideologically opposed to the voluntary circumcision program. The key as to why the program was ultimately unsuccessful is this:

"I blame those who told me that if I get circumcised I won't get HIV," said one respondent, "and I got HIV already!" Others mourned the loss of friends, brothers, relatives, and neighbors to AIDS following the procedure they believed would protect them. "These people are dying of HIV due to ignorance," a respondent explained.

The WHO claimed that male to female transmission is reduced by 60% among circumcised males, and I don't think that statistic is in question in that article. The problem was that people neglected safe sex practices after being circumcised.

You're absolutely correct that helping people is hard, particularly in developing nations. We see time and again that programs designed to improve quality of life have unintended and deleterious consequences.

That said, I feel certain that they did in fact ask the people they were trying to help how to help them, and I'm confident that you don't have any evidence that Gates just landed in Africa and started cutting people without any kind of support from African leaders.

Sure, the program was ultimately unsuccessful. Does that mean Gates is the bad guy compared to other billionaires who didn't spend their money trying to help?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I linked a research paper, an article interviewing Africans, and a third article outlining all the unintended consequences of bill gates program. The problem with his program is not just that it didn't focus on education. It's that Bill Gates got to decide where the majority of money for medical purposes was in sub Saharan Africa in a way that actually limited medical care outside of very specific programs that the bill and Melinda gates deemed important and had unintended consequences. Honestly, the big part that I haven't honed on enough is the aspect of how much control this gives Bill Gates has over peoples lives. He's a major donor to the UN health agency and the WHO and has a huge amount of power there that he actually sways to dictate policy. He has huge sway over who lives and who dies. I'm glad you're confident Bill Gates didn't just land in Africa without support from leaders of African countries and thus and inferred "support from Africans". But you and I both know that his huge wealth creates a weird power imbalance with whoever he donates to and I argue that he exercises that power imbalance in a negative way to do what he thinks is best for others instead of asking people what's best for them.

And, honestly, his vaccination and anti malraia programs saved crazy amounts of lives. I'm not here to act like his philanthropy did nothing to save lives. I'm here to argue that individual men trying to save whole continents by throwing money at problems in ways that also gives them influence and control over a population doesn't absolve them of their other sins, this isn't the most effective way to actually save lives, this has unintended consequences that actually costs some lives, and generally how bill gates uses his foundation isn't how world problems should be handled.

You say at least he spends money on programs unlike others. But I argue that this doesn't make him good because he doesn't do it from a place of good or do it in a good way. he doesnt actually pay attention or care about his philanthropy. He was pressured into becoming philanthropic by his mom and, after she died, his dad who then handled it. He only got active after he stepped down as the head of Microsoft (because he was forced down after anti trust shit) and I argue he stayed for the power he gained after he lost power at Microsoft. Much of his foundation money actually goes... To other large companies (like Monsanto, MasterCard, and Vodafone). So, on top of everything, his philanthropy has a huge "giant capitalist companies will save the world" twist to it when we should be focusing on universal health care.

Also, to be detailed on the AIDS thing, the reduction in transmission by 60% is highly controversial in the science community. The research was extremely flawed. There was a lot of skepticism in the science community before and for good reason. And, don't get me wrong, circumcision probably does decrease the spread of sexually transmitted HIV by reducing the likelyhood a man will get HIV from vaginal sex and then spread it... And HIV is down some so part of some anti HIV program actually was successful. But I'll also leave this reddit comment here as it highlights a lot of journal articles that indicate it wasn't circumcision.

Bill gates is not a good guy. Bill Gates is a guy who throws his unethically obtained eboranant wealth at issues in a way that gives him control and actually hinders non capitalistic universal health care which would arguably be more effective. Many times it works out. But it also warped.

Seriously there 2 hours of a behind the bastards episode on this that organizes everything much better than I can on Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The man should literally be made into a saint

The man fucked children with Epstein, be absolutely shouldn't you fucking weirdo

To the downvotes: weirdly simping for somebody who repeatedly flew the Lolita Express? Y'all fuck Kids too, huh?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah I don't understand this bizarre hatred for Gates.

How many other billionaires are spending their fortunes trying to help the most vulnerable people?