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Maybe you are too young to remember how his empire behaves toward people who help themselves. Look into his past if you want to understand what he values. Poi

Maybe you are too young to remember how his empire behaves toward people who help themselves. Look into his past if you want to understand what he values. Pointing out a solution that anyone can build for less than a quarter of a day's worth of work should give you some indication about what's possible without extravagant numbers of currency units extracted from people through lies, manipulations, and other self-degrading acts. Hopefully, this site, being for hackers, is where we can dismantle our broken systems and build sustainable ones in their place. Ideologies are systems too, just like water purifiers.

gambiting 12y ago
"Look into his past if you want to understand what he values." Jesus, I held some views 2 years ago that I wouldn't identify with now, and you want to look at what he did 20 years ago and say he still has the same values? And I am all up for dismantling broken systems,but there is nothing broken about him spending his fortune on helping the poor. If you can build things like this in a quarter of a day......have you considered helping out yourself? I mean if you went to India yourself you could be building over a thousand purifiers per year, that should help, no?
- WiggleYourIndex 12y ago
  "The tiger cannot change its stripes." (One can't change one's essential nature.) More importantly, a guise of philanthropy is an understandably effective front for profoundly immoral conduct. Without going into detail, if you look underneath thin, shiny, white veneers of people with exploitative, corrupt histories, you'll find worse in their present day actions. Today, a fortune can be useful for "shaping public opinion". A thoughtful person with a good memory can see past a fake smile and a Blah Blah Foundation name by reading about what is happening in this world through reports by self-directed journalists who work for reasons beyond currency units. Yes, I am a helper. And, I do appreciate your push to do more and to ground this discussion in practicalities. People around our planet need water purification today; and we may need simple, effective tools as well if winds shift.
  - rictic 12y ago
    You're making your argument out of innuendo and rhetorical flourish, which can be used to argue for almost any position. You will have more luck here speaking directly and to the facts, for example: "This year Bill Gates did X which is bad for reason Y."
    - WiggleYourIndex 12y ago
      * http://www.geekwire.com/2014/teachers-protest-gates-foundation/ http://www.geekwire.com/2014/teachers-protest-gates-foundati... * http://techrights.org/2014/08/11/rich-at-public-expence/ http://techrights.org/2014/08/11/rich-at-public-expence/ * https://www.popularresistance.org/protesters-want-gates-foundation-to-stop-investing-in-private-prisons/ https://www.popularresistance.org/protesters-want-gates-foun... * http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/gates-foundations-24-most-egregious-investments http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/gates-foundat... * http://www.thenation.com/article/181342/how-gates-foundations-investments-are-undermining-its-own-good-works http://www.thenation.com/article/181342/how-gates-foundation... Y is more complex. I hope it suffices to say, it will take another outlook on life than one with war profiteering, imprisonment profiteering, food-poisoning profiteering, dumbing down society, and whatever other sick thoughts run through the minds of that man and others like him .. to make a better world on this planet of ours.
  - pyrois 12y ago
    > Without going into detail, if you look underneath thin, shiny, white veneers of people with exploitative, corrupt histories, you'll find worse in their present day actions. I would be more likely to believe you if you did go into detail. What exactly has Gates done in the past year or so that you object to? Or two years, or any reasonable definition of "present day"?
    - soperj 12y ago
      Not the OP but I really dislike what he's doing in the public school sector.
    - WiggleYourIndex 12y ago

gambiting 12y ago

"Look into his past if you want to understand what he values." Jesus, I held some views 2 years ago that I wouldn't identify with now, and you want to look at what he did 20 years ago and say he still has the same values? And I am all up for dismantling broken systems,but there is nothing broken about him spending his fortune on helping the poor. If you can build things like this in a quarter of a day......have you considered helping out yourself? I mean if you went to India yourself you could be building over a thousand purifiers per year, that should help, no?

WiggleYourIndex 12y ago
"The tiger cannot change its stripes." (One can't change one's essential nature.) More importantly, a guise of philanthropy is an understandably effective front for profoundly immoral conduct. Without going into detail, if you look underneath thin, shiny, white veneers of people with exploitative, corrupt histories, you'll find worse in their present day actions. Today, a fortune can be useful for "shaping public opinion". A thoughtful person with a good memory can see past a fake smile and a Blah Blah Foundation name by reading about what is happening in this world through reports by self-directed journalists who work for reasons beyond currency units. Yes, I am a helper. And, I do appreciate your push to do more and to ground this discussion in practicalities. People around our planet need water purification today; and we may need simple, effective tools as well if winds shift.
- rictic 12y ago
  You're making your argument out of innuendo and rhetorical flourish, which can be used to argue for almost any position. You will have more luck here speaking directly and to the facts, for example: "This year Bill Gates did X which is bad for reason Y."
  - WiggleYourIndex 12y ago
    * http://www.geekwire.com/2014/teachers-protest-gates-foundation/ http://www.geekwire.com/2014/teachers-protest-gates-foundati... * http://techrights.org/2014/08/11/rich-at-public-expence/ http://techrights.org/2014/08/11/rich-at-public-expence/ * https://www.popularresistance.org/protesters-want-gates-foundation-to-stop-investing-in-private-prisons/ https://www.popularresistance.org/protesters-want-gates-foun... * http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/gates-foundations-24-most-egregious-investments http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/gates-foundat... * http://www.thenation.com/article/181342/how-gates-foundations-investments-are-undermining-its-own-good-works http://www.thenation.com/article/181342/how-gates-foundation... Y is more complex. I hope it suffices to say, it will take another outlook on life than one with war profiteering, imprisonment profiteering, food-poisoning profiteering, dumbing down society, and whatever other sick thoughts run through the minds of that man and others like him .. to make a better world on this planet of ours.
- pyrois 12y ago
  > Without going into detail, if you look underneath thin, shiny, white veneers of people with exploitative, corrupt histories, you'll find worse in their present day actions. I would be more likely to believe you if you did go into detail. What exactly has Gates done in the past year or so that you object to? Or two years, or any reasonable definition of "present day"?
  - soperj 12y ago
    Not the OP but I really dislike what he's doing in the public school sector.
  - WiggleYourIndex 12y ago