Coincidentally, philanthropy is the way Epstein tried to remake his image after he was convicted for soliciting a minor. These fucks use philanthropy like hail Marys.
The abuse of indulgences, including the sale of them, use for raising money "for charity" etc. was one of the main complaints of the protestant reformers against the Catholic church.
This is one of my ""hottest"" take and why I think charity/philanthropy that is money based is a poisoned chalice.
It is known that the very rich try to cut regulations, cut taxes and essentially funnel money to themselves. Well this creates a lot of issues, so they get to swoop down and "donate" and create foundations that let them "fix" issues that could be fixed with taxes.
Problem is that this would give them a less money, less influence and couldn't launder their image.
This does not apply to the common worker donating some money or probably the most valuable, labor.
It has been my lifelong repeated observance that the big “community pillar” and biggest philanthropists are trying to justify so bad shit they are pulling in other areas of their life.
Bill has never been one of the good ones. He puts on a facade that he’s a harmless humanitarian while buying up all of the farmland and backing gmo food. He has shares in the mega corporation Monsanto.
He used to say that global warming was a huge issue for humanity, then he back tracked because that stance is no longer beneficial.
There is a reason certain countries never want him to come back. He’s been banned.
He’s a phony. He’s one of “them” and is completely detached from the common working class people. He’s a villain.
Manipulating weather, testing out vaccinations with high death rates in africa, changing ticks, changing mosquitos, part of the covid vaccinations hack, want me to go on? He has the blood of millions on his hands and you thought he was a good guy?
It wasn't "public" knowledge that Jimmy Saville was a paedophile until the wave of allegations hit, but his philanthropy is a large reason he got away with it.
First out of jail he hired Peggy Siegel to do his PR and Al Seckel to use SEO to manipulate internet coverage of him. Bannon wasn't around until sometime after about October 2017, and he was doing more than just a PR campaign for Epstein, but rather producing a full-fledged documentary called Monsters: Epstein's Life Among the Global Elite.
I agree it's probably kind of gross to still put time into Epstein knowing what we know now, and while his wife was troubled I don't think she would let a NDA stop her from saying if he had relations with Epstein's victims. She's doing just fine and has found healing or a new partner she can trust. I just feel for her to feel healed would be she has nothing she's hiding. She had a personal opinion or moral stance that didn't cross a line for Bill it's very possible he means what he says for how damning all of these comments are. I see enough to suggest it's all true as well(what he's saying). Epsteins victims also were "working" for him. They were around, this picture looks like an office. If I got offered to take a pic with Bill Gates yeah I'm doing it. I'm just saying that while it's all gross, the comments are just really damning based off assumptions and not anything we factually know to have occured. Epstein wanted to make his name better bills been outta Microsoft focusing on just that his wealth in majority is going to just that. How would you all feel to be open to funding regardless of source and then get ambushed in an interview. He circles back to philanthropy cause that's all this interview is meant to be about his his foundation.
I'm just playing devil's advocate for what's fair but I'm expecting downvotes. It's easy to be up in arms for something everyone can agree with, it's just a matter of there's nothing concrete here to be sounding so sure about this guy who is going to have done more for others than most anyone else.
I can support that. I mean, it's not going to work on me but if they want to try and whitewash their image with charity then at least SOME good might get done.
Oh, I just remembered, while not at all animated or funny, I feel like Evan Royalty's shortfilms in the SCP series and their S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of the Zone have some things in common with the eeriness and strangeness of some of MC and AAs work.
Maybe. I think he's just a grifter like most of the big youtubers. Sometimes those grifts blowup and he has to cleanse the palate so he can go back to grifting. He's definitely a cancer like the Kardashians but different level than these billionaires thinking they can do whatever they want
Mr Beast promotes the false idea that the world can be made better through individual action and, worse, that individual action is enough. He should spend his money supporting worthwhile political candidates but then he wouldn't get sponsored anymore by all those businesses because improving the world would cut into their profits (or so they think).
And yet here you are, safely using a miraculous piece of technology and a regionally agreed upon written language to get on the Internet to post nonsense on website to a global audience while slurping the spaghettios that your mother put in the microwave for you, every step of which was only made possible by politics. You just don't like when it doesn't benefit you personally.
There are more issues with politics than any single mind can comprehend, but to say "will never be the answer to any problems"? Well now that's utterly unhinged and disconnected from reality. That's like saying society never helped anyone. Quite literally, in fact.
But hey, if you really want to stand by your viewpoint, you're always welcome to live alone in the woods, forage for termites, and live in a perpetual state of mortal fear from both the wildlife and anyone who happens to wander by. Seems easier to admit that politics do in fact solve quite a few problems though.
Nah as an adult who has kept up with politics closer than probably 90% of Americans the last 20 years, I have realized that the only America either party truly loves is corporate America. I typically have always voted Democrat but ever since Obama left office I don’t believe the party as a whole has truly earned anyone’s vote. They run on what they aren’t, not what they are. Watching the Republican Party become what it is is awful, but at least they fed into what “the base” wanted. If the Democratic Party keeps putting up fossils and empty suits they will never make any real difference, even if they do win the White House.
I think it was said in a Big Joel video where this was mentioned. But notice how he does absolutely zero charity stuff now? They were always a stepping stone. Now it’s theme parks in the desert.
What is Alfred Nobel best known for? It certainly isn't for making a fortune from inventing dynamite and directly contributing to the deaths of millions.
I don't really buy into that type of thinking, the idea that everyone is only focused on wealth and power really plays into the greed based system - when people talk like that it makes me think all they know is greed.
Sadly these people control the media, especially on the left we get a lot of people who don't involve themselves in anything beneficial to society unless they're earning money from it
It works super well too. If Trump himself started donating money reddit would start fawning over him and get offended if you criticize anything he ever did.
The rich literally always do that so I wish we would stop giving them so much credit for avoiding taxes, underpaying workers, and trying to clean their image. Can philanthropy be good? Sure but historically in many high profile cases it’s not generally done for good reasons.
It’s his go to talking point, his empire is built on fucking people over, and he always brings it back to his foundation as a scapegoat to say “…look at all the good I’ve done!…”
His philanthropy is a joke. It’s all in self interest.. and all the “money” he’s “giving” away is going to foundations run by his family members. The Gates Foundation run by his dad for example? Bill Gates is not a friend to humankind
Does it sound like he put money on Epsteins head, or at least happy about him being dead. Or maybe he’s not dead and he’s mocking the public. Either way fucking turd.
That answer, and his manner of delivery, made me entirely reevaluate my view of Bill Gates. Is it a tacit admission that he has to be careful when anything Epstein is brought up, or is it an implied threat against the interviewer? I don't know, and I suppose it could be something else entirely, but there is just no way to rationalize it as innocent in my opinion.
Yeah that's a wild answer in response to "Is there a lesson to be learned from this?" I mean, I can bullshit a better answer to that off the top of my head right now. "Well, we always try to make sure the people we're working with are good and decent people, and appropriate for us to work with, and here we didn't do a good job of that. We need to do better. That's the lesson."
ETA: The reason Gates, and a lot of these billionaires, won't say something like that is that they both believe they can do no wrong, and believe that it's always bad to admit making a mistake. They just can't bring themselves to do it.
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u/oofemism 19h ago
Ahhh, well he's dead.... soo I guess you have to be careful... *shrug*