• arymandias@feddit.de
    154·
    7 months ago

    Gates is just as evil as Musk, he is just better at it. Gates played a pivotal role in making sure the vaccine’s stayed under patent. Even when American farma didn’t have the capacity to produce enough and Indian factories had over capacity. The irony is that he did this using his position in the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, that tells you all you need to know about billionaire philanthropy.

    [edit] source: https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/

    • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
      86·
      7 months ago

      Idk who downvoted you, I guess people who think the problem with Musk is that he’s cringy or like a cartoon supervillain. No, all billionaires are evil. If you think Gates is a good guy that’s because you don’t understand what it takes to be a billionaire, what he does with his “charity”, or the history of how he’s run his business or destroyed antitrust purely because he was embarrassed at how bad he looked under cross examination. He has the charity specifically to launder his image, and as a result he’s found ways to be evil using it as cover that he wouldn’t have found back in his embrace, extend and extinguish days.

      EDIT: Also behind the bastards did episodes on both these absolute jackoffs:

      https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-the-ballad-of-bill-83715310/

      https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-i-do-not-like-63419860/

      You don’t get featured on that show unless you properly suck.

    • work is slow@lemmy.world
      54·
      7 months ago

      No clue why you’re being down voted. Youre right.

      Gates chose to patent life saving medicine during a global pandemic.

      The consequences of that decision are essentially withholding lifesaving medicine because it makes him more money.

      • schema@lemmy.world
        26·
        7 months ago

        I haven’t heard of that. Which vaccine did he patent?

        The only thing I remember was him speaking out for not lifting ongoing patents on the vaccines, and then reversed course as criticism grew bigger.

        • uzay@infosec.pub
          25·
          7 months ago

          Even before any of the vaccines were finished, there were plans to not grant them any patent protection so they can be produced and distributed as widely as possible. Gates and his foundation lobbied hard against that and instead came up with the bullshit plan to have rich countries buy vaccines for poor countries, which helped no one but the insane profits of the pharma companies. In the case of the vaccine developed with public funding by the Oxford University, Gates actively talked them out of releasing it with an open license, so they sold it to AstraZeneca instead.

          https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/

            • RocketBoots@programming.dev
              4·
              7 months ago

              Don’t waste your breath. I’m done with this platform. I hoped it would deliver what reddit couldn’t, but I was wrong.

              I don’t think I’ll ever find another platform that encouraged such measured responses. Every thing is either team red or team blue. I just hate how much people are willing ignore so their side can win. Maybe that’s just all of the internet now. That’s fine, it’s just that it’s no longer for me.

              ^(Edit: I agree with this person for what it’s worth.)

              • LemmysMum@lemmy.world
                7·
                7 months ago

                Don’t waste your breath.

                I just hate how much people are willing ignore so their side can win.

                Sad that your side lacks representation? Or is it a lack of conviction with your own opinions?

                Nobody wins a discussion because it’s not a competition, and your words aren’t going convince anyone who doesn’t want to be convinced. There’s never been a time when one could seek divine cognition from the mouth breathing troglodytes that make up the bulk of the bell curve.

                The problem isn’t the people, it’s your expectations.

                • LittleHermiT@lemmus.orgEnglish
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  My five year mission: To seek cognition from the mouth-breathing Troglodytes that make up the bulk of the bell curve.

                • RocketBoots@programming.dev
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  I don’t have a side. My personal politics is a shit mix that trends left. I feel like a leper wherever I go when I’m not ready to commit 100% to what either group is saying. I was just frustrated when I wrote that, I apologize.

              • Jaigoda@lemmy.worldEnglish
                4·
                7 months ago

                I find it strange that you’ve said this to one of the only comments that actually provided quotes of multiple articles that weren’t just opinion pieces. It’s also a bit odd that you’re “done with this platform” due to a relatively centrist position that mostly amounts to “it doesn’t seem like Bill Gates is James Bond Supervillain level evil.”

                In fact, generally both the blue and red “teams” (of the US) kinda hate Gates, just for different reasons. Someone coming out, reading the article linked by the comment that they’re responding to, and then providing reasonable counter-evidence is actually a bit of a breath of fresh air compared to typical Reddit or Lemmy, or the internet in general for that matter.

                And to be clear, I really don’t have a stake in the game here. I’m mildly interested to see whether Gates is as bad as others in this thread are saying, but coming into it I didn’t really have much of an opinion one way or the about the guy. Now, I’m just curious what has made you feel that the commenter you responded to couldn’t deliver what Reddit somehow did or does.

                • RocketBoots@programming.dev
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  Sorry, it’s been a tough couple of weeks and I was just frustrated. Layoffs finally got to me in the aftermath of the actors strike (leaderships reasoning, not mine because I actually saw what was going on internally).

                  I can’t tell sometimes if I’m trading one echo chamber for another. Reality is just bizarre sometimes. I had someone arguing with me about code in a video game. I wrote the code almost 10 years ago. I know reddit was just as bad, if not worse for that “loudest persons right” way of commenting. Usually it gets mixed in with a dash of hive mentality.

                  I know those points are all loosely related, I’m exhausted after working insane hours through the year with no vacation just to be dumped before the holidays. I need to unplug for a week or two I think.

                  Edit: Wait, about the comment I replied to? Yeah my bad. I’ve been avoiding disagreeing with people directly after I got harassed several months ago. I was really happy with that person’s comment, I was just a miserable prick at the time. I had to leave some communities and almost nuked my account when another lemmy instance unleashed their bots: every post I would walk into would be targeted and voted down into oblivion. You’d lose all visibility within a short period of time.

                  I’m not sure if there’s been work done since to address this, but I totally understand if they’re still not ready to tackle it. They are a volunteer crew after all. I should follow the repo on Github. Maybe there’s some small stuff I could help out with while I’m looking for work.

                • RocketBoots@programming.dev
                  2·
                  7 months ago

                  I think I’m going through some dumb “the internet was better when I was young” phase. Looking back on some of those proto-memes though… oooff.

              • LittleHermiT@lemmus.orgEnglish
                2·
                7 months ago

                You should stick to this platform over Reddit solely because you don’t get silenced here for your opinion when it conflicts with fragile, self-important moderators. Blue team / Red team is the natural tendency of all contentious issues, not the fault of the platform.

                • RocketBoots@programming.dev
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  Sorry, it’s been a tough couple of weeks and I was just frustrated. Layoffs finally got to me in the aftermath of the actors strike (leaderships reasoning, not mine because I actually saw what was going on internally).

                  I can’t tell sometimes if I’m trading one echo chamber for another. Reality is just bizarre sometimes. I had someone arguing with me about code in a video game. I wrote the code almost 10 years ago. I know reddit was just as bad, if not worse for that “loudest persons right” way of commenting. Usually it gets mixed in with a dash of hive mentality.

                  I know those points are all loosely related, I’m exhausted after working insane hours through the year with no vacation just to be dumped before the holidays. I need to unplug for a week or two I think.

        • Marxism-Fennekinism@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          7 months ago

          then reversed course as criticism grew bigger

          That’s always been his MO. He literally used to be a eugenicist (likely still is privately) until the backlash from that started threatening his career, and all of a sudden he flip flopped and started pretending that eugenics doesn’t even exist let alone him being a vocal part of it.

          • ultranaut@lemmy.world
            4·
            7 months ago

            I’ve never heard of Gates being a eugenics believer, can you point to some credible evidence for this claim?

    • gens@programming.dev
      22·
      7 months ago

      Gates at least does something. Yea all rich people charities are tax evasion schemes, but at least he does something. Musk kills turtles and strokes his rocket to it.

      • uzay@infosec.pub
        25·
        7 months ago

        Yes, he’s working hard on prioritzing profits over people even harder in the medical industry.

        • gens@programming.dev
          15·
          7 months ago

          No, he does do stuff. I already said about their charities, and you tell me of like i know nothing. I also know about his boat and planes.

          I said that he, unlike all the other rich cunts, does something. Do you see the nuance in my words ? Do i need to both italize and bold it for you ?

          • DeceasedPassenger@lemmy.world
            16·
            7 months ago

            So Mr gates is special because… he’s your special favorite guy? Because last time I checked almost all billionaires give to charities and foundations. Something is not anything just because you declare it, no matter how hard you emphasize it. There is absolutely nothing unique or special about his giving versus anyone else’s. You’re really acting like he’s the only rich pedo to ever start a 501c3. Gates shills sure out hard today.

            • gens@programming.dev
              11·
              7 months ago

              Again, all rich ppl charities are money laundering. It has to do with how economics (epecially usa taxes) work. And those charities are useless, even more then carbon offsets.

              I never said Gates is the greatest angle to ever grace us, all i said is that he is not a completely heartless cunt of a person like Jeff or Elon.

              And it’s not about giving charities, it’s about the initiatives.

              Also go fuck yourself. I can talk shit about Gates for hours. I’m just not an extremist to see only black or white. Cunt.

          • Free Palestine 🇵🇸@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            7 months ago

            Inside any important philanthropy meeting, you witness heads of state meeting with investment managers and corporate leaders. All are searching for answers with their right hand to problems that others in the room have created with their left.

            ― Peter Buffett, the son of Warren Buffett

      • Kalkaline @leminal.space
        17·
        7 months ago

        Charity just means your special interest gets what would otherwise be tax dollars. There’s nothing democratic about charity. It’s just churched up oligarchy.

        • gens@programming.dev
          9·
          7 months ago

          It’s worse then that for the very rich. Their “charities” are made up of their friends and family, and the money eventually circles back to them. It’s literally tax evasion.

      • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        7 months ago

        I’m sorry but Musk’s rockets are probably the most environmentally friendly. There was the dust cloud in orbital flight test 1 but it’s definitely not as bad as some other launches from other organisations. Rockets fail and that’s not a problem if you fail intentionally.

    • aidan@lemmy.world
      4·
      7 months ago

      You’ve just convinced me I have early onset dementia. Knew that wasn’t his name but couldn’t remember at all what it was before looking it up, and could only thing of Lance Armstrong.

  • Demuniac@lemmy.world
    26·
    7 months ago

    It’s funny how these things go sometimes.

    At work we had an anti vaccine person who followed her “let them push your body full of these poisons” by going outside to get a smoke.

    They usually don’t think things through much.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
    7·
    7 months ago

    I’m reading Stephen King’s The Dark Half right now and I keep imagining George Stark as the blonde guy

  • Floey@lemm.ee
    6·
    7 months ago

    These men are both enemies of the people, we shouldn’t make one look good by comparing them.