I don’t agree with OPs idea, but this assertion really bugs me.
Putting your finger on the upvote/downvote scale in any way amounts to censoring the community’s collective voice.
This is true, but lemmy is awash with people, bots, and other bad actors doing exactly this.
It would only be a reason not to take action if the existing system were free from such interactions.
I’m not advocating manipulating votes. I just wish everyone were more aware that vote manipulation is happening and it heavily influences the general opinion of lemmy.
In Australia there are phone numbers set aside exclusively for use in fictitious TV shows and stuff, to avoid idiots trying to call characters from TV or movies.
The ACMA publishes a list of these phone numbers. The first on the list is 0491 570 006.
Whenever I’m asked for a card I just say I forgot it and get the cashier to look it up with that number. I’ve never had to sign up since I started doing this.
Pro tip: often times the cashier will look surprised and ask your name, because they will be looking at dozens of other names that have used that number. Just ask who’s listed, pick one of the first ones and say ‘yeah Skye, that’s my girlfriend’ or whatever. Weird but it works.
That’s not what this thread is about though. Pay attention.
People hate Bill Gates more than other billionaires not engaged in philanthropy. My question is why? What is it about his philanthropy specifically that attracts more hatred than other billionaires?
If you looked at a list of the 10 wealthiest people, I’m sure there are names higher than Gates that most of us wouldn’t recognise.
Dude. Pay attention. We’re here discussing why everyone hates BG. Your point is “yeah well idiots think we need billionaires to pay for vaccines”? Is that why we should hate the person who is actually spending their fortune on vaccines?
Sure. Microsoft was a scumbag company in the 90s with some pretty aggressive corporate practices, and gates was the beneficiary of that.
I also agree that billionaires just generally shouldn’t exist.
That said, I guarantee that 99% of commenters in this thread have pension funds holding investments in infinitely worse scumbag companies.
Also, Gates more or less just stopped. He still has a 1% holding in Microsoft or something, but he’s not grinding away burning baby dolphin oil for personal gain.
There’s plenty of hatred for terrible corporate practices to go around, but I don’t understand why Gates is targeted more than anyone else.
Well of course kids should have vaccines for free.
Who gives out the free vaccines though? If governments don’t then who? If a wealthy person chooses to use their own money to do so, should we hate that person?
Also, I don’t really follow your claim around harming 10 million kids? Or return on investment? What harm and what investment? Can you elaborate?
This is the vast majority of his wealth and the very reason he’s moving down the list of wealthy people. Maybe he won’t make good on his pledge, but he appears to be doing exactly that.
The only evidence that this is a “smokescreen” is that these contributions make him look good.
There’s no evidence that he’s hoarding a gigantic pile of money in comparisson to the amounts he’s contributing. There’s plenty of other billionaires who aren’t doing anything at all.
My point is, if we’re looking around for billionaires to hate because they’re hoarding money and not helping why are we so fixated on the one who actually is contributing most of his money to these causes?
You’re absolutely right, and deep down I do agree that the civility with which we treat prisoners is the measure of society. Some countries more than others tend to engage in “revenge based” justice and its just yuck.
I got a bit carried away with my comment because lately my justice boner just keeps getting deferred or held over. It’s been a long time.
1·5 months ago
1·5 months ago
Dude. There’s plenty of idiots out there.