Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't Gates retired? And I have no idea if Torvalds is still active.

But historical photo aside, isn't this meeting a bunch of nothing?

Their pr firm seems to function very well at least.

Guess you're going to whitewash bezos, musk and zuckerberg next?

the ends don't justify the means.

Hitler experimented on hundreds of thousands of Jews and the medical world benefited from it greatly.

does that mean you're going to nuance the Nazi regime because they "did some good"?

no amount of good is worth the ounce of evil used to make it.

He is not a good person. But the foundation has done some good work.

seems like a justification to me dude. you're literally justifying his indiscretions, that you even call out, by saying the charity he heads "has done some good work".

And I sure as hell don’t white wash Bill Gates. You don’t get to that level of wealth and dominance without cracking skulls and ruining lives every step of the way.

I don't know if you're actually being misleading or confusing by accident but calling attention to it being "nuanced" is a clear indicator that your argument supports that the "ends justify the means".

I didn't compare them, but in your mind you understood it that way.

I used Hitler as an example, an extreme one, but still an example of "the ends justify the means".

could have use any number of examples, but I went with one I thought everyone could relate to. clearly I miscalculated the selfishness of modern day philosophies.

it's a nonprofit he directly benefits from because it has his name on it. he directly benefits from it by using it as a way to sway political power. he directly benefits from it through financial gains paid through the organization.

the entire concept of the foundation is contingent on his financial success. something of which he is well known for destroying lives for.

so tell me, how many of those ruined lives were acceptable for the good that his charity does? how many more lives must be ruined for the good to continue to be acceptable? would you find it acceptable if your life was destroyed to continue the good his charity does? would you be willing to accept your life to be ruined or ended to support the continuation of his charity?

I don't understand why you don't see the obvious correlation between the two so I'll over simplify it.

bad man makes bad money making people suffer. bad money makes good stuff happen under bad man name. bad man still bad man doing good stuff for bad reasons.

you sit and justify his actions by arguing he's doing good things. I question if he's doing good things just to do them or if they're a byproduct of him "cleansing" his name. after all, bad men do bad things. Ever heard of Alfred Nobel?

That's not how it works, it's not like "I do some good, now I can do some bad". It does not even out.

Bad people doesn't become good because "some good things came out of it".

If you do bad, then you are bad.

The charity did more than some good though.

Also, name one good historical person that didn't do at least some bad.

It is almost like things aren't black and white but more like Yin and Yang.

Name one bad historical person that didn't do at least some good.

Your moral compass is broken.

Every dictator did "some good work", are you thinking they are good people?

IMO your moral compass need maintenance.

I answered Honytawk 🤷🏼‍♀️?

You seems to be up in arms defending a shitty billionaire and his shitty charity, repeating over and over again that they did "some good", what kind of argument even is that? Dictators do "some good" too you know.

@LightFIAR

In the Usian case, the remaining three estates:

hcommons.social/@beadsland/114…

The third estate is the seat of power, yet the other four estates stand as power in each their own capacity.

Folk like simple stories. Folk like stories that clearly establish a monster, a villain, a singular enemy that can be gestured toward as the threat. Folk like stories that narrow the field of threat to the caricatured other.

Unfortunately, the world we inhabit is more than simple stories can represent.