Please don't invoke the Bill Gates apologists π
this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
243 points (92.0% liked)
Programmer Humor
24932 readers
1287 users here now
Welcome to Programmer Humor!
This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!
For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.
Rules
- Keep content in english
- No advertisements
- Posts must be related to programming or programmer topics
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
trust me bro
They exist??
Sadly yes. Ever since he became a "philanthropist", people come out of the woodwork to say he's "one of the good ones". I have to remind them that he may be "good" now but he can still pay his fucking taxes and be better.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation lobbied against waiving intellectual property laws that would've let countries produce the vaccines themselves. Instead, only the pharma companies that owned the IP could produce it, and those vaccines were immediately gobbled up by wealthy countries leaving millions in poorer countries without a vaccine. So no, he's not one of the good ones, his philanthropy is still evil with a hint of good purely to launder his reputation.
like a cult of cucked poor people.
they don't care about how much evil he's had to subject the world to, as long as some good is done they believe it's worth it.
I'm probably one of the people OP is thinking of. Before my time he was apparently a massive bastard, and he even admits to it. These days, as far as I can tell, he rescues Africans and doesn't do much else. Every other famous billionaire is higher on my shit list.
so what's your threshold for being a scumbag piece of shit?
gotta be pretty high if you think Gates is an "okay" kind of guy.
I guess a better question should be, how many people have to die for a philanthropist to be held responsible?
Almost certainly, he's saved far more lives than he's taken at this point.
He scalped Western technophobes pretty hard and tried to hobble a lot of early FOSS efforts (although we came through in the end). Few of the idiots buying Windows XP licences needed that money more then the recipients of the Gates fund, though, so if that's his lifetime transaction it's based.
so whatβs your threshold for being a scumbag piece of shit?
It's not clear good people exist at all.
so we're going yo ignore all the bad things he's done in the name of goodwill?
- advocated for IP rights to remain in pharmaceutical hands and block access to lifesaving inoculations
- utilized the BAMG foundation to launder money for their rich friends like Buffet and Epstein
- leveraged their connections made via BAMG to broaden their control of markets worldwide
- negatively influenced access to healthcare inside and outside the US
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/07/how-bill-gates-makes-the-world-worse-off
it's clear that the BAMG foundation is a dark corporate support tool used to clean the Gates legacy and help launder their rich friends names, money, and influence.
good should be done for the improvement of humanity and bad people should be held accountable for their crimes. if every one accepts the bad and supports those who perpetrate the evil then justice will never prevail and society will succumb to corruption. that sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?
People like you that accept the evil subjected to the world as justification for the good, make me sick. you should be ashamed of yourself.
People also say he's putting microchips in the COVID vaccines, so pardon me if I'm skeptical about all that. It appears to be a philanthropic project. Maybe not the best possible one, but one nonetheless.
good should be done for the improvement of humanity and bad people should be held accountable for their crimes.
Wouldn't the "holding accountable" itself involve some bad actions?
fuck you.
<3
I killed 5, now I gave blood and saved 3, only 2 to go to be "morally clean" am I right?
Pfff.
Hey, it's a pretty popular ethical philosophy. Generally, people like to leave caveats, but fully rejecting all consequentialism is similarly uncommon.
If you're going to be a pure deontologist, you have to pick out single actions he's done that went against your chosen rules. One hurdle there is that most of his activities were legal in their time or place. Another is that seeking personal profit is almost universal and often commended.
Have you heard of the trolley problem? You should check it out instead of trying to "get me" with some slop. Also, legit isn't moral!
The fact I know what deontology means should suggest that I've heard of the trolley problem.
Also, leg[al] isnβt moral!
Correct. But, you'd have to figure out an alternative system of rules that he broke. And it may very well capture people you like as well. Most people would have no problem killing a technical standard for a very large sum of money.
I can't say it's impossible to do reasonably, but I can't say it is possible either. Most people just acknowledge that sometimes the ends justify the means.
You're just moving the goalpoast, as you most probably know what that is too, you know what you're doing and this acts in bad faith.
Go bootlick a billionaire if you want to but don't come here try to convince anyone that they are in any way good people, that's just propaganda, and if you're not paid to do it then you are also a fool.
Edit: it's clearly just ai slop now, I'm not answering that lol.
It's not clear what goalpost you mean, exactly. Any consequentialism being bad, or pure consequentialism?
I was pretty careful not to set a goalpost of any kind on pure consequentialism, if you go back and double check, exactly because it has well-known problems.
Go bootlick a billionaire if you want to but donβt come here try to convince anyone that they are in any way good people
Don't flatter them with the evil genius shit either. That's how they want to be seen.
I prefer to blame every big company, like "fuck Google", "fuck Microsoft". Sounds better.
Fuck Nestle
......fsck cocacola, apple, valve and walmart then
well maybe not walmart, no need to, they did it themselves
Rubbish it was my code that failed!
Hogwash it was clearly the fault of name of most recent developer to resign and take a job at another company!
HE is a gigantic POS so why not?
Eh, I would have agreed 20 years ago, but of late he seems to be at least trying to right the books before he shuffles off this mortal coil.
Besides, we have new oligarchs to shit on and blame for things and they are infinitely more culpable and shitty than he ever was really.
He isn't.
Many of those who get called 'philanthropists' or claim to be don't do it for altruistic reasons.
Plenty of profits from the Gates foundation.
1 example, Billy makes a deal with African governments where his foundation funds a small percentage of medicine (with many tax advantages), the bulk by the respective states.
Invariably the medicine is the one Billy has invested in.
There's plenty more if you look into it.
I don't bcs I know that scumbag will never change.
But looks like plenty people are easily fooled.
wait... you back up your statement with "i've not looked it up"?
Comprehensive reading?
iβve not looked it up FURTHER since, as I explained, I know of plenty facts, not "claims" before that.
So I know he's also scum even in his BS 'philanthropist' capacity.
You can keep simping for the billionaires all you want, IDC
I wasn't simping so much as arguing we have much more relevant set of billionaires to direct ire to.
Even in your example, he is helping get states to invest in medicine for their populace. Is it wholly altruistic, no. Could it end up as a net positive, possibly. I only said he was trying to get his karmic balance sheet to look better, not that he had miraculously become a good person.
" I only said he was trying to get his karmic balance sheet to look better" not even that. These sociopaths don't believe in karma or accountabillity.
He was, is and always will be evil.
My insane conspiracy theorist mother in law would love this.
Sadly.