Ω 🌍 Gus PoseyInstead of adoring billionaires until they prove us wrong, I think we should start off angry and let them win us over with philanthropy, thoughtfulness, and a clear desire to make the world a better place.
ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘@Gustodon You're right Gus.
@anne_twain Thanks. I appreciate that.
Dis@Gustodon I think you described #BillGates and I'm not planning to forgive the lasting harm he did to the industry, the country and the workers. It doesn't matter to me that he spent recent years shining up his image by spending just a fraction of a fraction of the wealth and power he has wielded for decades.
#Microsoft is still very much the nasty, thieving company he built, and so long as he's above the poverty line Microsoft is his legacy.
Steve Randy Waldman@dis @Gustodon billionaire philanthropy does more harm than good. it deforms politics and activism to bend to a few individuals’ wills, whether the individuals are well intentioned or not. it whitewashes the inevitably destructive circumstances that allowed them to become billionaires, and the often directly predatory behavior the billionaires engaged in. as individuals, we are all redeemable, billionaires too. as a society, plutocracy just has to end.
@interfluidity I can't agree that it's always harmful, but I see your point.
@Gustodon i wouldn’t say it’s always harmful, but that as an institution that it’s net harmful. obviously there are plenty of cases where plutocratic philanthropy helps people. but what are its costs? in terms of a our ability to build a world where people might have less need to be helped by discretionary charity?
@interfluidity It's my hope that we eventually move to a system of planetary socialism, like on Star Trek. In the meantime, it seems clear that the very wealthy fail an important moral test every day, even when they're doing some good.
Toot Uncommon Ω GEN STRIKE 5/1
Barry Goldman@Gustodon maybe we all should just stop feeding them. Is wealth and decision makinv concentration a viable strategy for h. Sapiens?