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SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

You will never be saved by a billionaire. There are no Lenins who can save you who won’t be replaced with Stalins when the time comes.

Real change comes from the bottom up, not the top down, and if you fail to see the can of worms this guy opened with his single act, you’re just oblivious.

It would be like acting like the assassination of Franz Ferdinand didn’t impact the beginning of World War I.

All throughout history you can find single instances which, in the end, inspire society to respond and react. We may be in one of those moments and you’re busy telling us there’s nothing changing while we’re busy watching Wanted posters of various healthcare CEOs popping up all over NYC.

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nifty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Okay fair points, perhaps! But I think literally two days ago there was front page post about a billionaire who gave away his fortune and died with something like 200M. I mean, if he made sure his money was being spent wisely then he did a net good for humanity.

Secondly, I don’t mean to antagonize with these posts, so if anyone’s feelings were hurt, I feel bad.

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- SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Meh, I don’t know about anyone else, I don’t think you’re being antagonistic, you just have a different perspective.
  
  But I think literally two days ago there was front page post about a billionaire who gave away his fortune and died with something like 200M
  
  The problem with this is that society doesn’t get to choose where his money went, he did. When it comes to the mega-rich, what they think will help people versus what will really help people is often league away. Further, a lot of what they leave their money for is stuff that is just part of society in other countries.
  
  I don’t care about some guy leaving a trust so low-income kids in his state can attend college for cheaper when other countries have higher education just as accessible as basic education and it’s all paid for by taxes already. It even makes the colleges more strict on accepting applicants, because they don’t want to be wasting money on students who will fail.
  
  Our system says “fuck the student, let them take the risk financially, and if they fail, fuck em, their own fault.”
  
  Anyway, the point being that those billionaires have “pet projects” and often those pet projects don’t align with what actually helps people… which is why people advocate for higher taxes for the wealthy, so we do have input on where that money goes, instead of letting some billionaire fuckwad decide that only his ideas are good enough.
  
  Musk is a perfect example, actually.
  
  truthout.org/…/musk-pledged-6b-to-solve-world-hun…
  
  The WFP took Musk up on his challenge and issued a report just three days later detailing how it could use the funds to feed 42 million of the people across the world who were most at risk of starvation for a year. Of course, the money from Musk, who is notorious for pledging to do good with his money and influence and then backing out, never materialized — not for the WFP, anyway.
  
  Instead, the money went to the Musk Foundation, which appears to be set up in a way that is similar to other foundations started by billionaires; essentially, the sole purpose of these foundations is allowing the rich to dodge taxes while painting themselves as charitable.
  
  Oh and after giving himself some money, then he spent $44 billion to buy Twitter instead of helping people.
  
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  - skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    funnily enough luigi would disagree with this exact take
    
    Image
    
    xcancel.com/pepmangione?cursor=DAABCgABGejOMJU__6…
    
    this is because he’s an “effective altruist” which is an ideology cooked specifically to justify current day greed with future charity. also includes bad scifi and cult of AI
    
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  - nifty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    I like how you frame your pov, it’s convincing. Esp. this part,
    
    The problem with this is that society doesn’t get to choose where his money went, he did.
    
    I agree, and I’ve always been about higher taxes on their wealthy. The point in original point was more that the left needs effective, goal-directed leadership. Not martyrs or short-term solutions.
    
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