The purchase of The Baltimore Sun is further proof that conservative billionaires understand the power of media control. Why don’t their liberal counterparts get it?
I’d argue that Bill Gates and George Soros are good examples of people trying to push vaccinations, push democracy, push general worthy causes as opposed to just “more money and power for me and my friends.” The problem is, billionaires motivated by power for its own sake are going to (a) outnumber the other kind by quite a lot (b) put much more effort into grabbing the reins of the media and steering it to manipulate public opinion, than are those who’re just do-gooders in a general sense.
While Gates has certainly been involved in good causes, it has nothing to do with how he became a billionaire. He employed the same awful practices as every other billionaire, including employing other equally awful now-billionaires (Ballmer/Allen).
Gates’ behavior changed rather suddenly a long time ago. I don’t know what caused it, but he went from cutthroat exploitation to charity work, with little overlap between. I fully agree that he is an outlier, and in more ways than one.
I have only a few data points, but Bill Gates and Daniel Ellsberg both had women in their lives who seemed pretty involved in turning them from “gimme that check” to “hey maybe the world shouldn’t be all shitty all the time.” Ellsberg actually pretty explicitly lays out how his lady was involved in turning him anti-Pentagon in “Secrets”.
I’d argue that Bill Gates and George Soros are good examples of people trying to push vaccinations, push democracy, push general worthy causes as opposed to just “more money and power for me and my friends.” The problem is, billionaires motivated by power for its own sake are going to (a) outnumber the other kind by quite a lot (b) put much more effort into grabbing the reins of the media and steering it to manipulate public opinion, than are those who’re just do-gooders in a general sense.
While Gates has certainly been involved in good causes, it has nothing to do with how he became a billionaire. He employed the same awful practices as every other billionaire, including employing other equally awful now-billionaires (Ballmer/Allen).
Gates’ behavior changed rather suddenly a long time ago. I don’t know what caused it, but he went from cutthroat exploitation to charity work, with little overlap between. I fully agree that he is an outlier, and in more ways than one.
I have only a few data points, but Bill Gates and Daniel Ellsberg both had women in their lives who seemed pretty involved in turning them from “gimme that check” to “hey maybe the world shouldn’t be all shitty all the time.” Ellsberg actually pretty explicitly lays out how his lady was involved in turning him anti-Pentagon in “Secrets”.