this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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politics

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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 10 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

The flight logs do not show that Bill Gates has ever visited the island on any plane. The most that has been confirmed is that Bill Gates flew from New Jersey to Florida on a private plane owned by Epstein once and that he had dinner with Epstain exactly once, which in interviews he expressed as a major mistake. I remind you that before 2006 Epstein was a public figure as a professional financier and broker and even until 2019 him and Ghislaine participated in major fundraisers.

Furthermore, your claim is one that gets constantly circulated by right wing nutjobs after a particularly viral tweet in 2023.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Bill Gates knowingly associated with a person involved with and convicted of some pretty crazy stuff. Bill knows it's crazy, that's why he's been spending out the ass on PR for many years. His wife divorced him, and Bill's relationship with Epstein was a seemingly big factor.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/melinda-gates-opens-divorce-betrayal-211513816.html

Melinda: "I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him…He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. My heart breaks for these women."

The philanthropist stressed that Bill's relationship with the sex offender affected her deeply, writing: "That October, things had reached a fever pitch when The New York Times published a deeply disturbing article that raised serious questions about Bill's conduct."

"Questions that suggested he had betrayed not only our marriage but also my values," Melinda lamented in her book.

If even his former wife throws Bill under the bus, why are you defending him?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

If you had rumours about you of being involved with a worldwide sex trafficking ring I think it would put a strain on your relationships too, pal.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net -1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

So in the absence of evidence, let's defend Bill. Got it.

We could stay neutral, but still be concerned that this person still has power, wealth, and influence...but everybody loves billionaire philanthropists, am I right?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Saying Bill Gates is as bad as Elon Musk is not Neutral. You should not be Neutral about Musk, Zuckerberg, or Bezos, they are the enemy.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

I'm personally saying that no person should be able to accumulate wealth, power, and influence to such a degree and also use his wealth to pay people to sing his praises and like him.

I'm not making value judgements on these two individuals. I'm simply stating that there is no merit to billionaires existing.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Okay but that stance in no way dictates that an individual in our actual reality, where there are no such idealist barriers, has already accumulated wealth and used it to do good things.

This is the value judgements discussion. Feel free to exit.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

How much money has Bill put towards developing Africa and directly improving their living standards?

Has he addressed modern slavery and modern child slavery (which we rely on for our cocoa)?

Has he addressed colonialism and imperialism?

These countries are extracted for everything they are worth, they are exploited for their labor, resources, and goods, and they remain poor while wealth concentrates to the few in first-world countries.

His "philanthropy" surely helps him to be aware of the situations that these countries face. But let's just shift an important topic and reduce it to value judgements. Got it.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Only for their development program and only in Africa would be $92M USD SOURCE

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Because $92 million is such a large number when you have so much wealth. What would that fund here? A handful of buildings and a few highways?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago* (last edited 31 minutes ago) (1 children)

His total contributions alone are $100Bn, mate. You asked for a very specific metric and got it.

If you were to build, for example, a townhouse with USA labour costs it would be about $55,000 to $100,000, so you could build a couple thousand with that amount. Be a pretty dumb way to spend it, imo.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 21 minutes ago* (last edited 18 minutes ago) (1 children)

That's all I see Bill doing. Throwing coins at impoverished and exploited people does not properly address or solve the issues they are facing. Bill Gates surely knows of the exploitation that African countries face at the hands of western imperialism. He could use his influence to shine a light on modern atrocities.

If they were paid fairly for their labor and paid a fair price for their goods and exports; these countries would not be starving, they could afford their own vaccination programs on the back of the own economies, they would be able to provide everyone with access to clean water, and they would be able to develop their societies as they see fit, including providing education to their citizens.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 19 minutes ago (1 children)

You think 100Bn USD is coins compared to what he actually lives off of...?

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 17 minutes ago* (last edited 15 minutes ago) (1 children)

If there is still slavery and these countries are largely poor, yet western society relies on them for their labor, naturals resources, and goods/exports, his 100 billion dollars means nothing.

He could've spent that 100 billion a whole lot more effectively. Like shining a light on western companies supporting child slavery to harvest cocoa or enabling these countries to break free from western imperialism.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 15 minutes ago (1 children)

You're mad that Bill Gates isn't God?

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 0 points 14 minutes ago* (last edited 13 minutes ago) (1 children)

I'm mad that he's silent and complicit while people suffer. Perhaps I'll work on my anger while he hopefully works on finding his voice and speaking the truth.

He pays regularly for media attention, why can't he pay to expose western atrocities?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 13 minutes ago (1 children)

He's literally in the headline speaking out and you're still criticizing him, lol

It seems like you're mad just for the sake of being mad.

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 1 points 12 minutes ago* (last edited 8 minutes ago)

He's acting like Elon Musk is solely responsible. He's diluting a very large issue (modern slavery) and watering it down to Elon Musk bad.

Bill Gates is educated and present in these countries. He knows what really is going on.

Can you blame me for being angry that there is mass suffering, death, and slavery, while everybody in the know acts dumb, and the truth is hidden from the masses?