A Boring Dystopia

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Bill Gates Bought His Daughter A $16 Million Horse Farm As A Graduation Gift — But Ex-Wife Melinda Says The Kids Were Raised Very 'Middle Class' (finance.yahoo.com)

submitted 2 days ago by FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world

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If your dad is Bill Gates, you're probably not getting a Starbucks gift card for graduating college.

In 2018, Jennifer Gates walked off the Stanford stage and onto a 124-acre, $15.82 million horse farm in North Salem, New York. According to Architectural Digest, the lavish estate was a graduation gift from her billionaire parents—and came complete with rolling pastures, three parcels of land, and proximity to New York City for her future studies.

But in case that sounds too much like the plot of "Succession: Equestrian Edition," Melinda Gates would like to remind everyone: their kids were absolutely raised "middle class."

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 36 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Something Bill Gates actually agrees with

It's always interesting to me how people bring this up regarding Gates and Buffett, as if that makes their largesse and greed at the expense of others perfectly acceptable. It's easy to say you support something when you know you're never going to be held accountable for following through.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Few things in life are pure binary, and that's especially true of humans themselves. My take on Gates is that he was a smart but cutthroat businessman who did a number of things that were at least somewhat unethical, and became one of the richest people in the world. Then he got older and started thinking about his life and his legacy. He has been giving away huge sums of money to really worthwhile causes, like trying to eradicate malaria. He seems pretty sincere in his lobbying for increased taxes for the rich.

Does his philanthropy now erase his unscrupulous behavior when he was young? Not to me, but I do believe he's genuine in wanting to make the world s better place and putting his riches to good use.

[–] trollbearpig@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Pff, he is still a piece of shit even with his "philantropies". For example, he has given some money to fight some diseases (though even then there is an argument to be made that his focus on fashionable diseases has taken resources away from more pressing diseases affecting the global south, but that's another discussion). But then as soon as it was convenient for him he rallied against lifting the patents of Covid-19 vaccines during a pandemic (https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/). So what fucking good are his philantropies if he still acts like a piece of shit at the most crucial moments. Everything he does is just to increase his power and influence, and to whitewash his image. He is still the same piece of shit he has always been. You have to be purposefully naive to think anyone who remains a billionaire is trying to do any good.