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. Further, people like Musk already have class solidarity with their own class: the wealthy. They literally have no reason to give a fuck about you or me.
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.
If he makes it to trial, it’s going to open an even bigger can of worms because the question of whether or not our healthcare system is committing social murder on a grand scale will be all over the fucking news, because it’s the centerpiece of this case. It’s literally the motive. …and we’re the only first-world country with a fucking system like this.
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.
Meh, I don’t know about anyone else, I don’t think you’re being antagonistic, you just have a different perspective. You certainly haven’t hurt my feelings, and I hope I haven’t hurt yours.
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 leagues 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. Especially when other countries have shown all you have to fucking do is tax people appropriately, then you don’t have to rely on the good graces of the obscenely rich.
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.
It’s mind-blowing to this day that he was given a plan, and because it wasn’t perfect and wouldn’t solve world hunger permanently, he thought spending 7 times the amount to help alleviate world hunger to buy Twitter was more important. His values are out of whack with regular society.
Further, right now, Musk has been on a tear of attacking the homeless and promoting the idea that homelessness is a moral and ethical failure… not just a lack of cash. He literally hates the poor. He attacked them as “drug addicts” but his addiction to ketamine is fine actually.
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 the wealthy. The point in original point was more that the left needs effective, goal-directed leadership. Not martyrs or short-term solutions.
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
Maybe I am being a little harsh, but that’s because I just think it’s terrible waste of someone who gave a shit and could have made a difference
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. Further, people like Musk already have class solidarity with their own class: the wealthy. They literally have no reason to give a fuck about you or me.
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.
If he makes it to trial, it’s going to open an even bigger can of worms because the question of whether or not our healthcare system is committing social murder on a grand scale will be all over the fucking news, because it’s the centerpiece of this case. It’s literally the motive. …and we’re the only first-world country with a fucking system like this.
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.
Meh, I don’t know about anyone else, I don’t think you’re being antagonistic, you just have a different perspective. You certainly haven’t hurt my feelings, and I hope I haven’t hurt yours.
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 leagues 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. Especially when other countries have shown all you have to fucking do is tax people appropriately, then you don’t have to rely on the good graces of the obscenely rich.
Musk is a perfect example, actually.
https://truthout.org/articles/musk-pledged-6b-to-solve-world-hunger-but-gave-it-to-his-own-foundation-instead/
Oh and after giving himself some money, then he spent $44 billion to buy Twitter instead of helping people.
It’s mind-blowing to this day that he was given a plan, and because it wasn’t perfect and wouldn’t solve world hunger permanently, he thought spending 7 times the amount to help alleviate world hunger to buy Twitter was more important. His values are out of whack with regular society.
Further, right now, Musk has been on a tear of attacking the homeless and promoting the idea that homelessness is a moral and ethical failure… not just a lack of cash. He literally hates the poor. He attacked them as “drug addicts” but his addiction to ketamine is fine actually.
I like how you frame your pov, it’s convincing. Esp. this part,
I agree, and I’ve always been about higher taxes on the wealthy. The point in original point was more that the left needs effective, goal-directed leadership. Not martyrs or short-term solutions.
funnily enough luigi would disagree with this exact take
https://xcancel.com/pepmangione?cursor=DAABCgABGejOMJU__6YKAAIV6ATjUpqAAAgAAwAAAAIAAA
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