this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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Summary

Bill Gates criticized Elon Musk for his support of far-right politicians, including the UK’s Tommy Robinson and Germany’s AfD party, calling it "insane shit" and accusing Musk of destabilizing political systems.

Gates questioned Musk's focus on divisive politics while managing global businesses like Tesla and SpaceX.

Gates also expressed concern about wealthy individuals influencing foreign elections.

Musk has faced backlash for controversial actions, including a Nazi salute.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 221 points 3 days ago (35 children)

I always forget Gates is one of the elite. Then I remember how ruthless and savage he was in the 80s.

Then I remember.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 90 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

80s, 90s, and a few years into early 2000s. Gates ruthlessness lasted decades, destroyed many businesses and lives, and is mostly whitewashed thanks to his philanthropic efforts and a few reddit amas and some secret santa participation

Not to mention the destruction he did to computing as a whole. The nightmare of proprietary bullshit is something that he did not architect but he pushed heavily and lobbied for constantly. He had the position to push for interoperability from an early stake in computing, to set the stage for computers to have a strong precedent to work together. Instead he and microsoft made every effort to work against open standards. They would adopt open standards and extend them with proprietary extensions to intentionally ruin them. A lot of what is infuriating about modern tech can be traced back to precedent that microsoft set at his direction

Reminder despite every donation he has made his net worth is higher now than it ever was and this has essentially always been the case. His philanthropy, while objectively good, is a measured pr effort that does not impact his overall obscene wealth and basically never has

[–] labbbb2@thelemmy.club 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

His philanthropy, while objectively good, is a measured pr effort that does not impact his overall obscene wealth and basically never has

Like with the some billionaires.

Untrue. Most don't engage in actual philantropy at all, but donate only to causes that will directly benefit their bottom line, such as sectors that depend on their products, or for scholarships in fields where their companies hire heavily. That isn't actually donating. It's just tax-exempt investing. In this sense, Gates is a cut above other billionaires.

His actions merit a freshly sharpened blade on his guillotine. Musk can have the rusty one that we'll need to drop thrice to get the job done.

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