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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025

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Sorry, I think you misunderstood me. Here's what I said:

People take the wrong lesson from his life, which is generally viewed as "he did a bunch of evil shit to get rich but he gave it all away, so it's okay." Bill Gates folllowed that model.

So we are in agreement. Microsoft was (and continues to be) evil shit. I can see how I was unclear.

I probably should have expanded more on this. It's my belief that how you make your money matters even more than how you spend it. It's hard to give money away, and most non-profits are full of grifters. The typical titan does a bunch of evil shit, then dies, and then his wife gives all his money away. These wives, lacking their husband's business sense, are often very bad at philanthropy. Look, for example, at what Mackenzie Bezos has done with her billions.

A better model would be to run a company that keeps prices fair, makes good products, and doesn't look to extract maximum profits at every turn. Put earnings back into the business and find a successor who will do the same. Selling out in order to give to charity is probably a bad thing in general.

Ok, sorry for misunderstanding you, it seems we are in agreement.

Seems like having two quotation lines will result in them being stuffed in the same paragraph, so I fixed my comment to make it seem less like I am misquoting you.