this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Bollocks. If these rich assholes felt guilty and inclined towards altruism they'd have spent it already instead of "pledging".

"[…] Furthermore, their supposed philanthropy isn't just them giving money away no-questions-asked. More often than not they aim to benefit their coffers and/or virtue signal their “conscience”:

  • “They are moving away from unfettered, no-strings-attached giving and toward increased donor control over organizations, and are blurring the lines between private investment and public benefit.” —Gilded Giving 2020, by Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery [17].

  • “Your "Giving Pledge" has a loophole that renders it practically worthless, namely permitting pledgees to simply name charities in their wills. I have found that most billionaires or near billionaires hate giving large sums of money away while alive and instead set up family-controlled foundations to do it for them after death. And these foundations become, more often than not, bureaucracy-ridden sluggards. These rich are delighted to toss off a few million a year in order to remain socially acceptable. But that's it.” —Robert Wilson to Bill Gates, 2010 [18] […]" —What if I paid for all my free software? | arscyni.cc

[–] [email protected] 6 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)