Last Tuesday, as the strongest Atlantic storm in 90 years slammed the western coast of Jamaica with 185-mph winds, Bill Gates was downplaying climate change.

The billionaire does not appear to have publicly addressed the disaster in Jamaica, which extended throughout the Caribbean, with Melissa having killed dozens across Cuba, Haiti, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. And his overall point, frankly, does not hold up to scrutiny.

Gates isn’t alone; climate change has slipped down the world’s priority list in the past few years—and it shows. Governments and corporations are shelving emissions goals, budgets are being redirected from climate initiatives to warfare, the media is pivoting away from climate journalism, and even activists are urging a softer, more “hopeful” tone. It all signals a vibe shift in how we talk about climate change, reframing it from the existential risk it actually poses to a less urgent, peripheral issue—even as the floodwaters reach our front doors.

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[–] 52 points 1 year ago

Disrespectfully, Bill Gates needs to shut the fuck up

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  • [–] 143 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Why respectfully? Who has Bill Gates shown actual respect for?

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Epstein, from who melinda seperated from when she found out. his "current entrepuenership, was nothing more than money laundering and reinventing his own image from his MS ceo/epstein days, he did not charity by accident/genuine. plus he was criticized for his "vaccine colonialism" during covid by african countries.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Maybe there is hope for a world where being rich doesn't mean you are assumed to be wise and all knowing and should be consulted on everything.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I mean… looking at people like Neil deGrasse Tyson, you don’t need to be super rich for people to give your intelligence too much credit.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    He's definitely a very smart man, in his field, but yeah that doesn't translate to having the answers to everything or even having common sense sometimes.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    he also, has a list of women accusing him of sexual misconduct, none of the incidence could be proven, but they were 4 separate women in very different locations. He's charming on talk shows. No actual scientists get invited on talk shows.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I mean, Carl Sagan, but yeah not really much currently. I feel like due to streaming everything has been kind of put in it's own little box, everyone can have their own show and no one needs to interact with people different than them.

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    Irrespectfully most tech moguls need to shut the fuck up, especially about shit that has nothing to do with tech

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    You do know people can learn new things. Especially people with tons of money and time. You should try sometime, it's fun!

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  • [–] 74 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Gates does not need to “shut up”. He needs to testify as to what his relationship is with Epstein.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Quiet, you fool! Don't antagonize him. You think all that Windows AI is out there for our benefit? Oh no, it's there for Bill to press the button and blue screen the world. And don't tell me Linux users are safe; that's what the assassination squads are for.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Bill Gates is a monopolist whose shady business practices in the 90s and 2000s make him a very evil man.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    All billionaires are inherently evil by their own nature. Unless they literally won the lottery with take home $1 billion.

    To become a billionaire you have to do some dark Machiavellian deeds whether by exteeme exploitation of human labour or manipulation of the most unethical proportions. A billion in wealth is something quite unimaginable before the 20th century, and the means to obtain that level of wealth in history has always been dark and dirty.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I think your point stands generally, but Paul McCartney is a billionaire and I don't think writing a bunch of pleasant tunes qualifies as "dark Machiavellian deeds".

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    High-school dropout nepo-baby Bill Gates? That one?

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago

    But what about my good billionaire? :( /s

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Don't ask whether it's distraction from Epstein list, ask whether everything bad is distraction from climate change and wealth inequality.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    its mostly distraction from epstein, suddenly he started to "act out" when more attention was given to epstein files as of recently. it also make sense why hes doing charities, beside tax evasion/monely laundering, he using the goodwill image, to put himself in a positive light.

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  • [–] 31 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Fuck Bill. Let's throw him in the volcano with the other elites

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  • [–] 41 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    Nah, not respectfully, bill Gates is a piece of shit who has spent millions in charities to pretend he's a nice guy.

    I too can pretend to be really nice by slamming millions around even though I have acted like a shit stain before.

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  • [+] -20 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    By all means do so then, please. An asshole spending millions on charity helps way more people than a nice guy receiving government aid.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    A guy receiving government aid has a MUCH smaller climate footprint than this asshole.

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  • [+] -8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    And a car has a smaller climate footprint than a ship transporting solar panels, or the factory producing them. What is your point?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That his carbon footprint being way higher than that of an average person is outweighed by the positive impact. If every billionaire spent a majority of their wealth on charity we would live in a completely different world.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    We would also live in a different world if we taxed them, or stopped believing in fake borders and just started helping people regardless of which side of an invisible line two people fucked on. There's lots of low carbon high value things that could be done, none of which involves one billionaire having life or death decision making power from his private jet.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You so understand that people as rich as him didn't get to be that rich by being all ethical and having good morals, right?

    And you do understand that being a nice guy doesn't mean you rely on government assistance?

    You're not dumb, are you?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    I never said he was ethical in every way. I said he helps people more than someone who doesnt have the resources he has. You said you could spend a million on charity to seem nice andd I said do it. I dont care if youre an asshole in every other aspect, if you spend a million on charity thats still a good deed. Judging someone based on the idea of them being a hypocrite instead of accepting their good deeds as such is a little pathetic, its like hating vegans because they 'think theyre morally superior'.

    I also never said being a nice guy means receiving government aid, I just said Id rather have an asshole helping millions. There are enough nice guys that dont have a positive impact on poverty around the world.

    Capitalism is pretty good at creating wealth, its been successfully increasing the average living conditions of people for centuries. The problem we currently have is that, while the average is still growing well, the median is decreasing because the richest hold most of the wealth and most of its gains, so the poor effectively get poorer. Why hate on the one guy that uses capitalism to help millions? If every billionaire donated most of their wealth, this system could actually work out pretty well.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Gates often gets a pass because he gives away a lot of money and "advocates" for a wealth tax. But he's still a billionaire and still hoards more resources and power than any single person could ethically possess.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

    Respectfully, Bill Gates is complicit in genocide and should be investigated for his connections with Epstein.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    isnt thats why hes doing "charities" for africans, to reinvent his image because of that, the timing is more than a coincidence, although start way before epstein got on the news, but he probably knew he would be connected to him in the media sooner or later.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Fact Check: List of claims about Bill Gates includes falsities

    Not to defend the guy but there are enough real skeletons in his closet. We don't need to spread misinformation.

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  • [–] 41 points 1 year ago* (4 children)
  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

    For the record, Bill Gates is complicit in the genocide in Gaza

    https://timschwab.substack.com/p/is-philanthropy-profiting-from-genocide
    https://www.mintpressnews.com/microsoft-israel-surveillance-azure-idf-gaza-genocide/290534/
    

    For both of these to support your argument, you must be saying that owning stock in a company that benefits from business or weapons that benefit Israel makes the stockholder "complicit in the genocide in Gaza". If you're saying that than probably about 60% of Americans would be "complicit in the genocide in Gaza" as they have stock including index total market funds or S&P 500 funds which have fractions of shares in many of those same companies.

    That seems like an overly broad definition to me, but if that is your definition, then your claim is true.

    https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/11/11/bill-gates-should-know-better-how-israeli-occupation-ravages-environment-palestine
    

    This one just talks about Gates being involved with Israel on climate change actions without any Gates involvement in Gaza. So have to assume your position is that being involved with Israel on issues affecting all of us globally is also an endorsement of genocide. That too, seems like an extreme position.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Is this logic that someone specifically investing vs having a retirement fund or similar is the same thing?

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Respectfully, Bill Gates Needs to Shut Up

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I remember when he did an AMA on Reddit and every comment about his Epstein connection was instantly buried.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    i remember that to, i questioned about his charities being used a way to evade tax, of course the AMA sub would remove it. He want adulations about him giving "christmas gifts" on reddit, im guessing its one of the reasons he stopped going on reddit, like the finebros, they wanted adorations instead was driven off to facebook for being shills of YT. currently Sinese, gary has been on REDDIT frequently, he appeared right before the election, hmm suspicious, virtue signalling for vets. plus he gave a excuse to why he left acting(i wanna guess is that his time im HW wouldve come to end with him being outwardly republican now, if he became vitrolitic, as the other Rs actors, and not because of his SON).

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.

    Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    Might I add, also disrespectfully.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago

    Respectfully, Bill Gates is a piece of shit.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    He should only take advice from Balmer. And to be clear, the cocaine Balmer.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    He can blather as mich as he wants, stop giving the douche air time or column inches ffs.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Ladies and gentlemen and others, this is what they call "the good billionaire"!

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago*

    That guy that told me to sell my GameStop shares and that investing in that company is gambling? Yeah just shut the fuck up already!

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago

    He never should have spoken on the first place.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago*

    Donny Billy, you’re out of your element!

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Forcefully.
    Permanently.
    Respectfully? Don't care.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago

    Maybe he should stop raping children, aiding genocide and supporting climate deniers instead of treating philanthropy like a pre-reformation nobleman buying indulgences to get into heaven?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    I wish someone could just start removing problems for us.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Why do subscription billionaires think they automatically become "professionals" of societal progress?

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Bill Gates now openly towing the WEF propaganda line which KurzGesagt produced for him earlier. This is so expected.

    To understand the situation see https://youtu.be/ZRPcyWNfgxo

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Article seems to be exaggerating this like...a lot. Seems to just be saying you can't only fix climate change and magically the world will be a better place.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    He is getting old and confused, obviously.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    No, media needs to stop listening to him because he had one good idea 40 years ago. USA needs to get over their cults of tech bros.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Release the Epstein files and all will be revealed

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