Talk:Philanthropist
From Academic Kids
I object to the listing of Bill Gates as a philanthopist. It may be that he has donated money to AIDS- research and -aid in India amongst other things, but all in all his philanthropic gestures are likely to be nothing more that bargaining chips to gain further foothold for his company's products in certain areas, such as operating system software on the Indian markets. Furthermore, it should be taken into account that his enormous wealth, which is of course the basis of his good deeds, have largely been earned on an illegal basis, such as the illegal OS pre-bundling agreements in the 80's and 90's, and abuse of Microsoft's monopoly power to gain market share, such as in the office software market.
However, despite my protest, I have chosen not to edit the page. - DJsupreme23
- DJ, first of all, you do make a good point. I would point out, though, that the page explains that philanthropists are often seen by some as doing these deeds for personal gain. I admit to sharing your suspicion of Mr. Gates in many respects, but I think it is fair to note that he's given a lot of money to various organizations. As to his having earned things illegally, well, he hasn't been convicted on such accounts: until he has, we can't really disqualify him here because we suspect he acted illegally. :) It is something worth considering though--if you brought some kind of evidence here that showed he donates a remarkably small percentage of his personal wealth (compared to other philanthropists), that might disqualify him. Something to consider. Jwrosenzweig 00:31, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)
- Well, as of right now the EU has found Microsoft guilty of being a monopoly. This is being appealed of course. - 198.169.112.254 18:45, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Would you call Nelson Mandela a philanthropist
I had always associated that word with rich people who are trying to do some public relation and avoid taxes until reading this article. What changed my view is listing RMS on that list. And from the description, it is true one is left with a feeling he is a philanthropist. This triggered a thought, Nelson Mandela can easily and nicely fit in that list. Others i can think of from the top of my head is the standard oil crook, Soros, Walton (The Walmart guy) though i think this had more to do with fear of communist affecting his business, the U2 guy, what the heck is his name, Bono or something (Kind of looks like he really want to help Africa out of poverty) and a ...i have run out of it
