Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inheritance

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by t0mbstone on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @12:59PM (#19730517)

Carnegie liked building libraries, but you will notice that a lot of those libraries got named after him.

He used his wealth to benefit society, but he also effectively set up a system that would stamp and preserve his name and legacy in history. His actions weren't exactly entirely selfless.

This seems to be a common goal for a lot of people once they become very rich. They ask themselves, "what do I do with all this money?", and then they discover that even rich people die... So they attempt to white wash any of their past wrong-doings, and paint themselves as heroes and leave behind a legacy where their name will live on even after they die.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by chongli on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:50PM (#19731059)

Who cares about Carnegie's reputation now that he's long since dead? It doesn't benefit him at all!

Does it hurt anyone alive today? That's the more important question.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by hprotagonist on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @02:48PM (#19731586)

The really hard questions are things like "are all of carnegie's depredations that he was responsible for while amassing his wealth in some sense 'worth it' if his wealth was subsequently spent on raising the standards for everyone? If so, by what metrics?"

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by cyc115 on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:16PM (#19730712)

I would prefer that than not doing good at all. Doing good is doing good, leaving a legacy or not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by dmix on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:55PM (#19731098)

Plenty of places (ie, hospitals) put the name of the donors out of respect for them.

I highly doubt someone as famous as Andrew Carnegie was heavily motivated by having his name on another building.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by whamlastxmas on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @05:03PM (#19732839)

If I ran a library that was given millions by a donor, even if they didn't ask for it I'd like to name the library after them. Instead of it just being called "Houston Public Library" or whatever, you can show how people choose to give back to communities and maybe inspire other people to contribute in ways they're capable of.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by emiliobumachar on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:50PM (#19731058)

Very rarely, if ever, an action is done that could only possibly be entirely selfless.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hong Kong Property Tycoon Gave Away Children’s $400m Inhe... by wetpaws on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @01:06PM (#19730599)

Doing good things and having a legacy is better then just doing good things.

[ Parent | on HN ]