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Re:Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner by jjj123 on Thursday January 14, 2021 @03:58PM (#25782399)
It’s important to understand that gates and his people have put in a _lot_ of work to reform his image in the last 20 years.

We think gates is humble, kind, normal because that’s the image he wants to portray.

I agree his philanthropy goes a little further than typical billionaire reputation laundering, but he still has a limit. For example, he said he’d vote for trump if the dem candidate supported a wealth tax.

Re:Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner by umvi on Thursday January 14, 2021 @04:04PM (#25782488)
> We think gates is humble, kind, normal because that’s the image he wants to portray.

Maybe... however, the narrative that people never change and that any apparent changes are but a thin veneer on an unchanging person rubs me the wrong way.

I like to think I can change - that I can iron out my personality flaws and become a better person (more patient, kind, open-minded, charitable, etc.) over the decades. So why shouldn't I extend that benefit of the doubt to other people too? I assume a lot of people have an innate desire to change and improve as well since lots of people are religious, and the core message of a lot of religions is just that - that you can repent of your past mistakes, change, and become better.

Re:Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner by lupire on Thursday January 14, 2021 @07:55PM (#25785474)
Citation needed. He's said approximately the opposite publicly.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-im-happy-to-pay...