this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
298 points (87.8% liked)

Uplifting News

14929 readers
2061 users here now

Welcome to /c/UpliftingNews, a dedicated space where optimism and positivity converge to bring you the most heartening and inspiring stories from around the world. We strive to curate and share content that lights up your day, invigorates your spirit, and inspires you to spread positivity in your own way. This is a sanctuary for those seeking a break from the incessant negativity often found in today's news cycle. From acts of everyday kindness to large-scale philanthropic efforts, from individual achievements to community triumphs, we bring you news that gives hope, fosters empathy, and strengthens the belief in humanity's capacity for good.

Here in /c/UpliftingNews, we uphold the values of respect, empathy, and inclusivity, fostering a supportive and vibrant community. We encourage you to share your positive news, comment, engage in uplifting conversations, and find solace in the goodness that exists around us. We are more than a news-sharing platform; we are a community built on the power of positivity and the collective desire for a more hopeful world. Remember, your small acts of kindness can be someone else's big ray of hope. Be part of the positivity revolution; share, uplift, inspire!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] warm@kbin.earth 20 points 11 hours ago (6 children)

Give it away now instead you piece of shit. If he actually gave a shit he would have donated it all to charities already. It's just a billionaire farse, fuck him and the rest of em.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] echolalia@lemmy.ml 12 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Bank Robber vows to give away his stolen funds by 20 years from now to charities of his choosing. He's one of the good ones! So uplifting!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 13 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Don't advertise scum. This guys is trying to literally spend 99% of his fortune to wipe off all the shit he has done.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 102 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

~~Tax~~ Eat the rich!

Here's the thing. Even if he lives up to this promise, it's still him deciding where that money should go, and it won't be towards long term support of social safety nets for the commoners. He should just have been paying his fair share of taxes all along and into the future.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 50 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

Based on current spending, it will most likely be spent getting drinkable water to the majority of the world’s population.

I don’t like how he got his money, but he’s been reasonably responsible with it since his divorce.

That said, he has over $113b dollars. If he gives away 99% of it, he’ll still have over a billion dollars.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemm.ee 10 points 11 hours ago

He's been buying up huge swathes of farm land in the middle of the country. Not everything he's doing has been philanthropy

[–] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 8 points 11 hours ago

There are books on him exposing how half of his charities are frauds. Given his past records humanity should be wary of putting this man anywhere near anything drinkable or useful

[–] Draces@lemmy.world 27 points 17 hours ago

Behind the bastards has a good two parter on him. I wouldn't say he's been responsible with it.

[–] madeinthebackseat@lemmy.world 15 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

...or paying his employees more.

Funny how we don't have a popular term for the portion of an employee's deserved wage that turns into "record shareholder profit."

Imagine if all corporations were required to put a line item on check stubs showing how much you made them.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 3 points 12 hours ago

While I'm all for taxing the rich more than the current system of not at all, I think in the long term it would be better to instigate or modify systems so that we don't get these exceedingly greedy people going unchecked in the first place. How about a cap on the ratio between the highest and the lowest paid employee in any organisation for a start? Boss wants a raise, everyone gets a raise.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

Yeah but that’s communism, so no way it would’ve ever happened. The average American voter thinks they can become billionaires some day.

[–] skvlp@lemm.ee 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Does the word communism even have meaning any more, or is it just something to yell when confused people get confused?

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

I’m using it sarcastically

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

This is him avoiding estate taxes, change my mind.

[–] NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.world 9 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

How much would his estate taxes be vs giving up 99% of his fortune?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (7 children)

Bill Gates uses his "charity" to exert influence worldwide and demand stuff in return.

If this man was truly giving away his money then world hunger would have been solved by now.

He is the largest landowner in the US

[–] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 4 points 11 hours ago

Even on lemmy his marketing pr is successful

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I mean if I want my next of kin/whoever to get my money, it's better to do it while alive when you can get creative with the accounting. Especially when you've got Gates money and setting up something like a nonprofit is relatively easy.

Once you're dead and you've got this lump declared assets you're trying to pass on that Uncle Sam will take up to like 40% of.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 13 hours ago

If only there was some way to see what the non-profit was doing, some kind of third party auditor or something.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Why not hate on the billionaires who aren't giving away billions of dollars?

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 8 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Because he isn't doing anything either. He promised to get rid of it in 20 years.

First, he's a psychopath, I don't trust a word he says. Additionally, in 20 years he'll be almost 90. Aka huge chance he'll be actually dead of old age.

And last, you don't get to fuck the world for decades and then suddenly become a good person because you promise to stop being a shitstain in another 2 decades.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

He's been consistently donating his wealth for years.

He's not saying he will do nothing foe 10 years

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 14 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

The most whitewashed billionaire in existence. Insane people still buy into this slush fund campaign.

Bill Gates is more evil than Elon Musk.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

How so? Specifically?

Cause Musk is actively trying to destroy democracy and kill poor people.

For real, but since Old Evil Billionaire is piling on New Evil Billionaire, he becomes Sweet Old Philantropist. Gates made his fortune by stabbing everyone on the back and charging them for the knife.

[–] Jourei@lemm.ee 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

What has Gates done recently?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 11 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

Trying to get a monopoly on vaccines through a "nonprofit" and do neocolonialism.

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/

Global health czar Bill Gates had other thoughts. Maintaining his steadfast commitment to intellectual property rights, Gates pushed for a plan that would permit companies to hold exclusive rights to lifesaving medicines, no matter how much they benefited from public funding.

Given the enormous influence Gates has in the global public health world, his vision ultimately won out in the Covax program—which enshrines monopoly patent rights and relies on the charitable whims of rich countries and pharmaceutical giants to provide vaccines to most of the world. A chorus of support from pharmaceutical companies and the Trump administration didn’t hurt.

Should we be surprised that a monopolist-turned-philanthropist maintains his commitment to monopoly patent rights as a philanthropist too?

Bill Gates is about as "nonprofit" as OpenAI.

[–] Jourei@lemm.ee 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Aight, yeah, thank you! Gates isn't that much in the headlines for the things he does, I remember him owning/buying a ton of land too now?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

Yes he is the largest US farmland owner as well. Gates is evil on many levels.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 20 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Is this supposed to impress anyone?

[–] Skymt@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I find it lovely that he's racked by guilt over his legacy and tries to do something about it.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 6 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Racked by guilt? His company is helping commit genocide by providing AI tools to automatically designate civilians as targets for military strikes.

I'd rather he keeps his money and uses his influence to stop that. He chooses not to do so every day.

[–] Skymt@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

I don't think he has that influence any more.

And yeah, genocide would be one of the reasons to feel guilty, but it's far from the only one.

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 45 points 17 hours ago

...and still be a billionaire.

Why should oligarchs get to decide where the proceeds of their exploitation get spent?

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 64 points 19 hours ago

I've been sending his chain emails along since the 90s so he owes me some serious interest.

[–] filister@lemmy.world 14 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The sad thing is that even if he gives away 99% of his wealth he will still be obscenely rich. Multitudes richer than the average man.

[–] blakenong@lemmings.world 8 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

That’s not necessarily sad. It can show all these billionaires that they will still be ridiculously wealthy without hoarding

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 36 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

Doesn't that leave him still with something like $2 billion? I'm not knocking the philanthropy, but also, his safety net is going to remain about $2 billion dollars larger than ~~mine~~ most every other human being on this entire planet. And it will continue to accrue value at a higher rate than inflation as long as the good ol' American engine keeps on chugging along as normal.

From his vantage point, this sacrifice will likely impact neither his daily lifestyle nor his long-term comfort one iota.

It's a great thing he's doing, and I want to be clear about that. He's giving a boatload of money to charity. And I also don't know what else he might be doing with the remainder. I might be being an asshole. I haven't even read the article. I just saw that fuckin guy and the shining headline and had a strong reaction.

(Edited)

[–] rouxdoo@lemmy.world 23 points 19 hours ago

I wouldn't for a second think or hope that he endures the distress of poverty or feeling needy given where he started - he has tried to do good with his fortune and that is good enough for me...he is doing what he can for the world around him and should be comfortable as he does so. I hope to find my own (much less extravagant) comfort some day.

[–] HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world 17 points 19 hours ago

and thats the thing there are some who could realistically give away 99% of thier wealth and still individually be rich beyond belief. I hope it spawns some Rockefeller thing where the rich realize they can eat thier cake and have it to, they can be unbelievably rich and donate unbelievable ammounts of wealth, leaving a huge, arguably postive mark on history.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›