The Most Widespread COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Target Bill Gates (nytimes.com) 255
In a 2015 speech, Bill Gates tried to warn that the greatest thread to humanity was an infectious virus, reports the New York Times. "Anti-vaccinators, members of the conspiracy group QAnon and right-wing pundits have instead seized on the video as evidence that one of the world's richest men planned to use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health system."
In posts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, he is being falsely portrayed as the creator of Covid-19, as a profiteer from a virus vaccine, and as part of a dastardly plot to use the illness to cull or surveil the global population. The wild claims have gained traction with conservative pundits like Laura Ingraham and anti-vaccinators such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Mr. Gates has emerged as a vocal counterweight to President Trump on the coronavirus...Misinformation about Mr. Gates is now the most widespread of all coronavirus falsehoods tracked by Zignal Labs, a media analysis company. The misinformation includes more than 16,000 posts on Facebook this year about Mr. Gates and the virus that were liked and commented on nearly 900,000 times, according to a New York Times analysis. On YouTube, the 10 most popular videos spreading lies about Mr. Gates posted in March and April were viewed almost five million times....
"Bill Gates is easily transformed into a health-related meme and figure because he's so well known," said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who teaches digital ethics. "He's able to function as kind of an abstract boogeyman...." Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Gates's main philanthropic vehicle, said it was "distressing that there are people spreading misinformation when we should all be looking for ways to collaborate and save lives...."
The first mention of a baseless conspiracy connecting him to the outbreak was on Jan. 21, according to the Times analysis. That was when a YouTube personality linked to QAnon suggested on Twitter that Mr. Gates had foreknowledge of the pandemic. The tweet was based on a coronavirus-related patent from the Pirbright Institute, a British group that received funding from the Gates Foundation. The patent was not for Covid-19; it was connected to a potential vaccine for a different coronavirus that affects poultry. But two days later, the conspiracy website Infowars inaccurately said the patent was for "the deadly virus." The idea spread.
From February to April, conspiracy theories involving Mr. Gates and the virus were mentioned 1.2 million times on social media and television broadcasts, according to Zignal Labs. That was 33 percent more often, it said, than the next-largest conspiracy theory: that 5G radio waves cause people to succumb to Covid-19... By April, false Gates conspiracy theories peaked at 18,000 mentions a day, Zignal Labs said.
"Bill Gates is easily transformed into a health-related meme and figure because he's so well known," said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who teaches digital ethics. "He's able to function as kind of an abstract boogeyman...." Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Gates's main philanthropic vehicle, said it was "distressing that there are people spreading misinformation when we should all be looking for ways to collaborate and save lives...."
The first mention of a baseless conspiracy connecting him to the outbreak was on Jan. 21, according to the Times analysis. That was when a YouTube personality linked to QAnon suggested on Twitter that Mr. Gates had foreknowledge of the pandemic. The tweet was based on a coronavirus-related patent from the Pirbright Institute, a British group that received funding from the Gates Foundation. The patent was not for Covid-19; it was connected to a potential vaccine for a different coronavirus that affects poultry. But two days later, the conspiracy website Infowars inaccurately said the patent was for "the deadly virus." The idea spread.
From February to April, conspiracy theories involving Mr. Gates and the virus were mentioned 1.2 million times on social media and television broadcasts, according to Zignal Labs. That was 33 percent more often, it said, than the next-largest conspiracy theory: that 5G radio waves cause people to succumb to Covid-19... By April, false Gates conspiracy theories peaked at 18,000 mentions a day, Zignal Labs said.
No such thing as bad publicity (Score:2, Troll)
Re:No such thing as bad publicity (Score:5, Funny)
Nobody in his right mind will believe such claptrap...
But, to quote Adlai Stevenson, we need a majority.
Re:No such thing as bad publicity (Score:4, Informative)
Nobody in his right mind will believe such claptrap...
But, to quote Adlai Stevenson, we need a majority.
It's not a hard and fast dichotomy, that everyone is either a crazy loon or else perfectly rational and easily dismisses all the obvious hoaxes. There is a complete spectrum of people between these poles.
The real problem is that constant repetition of these wacko theories makes them familar, and lowers the barrier to people believing this, and other fake stuff.
https://fs.blog/2020/02/illusory-truth-effect/
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51ed234ae4b0867e2385d879/t/5af6247ff950b7ad7cabb41b/1526080880482/Prior+Exposure+Increases+Perceived+Accuracy+of+Fake+News.pdf
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Nobody in his right mind will believe such claptrap...
But, to quote Adlai Stevenson, we need a majority.
Look at the responses to Bill Gates' tweet about the WHO, specifically the ones posted during US daytime hours. Looking at the batshit crazy stuff being posted there I thought that no sane person could think like that, but they can't all be posts by trolls. So in at least some places the people who believe that claptrap are in the majority.
Re:No such thing as bad publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
So in at least some places the people who believe that claptrap are in the majority.
The world has a VERY long history of believers in claptrap being not only in the majority, but in powerful political positions. It's in our judiciary and legislature (being sworn under oath contains the phrase, "so help you [imaginary, psychotic sky-fairy]"), in our pledge of allegiance ("one nation, under [imaginary, psychotic sky-fairy]"), in our common nomenclature ("My [imaginary, psychotic sky-fairy], that was a great play!"), etc. And those who most fervently profess the strongest beliefs in some psychotic, imaginary sky-fairy STILL are granted special privileges in most so-called advanced societies.
Then also consider the target. He has a long history of doing bad stuff for bad reasons, making it very easy to believe that he's still doing bad stuff for bad reasons.
Re:No such thing as bad publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
the ones not in their right minds don't matter.
They do matter. These people vote.
Re:No such thing as bad publicity (Score:4, Funny)
They do matter. These people vote.
We could just convince them all to drink Tide pods or something... but OH WAIT, you fact-debunking wankers had to go and ruin everything.
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They do matter. These people vote.
We could just convince them all to drink Tide pods or something... but OH WAIT, you fact-debunking wankers had to go and ruin everything.
Just let them take the President's urging to LIBERATE themselves and ignore quarantine / social-distancing and the problem should self-correct in a month or two ... /cynical
Re: No such thing as bad publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
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Hey, it's a lot of work to get it aroused, but he got it aroused... [palmerreport.com]
Re: No such thing as bad publicity (Score:4, Insightful)
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The problem is that would exclude any thread involving decisions or comments by Trump and being the president of the US, that would cut out a lot of topics
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Nobody in his right mind will believe such claptrap and the ones not in their right minds don't matter.
They can still vote, so they matter.
Guy tried to crash train into Mercy hospital ship (Score:3)
the ones not in their right minds don't matter.
Are you sure about that?
Engineer intentionally crashes train [washingtonpost.com] near hospital ship Mercy, believing in weird coronavirus conspiracy, feds say
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And yet, having read just this comment so far, I predict several commenters here will suggest that he's either complicit or that we should perhaps consider the allegations instead of dismissing them immediately. So ya, some people believe any horseshit as long as it fits in their preconceived beliefs.
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Unfortunately, the ones not in their right mind do matter. You don't need a majority to change things for the worse. History is full of examples where the semi-united lunatic minority managed to take over and impose their agenda on everyone.
QAnon is the craziest of the crazy (Score:5, Informative)
There is a lot of crazy conspiracy loon stuff on the right but the QAnon stuff is utterly insane. The problem is that a lot of the stuff then gets repeated on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter etc. And as with all the conspiracy loon stuff, trying to reason with these people just makes them double down on the crazy.
Re:QAnon is the craziest of the crazy (Score:5, Insightful)
People use what people around them think as a benchmark for reasonability. That means you can get many people to believe anything if you can create the impression that "a lot of people are saying" something.
This is true even of highly educated and accomplished people; the difference is they're more likely to catch something like a mistake in basic science before the impression sinks in.
Insightful (Score:3)
That's a good point. In any given echo chamber, the group delusions seem somewhat reasonable due to others agreeing.
This is of course also true of one's echo chamber is centered around Fox News or CNN - the crazy is less obvious, perhaps, but it's the same effect.
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In high school a bunch of us wanted to sign up for the flat earth newsletter (lovingly mimeographed). Then we figured out it wasn't just a big joke but that they took it seriously.
Re:Insightful (Score:5, Informative)
Russian collusion.
Russian interference was proven. Attempts of Trump to obstruct the investigation were documented and proven. What exactly is "conspiracy theory" about this one?
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Mueller testified that the Trump administration obstructed him in no way.
No he didn't. Where from are you getting this nonsense? See: https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com]
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Mueller testified under oath that his investigation was not hindered, curtailed or blocked in ANY WAY
https://www.vox.com/2019/7/24/... [vox.com]
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That's a lie. There was a huge campaign of astroturfing carried out by Russians with ties to Putin and the FSB.
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People use what people around them think as a benchmark for reasonability. That means you can get many people to believe anything if you can create the impression that "a lot of people are saying" something.
A lot of people don't even need to be saying it. "We have the best golf courses, everyone has been saying that." Trump uses that strategy a lot.
If you don't have a strong base of skills that you can use to verify if something is true, then you are like a leaf in the wind, blowing around and not understanding anything.
I suspect if a reasonably competent (Score:5, Insightful)
It's all about having a Narrative that suits your needs. The enemy is never the 1%ers that shipped your factory job to Mexico or China. It's the Deep State's fault you make $8/hr at Walmart.
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Your response to conspiracy theories are even more conspiracy theories.
At least you've proven that the other side of the political spectrum is prone to doing the same thing. That's something.
Meh, I've got pretty good evidence (Score:4, Interesting)
You can also easily verify everything I just wrote above yourself by spending a few hours watching Fox News and listening to Rush and comparing the raw talking points to what you see from Qanon.
Seriously, these folks aren't really that sophisticated. They don't have to be. Their audience isn't right in the head. Hell, it would be worse if they tried. Like how Nigerian scammers use bad language to weed out the non-crazies so they don't waste time on them. Qanon doesn't want sane people listening. It's a waste of their time.
Also, there's plenty of more sophisitcated right wing propaganda out there. Go look into how CNN & MSNBC attacked Bernie Sander's non stop. Watch the debates and how they all dogpiled on Bernie. Look up how the Washington Post ran 16 anti-Bernie stories in 24 hours. Or look into how they got us into war with Iraq & Afghanistan.
Finally, look up Norm Chomsky's "Manufactured Consent".
As Gore Vidal said, "I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm a conspiracy analyst".
Hilary Clinton is a member of the ruling class (Score:3)
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You missed the stuff the White House gets up to. They release some burp to one of the lessor right wing nuts knowing Fox News will pick it up. When they do, the alleged president starts citing it as "people are saying", then it gets national exposure but is more or less untraceable to him.
On top of that, he announces he has total control of when to open the economy back up. Once his handlers realized the governors were laughing in his face and realized they had called his bluff, he announces he's given the
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crazier. America is in the grips of a death cult.
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No, grab their guns and a bottle of S'more shnapps.
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If we can shut down hardline Islamic preachers, we can sure as hell shut down the far right and anti-vaxxers in just the same way. Just because they're often white like us, doesn't make it okay anymore than brown people using social media as a recruiting tool to make people dead was.
You have to be careful; the cure can be worse than the disease. A good pretext to shut down dissenting opinions is, of course, exactly what the authoritarian fringe wants, and if we make it, they will use it.
If you want an example of a society that shuts down speech that disagrees with the government, that would be China.
This isn't a slippery slope thing
It absolutely is a slippery slope. If you don't see that, you are more dangerous than they are.
Re: QAnon is the craziest of the crazy (Score:2)
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No, not really. If we prevent people from slander, libel, shouting fire in a crowded theater, demanding that someone be lynched, etc, it will NOT lead to the erosion of free speech or other rights. There is speech that harms, and therefore it infringes upon the rights of others.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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But a self-perpetuating one. Belief in the dichotomy creates the conditions which reinforce one.
When most lefties say "Right" (Score:5, Interesting)
I would further argue that this is a reasonable fair comparison for the simple reason that the American right has virtually no principled actors above the station of state legislature.
For example, the left has the "Justice Democrats", who refuse to accept corporate PAC money. They have members in the House of Representatives. There is no equivalent on the right.
I'll admit this is a very American centric view, but to be fair
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what we mean is "pro-corporate, pro-ruling class, anti-worker".
That's a false dichotomy.
"There is a class war going on (Score:2)
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Any policy that is good for America in general is good for both sides. Favoring research in basic science, for example.
That's true (Score:3)
If you're wondering why I blame the right on this, they're the ones calling for Austerity and tax cuts.
Imagine if the $1 trillion dollar tax cut (that mostly went to stock buy backs, mergers & acquisitions and of all things automation and offshoring; seriously look it up) had been poured into shoring up our ho
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And heroic Trump is currently playing 5D chess like a boss to bring them all to justice.
Well, maybe someday he will rise to a position of power and then he can do something about it.
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Well, maybe someday he will rise to a position of power and then he can do something about it.
I'm just trying to see the situation where the USGA would accept Trump as a leader and I really can't imagine it. There is no way he's going to ever get to a position of any important power. I don't see the point of this wild speculation.
Re: QAnon (Score:2)
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where the definition of left wing is center right.
The original astroturfers - oh the irony (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh God no (Score:2)
Misinformation campaigns are nothing new. We just talk about them a bit more.
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The real conspiracy (Score:5, Insightful)
The real conspiracy that is happening is that various entities have found how to use weaponized propaganda to pursue their goals and either subvert our societies cohesiveness or to select voting outcomes. Populist leaders all over the world have found this to be an easy way to achieve and then to maintain permanent power. Facts and policies can be overwritten at will if the narrative is tied to hatred, fear, greed or any other basic human instinct that engages before critical thinking. We are being scammed globally on a gigantic scale by fraudsters and our enemies and so far the evidence is overwhelming that we have no defenses against them at all. The situation is looking extremely bleak.
Re:The real conspiracy (Score:5, Insightful)
Only in the USA.
The antidote to propaganda is trust. If your leaders can respond to propaganda with a simple "that is bullshit" and the public trusts them enough to accept it without having to go through the tiresome process or fact checking them, then propaganda doesn't have a hope. When it can be killed by a couple of words, it's dead before it starts. In most countries, that is the state of play, so conspiracy theories aren't an issue.
The USA's problem isn't the rise of propaganda and conspiracy theories. It's you have the greatest bullshitter on the planet as your leader. The technical definition of "bullshitter" is the truth is irrelevant - you say anything that will advance your immediate aims or otherwise. Compare that to liar. China is renowned for it's lies - but it still cares deeply about the truth because if you call out their lies, they get all flustered. Not Trump. He will say one thing one day then happily say the next day he had no idea. For example time.com:
So the truth means nothing to the current president of the USA. It's a strategy that's worked well for him up until now: but it means no one can trust a thing he says. When you don't have an easy, almost zero effort source of truth, propaganda and conspiracy theories are free to run riot.
Although I said "only in USA" the UK is in the grip of a lesser version of a similar problem because Boris is also very loose with the truth. His recent stunt of hiding his decision to not allowing the sick in nursing homes to be admitted to hospital, so they die without medical care is typical. To ensure that doesn't show up, he ensures they aren't counted [abc.net.au]. It's not the original decision I'm concerned with here - it's the effort up to conceal his actions from the voters. Its the sort of thing that undermines the type trust needed to keep conspiracy theories in check. Cue burning of 5G towers because they cause covid-19.
Re: The real conspiracy (Score:2)
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To be fair... I think many of the towers weren't even 5G lol
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The USA's problem isn't the rise of propaganda and conspiracy theories. It's you have the greatest bullshitter on the planet as your leader.
Here's the problem with your logic: this argument basically states that the trust took a nose dive on January 20, 2017, but was fine before then. Obama had trust issues as a result of the birth certificate controversy, Bush Jr. went through it with WMD's in Iraq (and 9/11 before that, to an extent), Clinton went through it with Jones and Lewinsky (and Kosovo), Bush Sr.'s famous words were "read my lips, no new taxes", Regan oversaw the war on drugs, Carter battled high unemployment *and* inflation while als
Re:The real conspiracy (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's the problem with your logic: this argument basically states that the trust took a nose dive on January 20, 2017, but was fine before then. Obama had trust issues as a result of the birth certificate controversy, Bush Jr. went through it with WMD's in Iraq (and 9/11 before that, to an extent), Clinton went through it with Jones and Lewinsky (and Kosovo), Bush Sr.'s famous words were "read my lips, no new taxes", Regan oversaw the war on drugs, Carter battled high unemployment *and* inflation while also dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis, Ford *may* have been an exception because his presidency isn't terribly memorable, Nixon had Watergate, Johnson had McCarthyism...which brings us to Kennedy, where there seems to be a bit more consensus about his trustworthiness across the majority of the American people at the time. No, this is not a complete list, yes, some examples are more valid than others, but my point is that virtually every presidency had some trust-straining event which happened in its tenure.
You're glossing over a key point. Which of those other figures consistently used their position to fan the flames of distrust and polarization every time disagreement was voiced publicly against a position they took?
Trump is not the source of these trust problems. Agreed. But he is deliberately and unashamedly making it worse than any other candidate for his position possibly could.
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The real conspiracy that is happening is that various entities have found how to use weaponized propaganda to pursue their goals
Not at all. Entities have always found out how to weaponize propaganda. This is why propaganda is called propaganda in the first place. The real conspiracy is that they've created a weapon of mass destruction out of it. What used to require an expensive campaign to persuade the minds, often limited to the willing who actively go out and read the bullshit has now become a "click here to mass market your bullshit to everyone".
People always knew mis-knowledge was the way to achieve and maintain power. The only
Re: The real conspiracy (Score:2)
Re: The real conspiracy (Score:3)
Coronated by the nutters to be the next Soros (Score:4, Interesting)
The alt-right needs a bogeyman, Soros is very old, they need a successor.
Bill Gates fits perfectly, since there is a large overlap between anti-vaxxers and alt-right. And the former already hate him for the promotion of vaccines.
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Imagine thinking a defunct and discredited movement like the alt-right had any relevance whatsoever in the current year.
You weirdos can't even link the alt-right to Trump anymore on account of the fact that the alt-right consider him to be the Zionist-in-Chief, a willing puppet of international Jewry. Your 2016 talking points are out of date my friend, Nazi-Drumpf-Hitler turned out to be the King of the Jews. Oopse.
The Orange One is up there in Washington doing his level best to force governors to take re
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Actually, the worst outbreak was in NYC with the Hasidic Jewish community which was ridiculously vaccine adverse.
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I use alt-right just as a catch all to subsume all right-wing extremism.
And I encountered many of these online who are also spouting anti-vaxxer rhetoric.
Maybe (Score:2)
Re: Maybe (Score:2)
Not conspiratorial enough (Score:4, Funny)
Well, a few locals got it, but it didn't spread to all the contestants there, as expected. So it lingered in the Wuhan area for a few months, before blowing up when a sick person went to an open air food market and infected many, and from there is expanded exponentially.
That's my favorite. It plays off the "it was manufactured" scenario, but turns the origin away from China to the US. It's like a double-decker conspiracy theory.
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Last night I was talking to my kids about the pandemic, and they asked "How did it start?"
My response was something like the following...
"Probably it started in a city in China where people eat bat-meat. They were keeping bats in cages, and didn't wash their hands after handling them, and they caught the disease from the bats. It didn't help that the local communist party, equivalent to a city or state government in our country, arrested the first doctor who discovered the disease for 'spreading counterrev
Small wonder (Score:2)
The 5G phone that leaks the most Corona-viruses through the pixels, is a windows phone.
And Bill Gates is the only one owning one.
Both of them, actually.
I'm sure one of you nutjpbs is on here (Score:3)
I have a question.
Why?
Why would Bill Gates want to do this? When he's already one of the richest and most powerful men on the planet?
Actually taking over formally seems like a lot of extra headache for no reward.
Re: I'm sure one of you nutjpbs is on here (Score:3)
Conspiracy Theory? (Score:2)
use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health system
Er...well thats exactly what they're doing right now. Right or wrong they're using COVID as a justification to implement their chosen policies and moving in a direction that is generally centralizing the system in a more top down structure more under their control. Does anybody deny this?
Yeah sure, whatever (Score:2)
And five months from now, I suppose those lunatics will say that all the meteorites which nuked the biggest cities on the planet are Elon Musk's fault.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Only one thing surprises me about these... (Score:3)
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some of this stuff is being backed by billionaires. Koch family for example and their defense of their coal empire.
Re: Libel? (Score:2)
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Hmm, one of the Koch brothers died, and one I thought was not as firmly on the ultra libertarian side, so doesn't that really just leaves one Koch brother funding campaigns?
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Sue who?
They've got an iron-clad defense: "Your honor, I move to dismiss on the grounds that my client is a gullible ass."
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he doesn't need the money
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he doesn't need the money
BG made his first billion by 1987. That didn't stop him from seeking more.
Re: We Know Bill Gates (Score:2)
Re:And yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
How many people - here - believed the conspiracy theory that Trump pushed hydroxychloroquine purely as a way to profit off of it?
Probably very few... if any. The issue with hydroxychloroquine is that Trump globbed onto hydroxychloroquine as a quick fix to the expanding pandemic that was a result of his ignorance and sluggish response.
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The issue with hydroxychloroquine is that Trump globbed onto hydroxychloroquine as a quick fix to the expanding pandemic
Saying that it looked promising and that it could be used much sooner than new, experimental, drugs, is not saying that it is a "quick fix" .. you are slobbering out the media misrepresentation of what he said right now.
U.S. doctors are currently prescribing themselves hydroxychloroquine as a preventative.
But yeah... orange man bad... right?
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Yeah Orange Man is bad... The US now has nearly a quarter of all worldwide COVID-19 deaths. And will well keep climbing now that Trump is fomenting insurrection contradicting his own guidelines. Did watch Mike "bootlicker" Pence try to defend Trump Liberate tweets?
Re: And yet... (Score:2)
Re:And yet... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well if a handful out of 1.1 million doctors are doing so (oddly, plastic surgeons and dentists rather than internal medicine specialists, by the way) then it's gotta be true.
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Show me where Trump did that. Go ahead, there's plenty of videos on youtube of him, should be easy to find.
Is this a trick to get me to watch Trump speak again? I think I'll pass.
Re: And yet... (Score:2)
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Trump frequently said hydroxychloroquine, was a “game-changer”. And his lackeys at Fox News were going on and on about how it the way forward. Have you been paying attention?
https://twitter.com/realdonald... [twitter.com]
Re:And yet... (Score:4, Insightful)
The survey conducted by Sermo, a global health care polling company, of 6,227 physicians in 30 countries found that 37% of those treating COVID-19 patients rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” from a list of 15 options.
Of the physicians surveyed, 3,308 said they had either ordered a COVID-19 test or been involved in caring for a coronavirus patient, and 2,171 of those responded to the question asking which medications were most effective.
Not exactly a rousing endorsement.
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I don't think he pushed it to profit. I think he pushed it because he is a fucking idiot.
Re:Silly, but predictable (Score:5, Informative)
No global warning? See the Arctic and Greenland, the vanishing glaciers in the Alps and Himalayas. The drought in the Western U.S. The forest fires in Ukraine...in the winter, no less. A good part of Australia turned to cinders. The rising global temperatures.
Get your head out of your ass and smell the coffee.
Re:Silly, but predictable (Score:5, Interesting)
The left has been salivating over the prospect of a widespread panic for decades now... Now they have managed to put most of the world under what amounts to martial law and house arrest, with hardly a peep of protest, and gotten people to accept "Government Edicts" as legitimate.
The "left" truly has a lot of power to be able to do that when it doesn't even hold power in the US, and when it suffered a monumental election defeat in the UK.
(I picked those two countries whose leadership you'll most likely recognize as right wing. But the fact is that lockdowns have happened all over the world with no correlation as to whether those in power are left or right wing.)
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Here we have typically disingenuous argumentation which attempts to conflate power per se with political power.
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" said Chairman Mao.
It's not really true in America. Here, I think power grows out of your dollar bills. Wallace Shawn put it well: "The holders of money determine what's done... those who have a little determine a little, and those who have a lot determine a lot, and those who have nothing determine nothing." I think you can't explain much of what happens in America other than through the lens of money.
If believe like the OP that "[the left] have managed to
Re: Silly, but predictable (Score:2)
Climate change is a good example because it is not a left/right issue in every part of the world. It has become extremely partisan in the States (which
Re:Silly, but predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
has it ever occurred to you that you might just be completely fucking insane?
what shits me is that while nutcases like you are "drinking the Kool-Aid", it's not the original Jonestown flavour.
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Re:So he's a nice guy now? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Did he suddenly see the light?"
Who knows. But if you had more money than you could ever possibly use, and a vehicle to make even more of it, would you quit your job and spend the time figuring out how to best spend your pile to help humanity? Seriously, deciding which areas to most effectively use your money, with the the intention of how to benefit others is more than a full time job.
As far as "the company he headed" (more accurately the company he founded), is pretty much responsible for availability and accessibility of cheap hardware on the consumer market. Regardless of their previous practices or products (some real shitty).
A company has responsibility to shareholders, and now he's decides how to use his resources. Would you spend the rest of your life working in an attempt to benefit others when you could easily fade away from the public and benefit yourself and those you cared to surround yourself with? Buy, have and go wherever, whenever and whatever you wanted? Time to give him a break..