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Comment by newbie789 | Hacker News Reader

“Single handedly reshaping America” is an extraordinary claim!

I live in the middle of nowhere and my best friends live in places like New Orleans, Juneau, San Francisco, Portland, New York, rural Colorado, Mississippi and Florida etc. basically, all over the place and nobody I know has been in any way impacted by any of these charities, and certainly haven’t been impacted by this gifting spree.

Furthermore, none of my friends know anybody who has benefited from these “money bombs.”

I don’t mean to sound cynical, but it doesn’t really seem like “giving” when you’re purchasing some of the most blatantly glowing sycophantic PR imaginable. Seriously, what is the actual purpose of this article? Why was it written? It’s “news” that Bloomberg thinks it’s important that I like this person?

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> when you’re purchasing some of the most blatantly glowing sycophantic PR imaginable

Huh? Is there any reason to think MacKenzie purchased this article? It discusses how MacKenzie is incredibly tight lipped and low profile with her contributions. She’s not interviewed in it. Bloomberg had to do a mass survey to just identity the places she donated to and they still weren’t able to get dollar contribution amounts from many organizations. You’d think if she was promoting herself she’d hand them a list.

IMHO, the article exists because a billionaire donating $4B+ in 12 months is newsworthy in itself.

Agreed on the click-bait “reshaping America” title though.

> You’d think if she was promoting herself she’d hand them a list.

Based on the headline and content of the article, that’s clearly not true.

I suppose it’s just a coincidence that a gushing love letter to a billionaire just showed up in Bloomberg. Maybe it’s actually newsworthy that I should personally like this obscenely rich person.

The Vermont Food Bank, an organization I support and know well, received $9 million.

“John Sayles, CEO of the Vermont Foodbank said he received an email on Dec. 3 from a philanthropic adviser who said their client was interested in making a donation. Shortly thereafter, Sayles learned who was making the donation and how much it was for.

“And then I just spent about a day in shock,” Sayles said.

The gift is “exponentially” bigger than any other the nonprofit has received, Sayles said. The amount is the equivalent of the organization’s annual operating budget.”

https://vtdigger.org/2020/12/18/billionaire-mackenzie-scott-...

You've clearly got some sort of axe to grind, but I suggest you take it somewhere else. We can debate whether this is the best use of the money or merely a good use of the money, but I'm amazed you've somehow managed to frame it as a bad thing.

My issue is that the phrase “single handedly reshaping America” is in my opinion highly hyperbolic. I find it to be so hyperbolic that I find myself questioning the intent of the author.

If you personally agree with the headline, I apologize for being flippant about this issue, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. It’s also possible, I suppose, that I’m not the one with the axe to grind though. Anything is possible!

Edit: To clarify, yes I think this is completely bad and I do not think any of this is in any way a laudable act. If Bezos had paid taxes, his ex wife wouldn’t have this amount of power! This is an awful example of the worst parts of American excess. I am aware that this is an unpopular opinion on this site.

> almost $8.6 billion in gifts announced in just 12 months

Give it some time

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