Why I’m Going to India • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#21

Post by denzil_correa » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

curiousDog wrote: post #11

Mr.Gates is obviously doing this with good intentions, I'm not sure how much this is going to actually help India though. Having lived in both places, I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. Throwing tons of aid at them isn't going to solve anything. This sort of culture has been accumulated over cen…

> I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others.

>This sort of culture has been accumulated over centuries and isn't going to go away anytime soon.

I agree with the overall sentiment in your post. Some more explanation about the culture in India which is accumulated over "centuries" would be nice. Which centuries are we talking about?

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#22

Post by nairteashop » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

chris_mahan wrote: post #6

Uh, there's plenty of poor people in America. There are kids at my son's elementary school who don't have enough food. In Los Angeles. In California.

That is true. However, Gates' point is that there are health problems faced by poor folk, even in America, that no one there seems to be solving (not a pressing problem, not enough $, etc).

India is in a unique position to solve these issues, and hopefully some of those solutions can be applied to other places in the world, including America.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#23

Post by tn13 » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

Last time I was in Pune Gates arrived in Pune unannounced by a private plane and straight away drove to the red-light area (prostitution business area) to meet the social workers there. A lot of local politicians rushed to the place for photo ops. He had to virtually physically fight his way out from them.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#24

Post by pekk » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

curiousDog wrote: post #11

Mr.Gates is obviously doing this with good intentions, I'm not sure how much this is going to actually help India though. Having lived in both places, I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. Throwing tons of aid at them isn't going to solve anything. This sort of culture has been accumulated over cen…

It is facile to blame all of the developing world's problems on "the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption, and generally not giving a shit about others." For starters, aren't there causes of ignorance, corruption, or not giving a shit about others?

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#25

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

curiousDog wrote: post #11

Mr.Gates is obviously doing this with good intentions, I'm not sure how much this is going to actually help India though. Having lived in both places, I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. Throwing tons of aid at them isn't going to solve anything. This sort of culture has been accumulated over cen…

[deleted]

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#26

Post by alexqgb » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:33 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #12

marcosscriven wrote: post #2

While what he's doing is obviously good, I am uneasy with the whole idea that one man accumulates so much wealth in the first place, and then decides as an unelected individual what's best for a country. Having said that, I'm not sure i have a particularly good answer to this conundrum.

It took me a while to understand this thinking but deep down I end up agreeing -- this "billionaire with a heart of gold" is far too familiar to the old thought of "I hope the king is just." We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for rich people in the name of charity ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_... ). Living in Seattle, I have sev…

Replace "private citizen" with "human being" and see if this criticism still makes sense.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#27

Post by sharkweek » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:33 PM UTC

MartinCron wrote: post #19

sharkweek wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a while to understand this thinking but deep down I end up agreeing -- this "billionaire with a heart of gold" is far too familiar to the old thought of "I hope the king is just." We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for rich people in the name of charity ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_... ). Living in Seattle, I have sev…

We far too often end up with billionaires using their money to fund an art museum or ballet for billionaires in the name of charity You seem to imply that there's something wrong with funding art museums or ballet... The world needs beauty in it, and if people choose to support the arts in a way from which we all benefit, that's great.

I completely agree that we need beauty -- I love the concept of funding the arts, but there have to be priorities and we should not rely on the rich to make decisions like this in the name of charity.

I quoted it lower in the thread, but I LOVE the poem by Gil Scott-Heron "Whitey on the moon" --

"A rat done bit my sister Nell, with Whitey on the moon"

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#28

Post by dwc » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:36 PM UTC

What's up with HN lately? It seems like being contrary to contrarian is the new thing these days.

Bill Gates is someone I admired at first, because he built something huge from humble beginnings. Then I reviled him for the damage I saw him cause to the industry. Then I admired him again for the global effect he managed. He is a single person trying to do the best he knows how for humanity at large.

If anyone thinks resources would better be spent in, say, LA, please earn huge loads of cash and make it happen. Much to your chagrin it might benefit someone in India as well.

Bill Gates seems genuinely concerned with elevating the level of humanity as a whole, and if you oppose that? Is this a zero sum game? No, it's not.

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#29

Post by tokenadult » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:37 PM UTC

kailuowang wrote: post #20

If seeing how the poorest live is the purpose of this trip, I am not quite sure I understand why meeting Aamir Khan, the Bollywood star, is a highlight of it and the only one that has a picture in the beautiful poster. What I do sense there is a little bit heroism - he feels like a superhero(and justly so). It's just interesting that every time I hear about Gate's foundation and the wonderful stuff they did, there we…

I was startled by the mention of Aamir Khan (who I first learned about by watching the movie Three Idiots) until I did some looking up. I see that Khan is now a social activist, and he has recently been designated a program "ambassador" by UNESCO. Khan apparently cares about his country and its problems, and is using his star power to promote change.

http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/aamir-khan-on-time-cover-as...

http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/aamir-khan...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos-news/Photos-Lifestyle/a...

Re: Why I’m Going to India

#30

Post by harichinnan » Wed, May 29, 2013, 9:40 PM UTC

denzil_correa wrote: post #21

curiousDog wrote: post #11

Mr.Gates is obviously doing this with good intentions, I'm not sure how much this is going to actually help India though. Having lived in both places, I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. Throwing tons of aid at them isn't going to solve anything. This sort of culture has been accumulated over cen…

> I think India and Africa pretty much have the same deep-rooted culture/religion problem of ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others. >This sort of culture has been accumulated over centuries and isn't going to go away anytime soon. I agree with the overall sentiment in your post. Some more explanation about the culture in India which is accumulated over "centuries" would be nice. Which cen…

Caste System(More like Racism. Keeping groups of people away from economic opportunity), Families where people have been desperately poor for generations(poor people create more kids on average and most of them end of poor and desperate)... 100's or millions with no primary education/even literacy...