I haven't seen people wilfully misunderstand all possible criticism of them so hard since the last time rationalists hit the headlines, with Scott Alexander

a quick supercut of garbage Scott Alexander takes for your sneering convenience:

I bet the billionaires who have donated the majority of their fortune to the cause also enjoy being told it's just so they can get a few percent tax break.

does anyone have the slightest idea what Scott’s talking about here? cause I feel like I’d have heard of a billionaire donating most of their money to any cause, unless my intuition’s right and scott’s playing with words pretending that treating a non-profit as a piggy bank somehow isn’t possible or common

I am of the opinion that most billionaires are good and have nothing to whitewash. But even aside from that, this is the worst possible way to whitewash money. If you spend your money on a yacht, people say "cool yacht".

I… I don’t have words for this one actually, the sneers write themselves

"Doesn't actually do selfless things with the money" - can you explain how this works? My impression is if your foundation spends money on yachts or mansions for yourself, that's plain tax fraud.

a bunch of folks in the thread and the original podcast have already explained exactly how this works, Scott, and it’s also kinda fucking obvious, but I guess don’t let that stop you from JAQing off about it