Bono Defends Steve Jobs Against Criticism Over Lack of Public Philanthropy

[thetoad30]

Not his problem. He does business the way he does business, and it has gotten his company tremendous results and benefitted the industry in ways not thought possible. That's kinda the major goal - the point to what he did every day. Quite frankly, it's a crying shame there aren't other CEOs like him. As for how he was personally, hey, personalities are as many and varied as there are stars in the sky.

The only point worth making is he made the kind of contribution most people can only dream of making, and he did a lot of it while he had cancer.

The rest isn't really important.

Again, not sure how this kind of thinking has prevailed in this society.

Tell me how your iThingy really matters in the grand scheme of things? Sure, if the iPad was made in order to help people with disabilities, then great. But that wasn't the case. It just happened to coincide.

The rest is all that's important. Without humanity, without some semblance of caring in the world, there is no one to buy your stupid device.

For f's sake people, wake up and stop thinking so short-term. WHO CARE'S what product did what, if it doesn't further the human experience?

No, I'm not some hippie, I just see the downward spiral that our younger generations are in and it sickens me. The sad part is I'm part of the generation that started the downward spiral and I'm ashamed to be... but the furtherance of this kind of thinking where "the rest is not important" really makes me fear for the future. It's the same kind of thinking that got this country (I'm in the USA) into the **** hole it's in now.

 

[Claefer]

Why is that?

Because his little band's latest tour generated $736 million and attracted 7.2 million attendees. Their success is undeserved.

 

[robbyx]

I love how Jobs gets a pass from everyone on MR, but anyone else would be a greedy, selfish, capitalist. Jobs is the epotomy of a greedy, selfish, capitalist; but that is exactly why Apple is such a financial success.

Completely disagree. None of us (presumably) know Mr. Jobs, so you have no basis to call him "greedy" or "selfish." You have no idea what he does with his money or his free time. He's been driven his entire life to make the world better, not by offering handouts, but by building something wonderful, by creating products that change people's lives for the better. And yes, he profits when that happens. Good for him. It's how our world works.

By all accounts, Jobs lives a rather simple life and doesn't feel the need to show off his wealth. I wouldn't be surprised if, when he passes, he leaves the bulk of his fortune to a cause he deems worthy. But to call him greedy and selfish is offensive. He's done more in a day to make the world better than most of us will do in a lifetime.

 

[dethmaShine]

Jobs may also be under the philosophy that the best giving is done in secret and not shouted from the rooftops in a look-at-me gesture of veiled selfishness.

I come from New Delhi, India. I know of a certain people who have donated generously to orphanage schools and other important institutions and have specifically asked the people to keep the sponsors anonymous.

The best example that always comes to my mind is Steve Waugh, the retired Australian cricketer who donated close to AUS$10M throughout the institutions in Tamil Nadu, India.
Although he had been doing that for close to 14 years, one sudden day he was caught off guard and then the press broke it down into pieces.

Some people like being anonymous. And people need to digest that fact.

 

[thetoad30]

Because he had a jet, he didn't have to stay close to the hospital. If the rules are "you can get a transplant if you can get to the hospital within two hours" then there are different ways to achieve that.

That is just pathetic.

Pathetic is that you'd defend him to hell and back, and that the only way you wouldn't is if somehow if it was your mother/wife/sister/loved one who got screwed.

That's pretty hypocritical.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I knew better than to start reading this thread but...I did anyway.

What disturbs me is how freely some folks slam pretty much everyone that is alive, especially in forums. Steve may be dying and still folks are accusing him of everything under the sun, most of the time when they have no idea. Very sad.

That's almost as disturbing as those who have their lips puckered on Job's sphincter and worship everything he says and does.

 

[thetoad30]

Well said, in the end no one need to help anyone else.

I sure hope one day you're in a bind and no one stops to help you. Maybe then you'll think twice about this kind of attitude.

 

[bosoxnm3]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

I don't see why it's so hard for people to admit Jobs the man is a complete scumbag. From not donating money to charities to being a deadbeat father to screwing over Wozniak with profits from that game they sold to Atari, Jobs has shown that he has very little morals. Regardless, I care about Jobs the businessman and innovator, and there's probably no one better in those aspects.

 

[axual]

No one's business

It's no one's business what Steve Jobs does with his money.

Many people give and make it public so that they can say "hey look at me, I am giving to charity".

Leave Steve alone.

 

[CWT1965]

Pathetic is that you'd defend him to hell and back, and that the only way you wouldn't is if somehow if it was your mother/wife/sister/loved one who got screwed.

That's pretty hypocritical.

No one got screwed for all we know, the chances of someone else having the exact same match down there as Steve Jobs' is not very likely, Steve was just lucky that there was a perfect match it does not mean that he stole a liver off someone else who wanted it, a liver is not like a tin of beans or a one size fits all pair of trousers, Steve didn't deprive someone of a liver he was just lucky that there was a match somewhere.

 

[RonDMC]

It completely boggles my mind how some of you blindly defend jobs like he is a god, kinda sad really. I think once you are past the 1 billion mark comparing the donations of someone like Jobs to a normal person paying off a mortgage and working 9-5 to support a family is like comparing apples and oranges, these people have a moral obligation to better society and help the less fortunate otherwise it comes down to pure greed. What can someone possibly spend 8 billion dollars on? You could easily give away 7 billion and provide for the next 100 generations of your family.

Oh and to the people ripping in to Bill Gates get over yourselves he has done much more for humanity than Jobs has, releasing a new iPhone each year doesn't compare to saving thousands of lives.

 

[imageWIS]

"He has been focused on two things -- building the team at Apple and his family," another friend said. "That's his legacy. Everything else is a distraction."

WHAT A CROCK! It's so distracting to take out a checkbook and sign your name! Steve might be great at business, but he has shown time and time again, he sucks as a human being.

 

[Bilbo63]

It's not employment when you make sure these same people share only YOUR vision and do what you say. It's called a cult. And do you think he pays them for it? No. He, and Google, and Microsoft, and other companies, had signed pacts to prevent fair competition in the workplace to prevent poaching, thus freezing the wages. He doesn't care about anyone but himself.

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Except that he wasn't doing it as anyone would. He used the advantages of having money to abuse the system.

Just because the system never thought that could happen doesn't mean he's any less wrong for doing it.

How did he abuse the system?

So Steve had the financial resources to fly from CA to be able to get to a state where there was a match for him. It was stated at the time, that he never bumped anyone else off of the list or took a liver that was to go to someone else.

Was it to his advantage that he was fortunate enough to have the financial resources to fly there? Of course it was. I couldn't have done that, but that isn't illegal.

If it was proven that he took a liver that was supposed to go to someone else, I'd agree totally. I agree that his financial situation was certainly an advantage that not everyone has, but it's not illegal, a lot of people exhaust all options... It's called trying to survive.

 

[aohus]

I hate this mentality of, 'if you get rich' you must give it to the poor.

He's a made man. He revolutionized how we consume media. Thats good enough.

 

[thetoad30]

Completely disagree. None of us (presumably) know Mr. Jobs, so you have no basis to call him "greedy" or "selfish." You have no idea what he does with his money or his free time. He's been driven his entire life to make the world better, not by offering handouts, but by building something wonderful, by creating products that change people's lives for the better. And yes, he profits when that happens. Good for him. It's how our world works.

By all accounts, Jobs lives a rather simple life and doesn't feel the need to show off his wealth. I wouldn't be surprised if, when he passes, he leaves the bulk of his fortune to a cause he deems worthy. But to call him greedy and selfish is offensive. He's done more in a day to make the world better than most of us will do in a lifetime.

You tell me how anyone in Somolia has ever benefited from an iDevice? They can't even afford it! It's like Apple has solved so many of the world's problems!

GIVE ME A BREAK! You people seriously need an adjustment on life priorities.

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I hate this mentality of, 'if you get rich' you must give it to the poor.

He's a made man. He revolutionized how we consume media. Thats good enough.

No one said you must. But ethically, and humanely, you should help where you can. If you don't, you're a prick. I don't think anyone with logic can disagree with that.

 

[robbyx]

The rest is all that's important. Without humanity, without some semblance of caring in the world, there is no one to buy your stupid device.

For f's sake people, wake up and stop thinking so short-term. WHO CARE'S what product did what, if it doesn't further the human experience?

The personal computer and the connectivity devices that have been created since (phones, tablets, whatever) have furthered the "human experience" more than anything since the printing press. If you can't see that, you need to pull your head out of the sand. Information is far more accessible today than ever before. Ever. Thanks to technology. Thanks to visionaries like Jobs.

There are too many people on the planet. Humans aren't the end-all, be-all. We're a cancer that is literally choking the life out of our planet (and yes, our addiction to consumer products is a huge part of the problem). I'm tired of the "humanist" point of view. We don't deserve to survive if our survival means the destruction of the planet.

I'd like to see Jobs give his money to a worthy cause like family planning than all these so-called humanist charities that just perpetuate the problem.

 

[CWT1965]

It completely boggles my mind how some of you blindly defend jobs like he is a god, kinda sad really. I think once you are past the 1 billion mark comparing the donations of someone like Jobs to a normal person paying off a mortgage and working 9-5 to support a family is like comparing apples and oranges, these people have a moral obligation to better society and help the less fortunate otherwise it comes down to pure greed. What can someone possibly spend 8 billion dollars on? You could easily give away 7 billion and provide for the next 100 generations of your family.

Oh and to the people ripping in to Bill Gates get over yourselves he has done much more for humanity than Jobs has, releasing a new iPhone each year doesn't compare to saving thousands of lives.

Why is there a moral obligation to help anyone ? life has its have's and its have nots, that is life, there is no obligation to help anyone, a lot of people are in the **** position they are in due to bad lifestyle choices or non existent work ethic or not attending school when they should, why should Steve or anyone bail out those that had their chance in life and didn't take it ?

 

[thetoad30]

How did he abuse the system?

So Steve had the financial resources to fly from CA to be able to get to a state where there was a match for him.

Emphasis is all that's needed to prove my point.

It was stated at the time, that he never bumped anyone else off of the list or took a liver that was to go to someone else.

Link?

Was it to his advantage that he was fortunate enough to have the financial resources to fly there? Of course it was. I couldn't have done that, but that isn't illegal.

And it's not illegal to be a controlling, egotistical, non-philanthropic prick, either. So why defend Steve so staunchly then?

 

[tbrinkma]

First, it wasn't speculation. He was in CA, and as soon as he "qualified" for a liver somewhere else (In this case I thought it was Tennesee), he hopped on his private jet and immediately flew there to get the operation. No one else has the ability to do this. He manipulated the system, and I DO blame him for that. It's atrocious to think that he has any kind of thought for his fellow human beings when he does something so dastardly as that.

Imagine the poor person thinking they've got a liver, and then because some rich ******* has a jet he can take it from you. Shame.

You don't have to be rich to get on a plane and fly somewhere to get a transplant on short notice. I know more than one person who has done exactly that even though it put them significantly into debt.

Yes, Jobs had an easier time of it, but (again), that has absolutely no bearing on your claim that he did something wrong.

And, for the record, they don't tell you you're getting a liver *and then offer it to someone else*. They make sure you're a match, find out if you and the liver can get to the same hospital fast enough for it to be viable, and *then* put things into motion. If you can, great. If you can't, then they go to the next person on the list.

If someone else who was a match was before Jobs on the list, and they didn't get the liver, it means either the person was a poor candidate for the transplant (in which case they wouldn't have gotten it anyway), or the liver couldn't be gotten to them quickly enough (in which case they wouldn't have gotten it anyway).

You can twist it how you want - the FACT is that because he had a jet (do you have one?) he could get the transplant. Abuse of the system, regardless of the rules.

So, if I'm on the transplant list, I'm doing something *wrong* to charter a private plane on short notice in order to be somewhere to get the transplant I so desperately need? WTF?

It's not employment when you make sure these same people share only YOUR vision and do what you say. It's called a cult. And do you think he pays them for it? No. He, and Google, and Microsoft, and other companies, had signed pacts to prevent fair competition in the workplace to prevent poaching, thus freezing the wages. He doesn't care about anyone but himself.

Ok, now I *know* you're out in left field somewhere. It's called employment, because someone is *employed* (paid for their work). Good companies are *full* of people who share the same vision and work to make it real. Bad companies are full of people with conflicting visions (or none at all).

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Except that he wasn't doing it as anyone would. He used the advantages of having money to abuse the system.

Just because the system never thought that could happen doesn't mean he's any less wrong for doing it.

He used the advantages of having money to use the system *exactly* as it was intended to be used. The system matches suitable organs to suitable surgical candidates, and gets the two into the same room before the organ dies. That's what the system is *for*.

Having an advantage does *not* mean you're abusing anything. (Or should I give myself brain damage in order to not have the advantage of logic and reason in this discussion?)

 

[robbyx]

You tell me how anyone in Somolia has ever benefited from an iDevice? They can't even afford it! It's like Apple has solved so many of the world's problems!

GIVE ME A BREAK! You people seriously need an adjustment on life priorities.

Maybe not in Somalia yet. But that's a specious argument. Because Somalis haven't benefited, it's all bad, right? You need an adjustment in your perspective.

Apple didn't create the world's problems. Most are caused by people having kids they can't afford.

 

[*LTD*]

Again, not sure how this kind of thinking has prevailed in this society.

Probably because it's just common sense. Which although in short supply, is still plentiful enough to go around. You just have to want it.

Tell me how your iThingy really matters in the grand scheme of things? Sure, if the iPad was made in order to help people with disabilities, then great. But that wasn't the case. It just happened to coincide.

We all contribute in different ways. Not everything is going to be a legendary boon to all of humanity. To expect such a thing is rather unfair and certainly unreasonable, even at the best of times. Industrialists are not evil, and some of them make quite a contribution. If you work for them, you are able to put food on your table thanks to them.

Let's come back down to earth.

The rest is all that's important. Without humanity, without some semblance of caring in the world, there is no one to buy your stupid device.

You're expecting a little too much. There's plenty of humanity and caring in the world. But some people make stuff for a living - products, devices, and they too can show plenty of devotion to what they do and do it with heart. Most of the time that's enough. It's probably not enough for sainthood, but I'd wager it's a fair accomplishment and probably unreasonable to expect anything more. Not everyone is cut out to make substantial contributions to humanity, nor is it a realistic expectation.

For f's sake people, wake up and stop thinking so short-term. WHO CARE'S what product did what, if it doesn't further the human experience?

I was naive once too. Again, not everyone is going to be a philosopher, saint, or revelatory poet. "Human Experience" is a rather ill-defined notion, and I think when it comes to someone who does their job with dedication and makes things that happen to delight and inspire, that's usually enough.

Steve Jobs' final destination is none of my business, but I think he's paid his dues at the grindstone and earned a comfortable future, whether it's here, up there, or in the next life.

No, I'm not some hippie, I just see the downward spiral that our younger generations are in and it sickens me.

I believe that's what your counterpart said 200 years ago as well. The younger generation usually has a difficult time living up to the expectations of the older one. That's life. It's not really worth worrying about.

The sad part is I'm part of the generation that started the downward spiral and I'm ashamed to be... but the furtherance of this kind of thinking where "the rest is not important" really makes me fear for the future. It's the same kind of thinking that got this country (I'm in the USA) into the **** hole it's in now.

Your expectations are a little off.

 

[mrelwood]

given how richly he is blessed.

Oh, I didn't know a blessing give Steve his money. I thought it had something to do with work and skills. I should start praying too then!

Millions starve and are afflicted by disease every day

Well, I'm sure god would bless them also if they needed something. Suppose they are just blessed that way.

Wow, god is really handy. You can either defend or blame people on his words, whichever you feel suits the mood.

I should have the option to use Flash if I choose. I should be able to mod my product how I want.

Well, you do! Just choose a suitable product for you:

Steve Jobs may have pushed the envelope on design and usability, but he reversed the idea of free-thinking and creativity.

How in the earth did Steve Jobs limit your creativity?

Some of you guys are a bit bonkers.

 

[thetoad30]

Why is there a moral obligation to help anyone?

One day I hope you need help. I want to say I hope you don't get it, and it changes your mind, only I think that if you don't get it it will just make you take revenge... You really need to go back and ask yourself, and your friends, and family, if they've ever been helped by anyone out of kindness, and maybe rethink your attitude.

 

[Bilbo63]

It completely boggles my mind how some of you blindly defend jobs like he is a god, kinda sad really. I think once you are past the 1 billion mark comparing the donations of someone like Jobs to a normal person paying off a mortgage and working 9-5 to support a family is like comparing apples and oranges, these people have a moral obligation to better society and help the less fortunate otherwise it comes down to pure greed. What can someone possibly spend 8 billion dollars on? You could easily give away 7 billion and provide for the next 100 generations of your family.

Oh and to the people ripping in to Bill Gates get over yourselves he has done much more for humanity than Jobs has, releasing a new iPhone each year doesn't compare to saving thousands of lives.

Hey, I think that Gates, Buffet and others do great work. Many people here are criticizing Steve for his PERCEIVED lack of philanthropy. You only know what Steve chooses to make public.

I sincerely hope that Steve does do or plans to do some major philanthropic undertakings. If he doesn't I'd be pretty disappointed in him as a human being. Remember, in the end, we'll only know what he chooses to make public. Just because someone doesn't do that stuff publicly, doesn't automatically mean that they don't do it all.

 

[thetoad30]

Oh, I didn't know a blessing give Steve his money. I thought it had something to do with work and skills. I should start praying too then!



Well, I'm sure god would bless them also if they needed something. Suppose they are just blessed that way.

Wow, god is really handy. You can either defend or blame people on his words, whichever you feel suits the mood.



Well, you do! Just choose a suitable product for you:
Image



How in the earth did Steve Jobs limit your creativity?

Some of you guys are a bit bonkers.

I never said he limited MY creativity. I said he did it as a whole. He took over control of how you use your device. In essence, he said you were too stupid to use the device freely, so you're going to use it how I want you to.

If you can't see that, perhaps it's you who's a "bit bonkers".