Last week, I read an article about Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan who pledged to donate 3 Billion Dollars over several years to end/cure disease. The money will go to three research institutions to fund their research efforts. Upon initially reading this, I was hopeful and excited about the prospect of abolishing diseases. That's amazing; they plan on curing diseases in their child's lifetime. Today, though, I read additional articles criticizing the duo for the idea behind the proposed contribution. One article said that although the idea sounds promising, there isn't a way to monitor whether or not the money goes to this research or gets donated at all. The most stated critique was that their 3 billion dollar contribution isn't enough to make a dent in the problem. It kind of surprised me how quick people were to criticize positive headlines. There's so much bad in the news, especially this past week. This good news should be celebrated. It also makes me wonder about the dent that could be made if more billionaires did what Zuckerberg and Chan are doing. Last week I watched the Queen of Versailles on Netflix after it was brought up in one of our class discussions. The Siegler family in threw money away like it was nothing. What if some of that money was donated to curing disease? Maybe an actual dent could be made if more of the top 1% took a note from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Articles to peruse for reference:
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/09/23/495184078/whats-the-prognosis-for-mark-zuckerbergs-3-billion-health-plan
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/mark-zuckerberg-priscilla-chan-bill-gates-charity-philanthropy
Wow! I didn't know they were doing this but it's actually pretty cool :) people in the media are sometimes way too ugly and come up with judgments and that really sucks, because yeah you are right.. why can't the top 1% take this an an example and learn to do something good with their money instead of being selfish.
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful news! Although their donations will only make a dent it is still a good deed. I agree with you and wish more billionaires would be more charitable with their money rather than being greedy. If everyone who had money to give would donate to these causes over time maybe it will make a difference and some cures will be found!
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