Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by singingboyo 1562 days ago
I generally agree, though I don't think the "saintliness" even matters. The queen as seen by the public is probably a persona, sure, but so long as the persona stays put, she's a symbol of stability, and that is the whole point of the monarchy.

This even shows up in tech - Bill Gates isn't exactly known for widespread political opinions, and while we all know he was probably not a great person early on, he's now generally contributing to universally approved causes, and otherwise just there, so to some extent he's a symbol of the possibilities available through tech.

Meanwhile, you've got Elon, who I think would be reasonably similar - if he could stay the hell off Twitter and stop overpromising so goddamn often. He could have ended up as a symbol for the commercial space revolution and the surge of EV popularity, but instead he's polarising and often hated.

Generally, polarisation isn't great for authority figures. Even in politics this is sort of true - relatively centrist parties often have broader appeal than extreme views. (Though because politicians are our means of changing things, there's also an aversion to politicians with no opinions at all.)

1 comments

>he was probably not a great person early on, he's now generally contributing to universally approved causes, and otherwise just there, so to some extent he's a symbol of the possibilities available through tech.

You probably haven't been following Gates lately. His reputation has tarnished in the last couple of years.

Do you have a source or examples?
1. Some kind of relationship with Epstein

2. Divorce

3. Melinda hinting that 1. had something to do with 2.

All three is one thing, which is a thing that doesn't matter depending on who you ask.
There are people who are adamant Bill Gates is trying to depopulate the Earth through COVID-19 or something. They're wrong, but people do believe that.