Forget the teachers unions. Bill Gates’s hubristic save-the-world philanthropy and perpetual tone-deafness have now alienated an entire nation. Bolivia—a healthy poultry-producer actually on the economic up-and-up under an anti-imperialist regime—rejected his offer of 100,000 hens.
From The Verge:
“He does not know Bolivia’s reality to think we are living 500 years ago, in the middle of the jungle not knowing how to produce,” said César Cocarico, Bolivia’s minister of land and rural development, according to the Financial Times. “Respectfully, he should stop talking about Bolivia, and once he knows more, apologize to us.”
What Bolivians may not know is that coming from Gates, the offer of charity chickens is only sort of insulting: This tech billionaire thinks quite highly of poultry.
“It’s pretty clear to me that just about anyone who’s living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens,” wrote Gates in a blog post. “In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what I would do — I would raise chickens.” He says that the animals are easy and inexpensive to raise, empower women (“because chickens are small and stay close to home”), and can help feed children in poor families.
In fact, Gates is not alone among the glitterati in his chicken appreciation. All the most fabulous people keep chickens. The only difference is that instead of in a coop, Gates wants to keep his in adorable little developing nations.
