Arise, Sir Bill ...

[robinturner]

... not, since although Bill Gates has been awarded a knighthood, it's a crummy second-class "honorary knighthood" for foreigners which doesn't confer the title of "Sir". Nevertheless, computer lovers around the world will be gnashing their teeth and pounding their keyboards at what must be the most blatant abuse of honours since Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize. They should take comfort from the fact that Gates is not in terribly good company; another notorious honorary knight was Ceaceuscu Ceausecsu that Romanian dictator.

Comments

[vret.livejournal.com]

It's one of those days when I find myself defending the indefensible. I've already defended Alistair Campbell in an argument over what appeared to be his remarkable ignorance of space history, and now Gates. He's got the KBE for being the world's most generous philanthropist.

Now, don't you feel bad? If you had bought software from Microsoft your money could have gone towards the eradication of disease from the Third World too. Instead, you spent it on cigarettes. Tsk.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Generosity is measured by how much you give in relation to what you have and what you need - the widow's mite and all that. As a proportion of his total wealth, Gates' philanthropy is negligible.

[vret.livejournal.com]

I think that's what Jesus meant when he said that it is harder for a rich man to smoke a Camel than to remove a needle from his eye with a laser beam.

[ironed_orchid]

Brits seem to get knighted for being good at what they do and having a good public image.

[ironed_orchid]

Didn't the Beatles all get awards for being so good for Britain's exports?

[vret.livejournal.com]

They were all given the MBE.

[vret.livejournal.com]

It means they were made Members of the Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire. It's the lowest of a whole load of ranks of the Order (OBE = Officer, CBE = Commander, KBE = Knight Commander etc).

[vret.livejournal.com]

There's a long tradition that the leading stage actors of the time get a knighthood or damehood. Ian McKellan is also a gay activist, which probably helped too.

[ironed_orchid]

I just got over teh shock of "WTF? BG got knighted?" to experience the shock of "They knighted Ceausescu?! What they fuck where they thinking?!".

I'm shocked and appalled on both counts. But while I can see that BGs is a big philanthropists (one of the convenient side effects of having lots and lots of cash) what's the stated reason for awarding Ceausescu a knighthood? It's just a bit mind boggling.

[senryu.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's any comfort, others felt your outrage and lodged their protest.

It seems almost a badge of honor to have escaped knighthood. They appear to be getting desperate.

[hfx-ben.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if his knighthood renders him immune to class-action suit for psychological abuse.