Yesterday, when I pointed out that you are a horrible person if you watch Kim Kardashian or Kanye West get married or otherwise help them make money -- they are horrible-r than you but you're pretty bad for helping them -- author P.T. Dilloway commented:
On the other hand they haven't invaded the Ukraine or sold 300 girls into slavery, so at least they aren't the worst people in the world.
To which I say: Check out this CBS News headline from September, 2013 - -just 9 months ago!:
Kanye West performs for Kazakh dictator at grandson's wedding
The story goes on to note that Kanye got $3,000,000 for that one performance alone.
Less than a month before that command performance, the "Open Dialogue Foundation" published a piece in which they said
Recent events in Kazakhstan’s history have confirmed that all members of the political and financial elite, who, at one time, have gained influence or opposed the President, have now been eliminated. They have all either been assassinated,forced into political exile,or are in prison.
There's a lot of information in that article, too much to reprint here. But here's an interesting paragraph:
On 1 May, 2004, Zamanbek Nurkadilov [a former Akim of Almaty and the chairman of the Agency for Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan, as well as one of the trustees of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan] urged Nursultan Nazarbayev to take part in a public debate regarding the key issues in the country. But the President’s security entourage would not allow Zamanbek Nurkadilov to approach the podium. Three weeks before the presidential election, on 12 November, 2005, [Zamanbek] was killed , in his own heavily-guarded residence. The officially reported account stated that he had committed suicide, having fired , and a final, ‘conclusive’ shot - into his head.
That is one tough former Chairman. Not many people could take two "self-inflicted" bullets to the heart and still need the killing shot before dropping.
So Kanye didn't invade the Ukraine or kidnap 300 girls. He just performed a private concert for a murderer! Oh, well, okay then.
By the way, the $3,000,000 Kanye made? Just so you know how that stacks up, we are saving our money to try to get Mr F a service dog to help with his autism. Service dogs can keep kids from running away (a pretty common problem with autism) as well as reduce their stress in unfamiliar situations to help keep them calm. Mr F right now has to wear GPS tracking bracelet in case he sneaks out of our house (again, as he did once before).
Service dogs cost about $25,000 apiece and families are generally required to contribute 1/2 the cost. So Kanye's $3,000,000 could have bought 240 service dogs for families with special needs kids.
But let's be fair! Let's Google "Kanye West Charitable Donations"! Maybe he gives a lot of money to the poor already!
And... we've got:
The charity named for the rapper Kanye West that was intended to reduce high school dropout rates has closed mysteriously. The charity filed tax forms as if it were a private foundation, but it does not appear to have been financed by Mr. West, instead raising the bulk of its money from companies and individuals with whom Mr. West does business.The charity raised an average of $492,000 and made total grants averaging $18,080 in each of 2007, 2008 and 2009, the last year for which tax forms are available. (Source.)Business Insider and Statista summarized Kanye's "charity" graphically:
I mean, if you want to split hairs, technically, taking money from a murderer, lying about your charitable giving, and then going on to marry a famewhore urinal to help get you back in the public eye isn't quite kidnapping 300 Nigerian girls, but I think they'll all end up together on the same level of hell. *fingers crossed*
