The Government of Pakistan’s official twitter account on Friday tweeted out a quote falsely attributed to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The official government twitter account tweeted a picture that read “If you are born poor it is not your mistake but if you die poor its your mistake – Bill Gates.” The tweet was quickly taken down by the twitter account but users managed to save screenshots of the gaffe.
Other than the incorrect language and grammar of the ‘quote’ and its false attribution to Bill Gates, many people also noticed how it seemed to be ignorant of the plight of the poor and the many barriers to entry they face in the attempt to improve their lives.
Muhammad Saleem, a developmental economist, pointed this out in a series of tweets in response to the government’s twitter account.
Govt of Pakistan deleted this tweet but there should be a revolt of Pakistan’s poor against Govt of Pakistan & filthy rich. Poors of Pakistan should unite and rise up to remove this oppressive structure which keep them in perpetual poverty. pic.twitter.com/g7BUYi6Pyq
— Saleem (@memzarma) January 11, 2019
Poor of Pakistan should unite and throw this oppressive structure away which keep them in perpetual poverty. Seriously. https://t.co/NaYq3NZxJd
— Saleem (@memzarma) January 11, 2019
Writer Fatima Bhutto also sounded off on the controversy, calling the tweet “utter none sense”.
What kind of utter nonsense is this? In systems of ruthless structural inequality, the poor cannot be blamed for poverty. https://t.co/Pas62WJ3xD
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) January 11, 2019
According to the website ‘Quote Investigator’, the quote, which is often ascribed to Bill Gates, cannot in any way be traced back to the micro soft founder.
“QI has found no substantive evidence that Bill Gates made this statement. His philanthropic endeavors via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce hunger and extreme poverty suggest that Gates is aware of the major obstacles facing people who are born into harsh circumstances” read the websites post on the matter.
While a simple google image search will reveal many entries ascribing the quote to Bill Gates, it is clear through many other websites and entries that Bill Gates never said this. In fact, the quote has been traced back to a message posted to the discussion system Usenet within the newsgroup news.newusers.questions in 1997, where it was first attributed to Bill Gates.
While the tweet is down, it does bring into question the social media handlers of the government. There seems to be little check and balance on what the social media team is doing and such tweets coming not from a personal account, but a verified Government of Pakistan account make it all the more embarrassing. The tweet also seems to have come out of nowhere with no particular purpose, simply titled with hashtags like “#Quoteoftheday”.
