If you donate money to something and exercise naming rights on it, you aren’t selflessly helping others, you’re selfishly building a personal legacy.

That’s right, in talking about you Andrew Carnegie.

Rated 💯 by multiple networks. Fluent in /unglish. Unbothered by /whatday of the week it is.

Allegedly a designer.

lol of all the big tycoons from that era, Carnegie is my favorite. Not that he didn’t have his flaws (mainly the Jonestown dam and the steel protests where he brought in the Pinkertons.

But his early life story is incredible still. Came from nothing. People said no one could build a bridge over the Mississippi big enough for steam boats to pass under. Mfer figured out how to do it with a new method of smelting steel and ushered in the skyscraper error. It’s just such a badass story that it’s too bad he let his wealth corrupt him so much afterward.

I do think he regretted both Jonestown and the Pinkerton riots and that’s what’s caused him to want to leave such a sanitized legacy.

Yeah for sure. I’m not that vain. Buuuuut, if I had also haven’t caused a flood that destroyed a town killing 1000s of people AND had my employees killed by a private army for protesting.  😂

If I had that on my reputation, I might be more inclined to have them include my name on everything lol. “In time, they’ll remember for the libraries, not all the death and destruction.”

And it mostly worked…

I also think it’s great to invest back in communities, but so fucking weird to be like “only if the building bears my name!”

In Vancouver these days it only costs $150,000 to get a library named after you. Which is just north of $100k USD. 

I feel like the Carnegie branch near me cost a lot more than that in its day.