Can We Stop Putting Tech Billionaires’ Names On Bay Area Hospitals?
I was stuck in a traffic jam on CA-24 in Oakland and I started to look around. I like driving, I know it’s cool to hate cars, and I understand the root of their argument – cars are bad for cities, and investments in public transportation are what is needed for a thriving metropolis, but there is something to be said about driving on an open road. It’s one of the only times where you feel legitimately free in this country. Most activities feel like a chore. Work is a chore, socializing in many cases is a chore, but going 80 MPH without anyone around is anything but a chore. However, this isn’t a love letter to the automotive industry, cars are inherently trash, just like opiates are trash, but cars, like heroin, are easy to fall in love with under the right (or wrong) circumstances.
While traffic jams suck, they also offer an opportunity to observe the world around you. Similar to the way you can watch people in a public park, you can also tell a lot about society by observing its architecture and infrastructure. Value systems oftentimes aren’t explicit, they’re encoded in the world around us. But we rarely have the time to look. When you’re stuck in traffic, you have time to look, and I did look. As my car was at a standstill, my eyes became fixated on Oakland Children’s Hospital, or now as it’s called “UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland.”
And I thought to myself, what the fuck does Salesforce have to do with providing children healthcare? And why does Marc Benioff feel the need to insert his last name on the side of a building in a city that he probably never spends any time in?
San Francisco is no different, over there you have Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital as well as a Benioff Children’s Hospital. At least the Zuck kicks it in San Francisco from time to time. He’s been seen at Dolores Park on occasion. I’ve yet to see pictures of Marc Benioff at Lake Merritt. Not that I want to see Marc Benioff at Lake Merritt or anywhere else in the East Bay.
There’s also something deeply ironic about Marc Benioff and Mark Zuckerberg slapping their names on hospitals, considering the many studies that have shown the expansion of tech has had a negative effect on public health. That’s not even taking into consideration the indisputable fact that capitalism, via the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, has essentially reduced the American healthcare system to a dysfunctional corporate bureaucracy filled with enough inefficiencies and inequities to make an IRS agent blush.
I understand the reasoning behind their names on the hospitals. They gave money. They now get to be called philanthropists, and who doesn’t love a philanthropist? Better than a misanthrope, I suppose. And charity is good, people with a lot should give to charity, I like that, but in many cases charity from the ultra wealthy is nothing but a PR scam to shield themselves from growing scrutiny due to surges in income inequality, not just here in the Bay Area, but in the entire world.
These hospitals, if they are going to feature anyone’s name, should feature the names of the doctors and nurses who work long hours helping people heal, while dealing with the burden of watching so many die. They shouldn’t feature the names of billionaires trying to attach themselves to work they’ve never done.
But to play devil’s advocate, what’s more American than taking credit for someone else’s work? I take everything back, everything in the world should be named after these Silicon Valley and Wall Street guys because nothing’s more patriotic and worthy of praise than being rich.
Doctors may save lives, but have they founded a startup?
Didn’t think so.
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Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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