George Soros

[Red Memories]

So... this guy seems to be...hated by a lot of people and the center of a lot of conspiracy theories...so I kind of wanted a perspective and conversation on who this guy is, and why he has such a big stake in our mainstream media, and funding of democratic campaigns and is also at the center of just about...every left wing conspiracy?

Do they believe the disarray will die when George Soros does? What is behind it all? Do you think there's any ounce of validity to anything relating back to him? Why or why not?

 

[ceecee]

So... this guy seems to be...hated by a lot of people and the center of a lot of conspiracy theories...so I kind of wanted a perspective and conversation on who this guy is, and why he has such a big stake in our mainstream media, and funding of democratic campaigns and is also at the center of just about...every left wing conspiracy?

Do they believe the disarray will die when George Soros does? What is behind it all? Do you think there's any ounce of validity to anything relating back to him? Why or why not?

I think you mean right wing conspiracies.

Below is a good summary of the people involved and why.

Why is billionaire George Soros a bogeyman for the hard right? - BBC News


I don't think there is any validity to the right wing claims about George Soros. Zero. Why would any sane person give Holocaust deniers, anti-Semites, fascist lite or the GOP operatives that back the insane fantasy world conspiracy theories one second of consideration? But because Americans are generally entirely ignorant of other nations and their histories, especially in Eastern Europe or the Balkans, none of this registers. It makes the job of pinning all the problems on a single person - just like the article says - very easy.

"Arthur Finkelstein always said, 'You don't go against the Taliban, you go against Osama Bin Laden.' So it's about personalisation, picking the perfect enemy and then [you] go full on against that person, so that people are actually scared of your opponent. And never talk about your own candidate's policies, they don't matter at all."

Sounds familiar.

 

[Red Memories]

I think you mean right wing conspiracies.

Below is a good summary of the people involved and why.

Why is billionaire George Soros a bogeyman for the hard right? - BBC News


I don't think there is any validity to the right wing claims about George Soros. Zero. Why would any sane person give Holocaust deniers, anti-Semites, fascist lite or the GOP operatives that back the insane fantasy world conspiracy theories one second of consideration? But because Americans are generally entirely ignorant of other nations and their histories, especially in Eastern Europe or the Balkans, none of this registers. It makes the job of pinning all the problems on a single person - just like the article says - very easy.



Sounds familiar.

I did mean right-wing sorry. I was more referring to he is seen as a leftists figurehead to the right. I mean, looking some on my own, it seems he has done some criminal activity involving money in the past within France and England felt he broke their bank...It seems he sends funding to a lot of organizations but that does not directly implicate someone of a grand conspiracy. I just notice his name getting tossed again during this whole thing and I was curious what other people felt about the situation. I just know little about him, but at this point I can't say I feel good about him just because in an interview he said he did help the nazis and he didn't feel remorse for taking the property of the jews...but that's a completely different thing from thinking he's literally out to destroy the world like these right wingers discuss.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I just know little about him, but at this point I can't say I feel good about him just because in an interview he said he did help the nazis and he didn't feel remorse for taking the property of the jews...but that's a completely different thing from thinking he's literally out to destroy the world like these right wingers discuss.

First time I've heard that one. He's Jewish and was evidently in his early teens at the time, so I doubt that.

More info here: George Soros: Early Life and Education

 

[ceecee]

I did mean right-wing sorry. I was more referring to he is seen as a leftists figurehead to the right. I mean, looking some on my own, it seems he has done some criminal activity involving money in the past within France and England felt he broke their bank...It seems he sends funding to a lot of organizations but that does not directly implicate someone of a grand conspiracy. I just notice his name getting tossed again during this whole thing and I was curious what other people felt about the situation. I just know little about him, but at this point I can't say I feel good about him just because in an interview he said he did help the nazis and he didn't feel remorse for taking the property of the jews...but that's a completely different thing from thinking he's literally out to destroy the world like these right wingers discuss.

Well the right needs to have a boogie man and the European nationalist also hate him for helping after the collapse of communism. A wealthy Jew immigrant that gives his money to progressive groups or causes is a perfect target for the US crazy right as well. He was born in 1930 so he would have been in his early teens when the Nazis occupied Hungary soooo.... don't think he was helping the nazis to take the property of the Jews.

You can always use this site to find more on dark money sources.

OpenSecrets

 

[rav3n]

Soros replaced the Rothschilds, et al, as the right wing bogeyman because he's Jewish too. Nazi b/s.

 

[ceecee]

Soros replaced the Rothschilds, et al, as the right wing bogeyman because he's Jewish too. Nazi b/s.

The other word for Jews apparently.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The other word for Jews apparently.

I remember I was in college and I was at a meeting of some group or other and some old fart (not a student obviously) came in and starting ranting about Rothschilds, and asked us if we ever heard of Margaret Thatcher. He told us that she tried to "preserve English sovereignty an so they 'got rid of her'". Apparently losing democratic elections is a nefarious conspiracy as well. In those day the Alex Jones types would sometimes show up at meetings like that and try to make the whole thing about their bullshit.

 

[ceecee]

I remember I was in college and I was at a meeting of some group or other and some old fart (not a student obviously) came in and starting ranting about Rothschilds, and asked us if we ever heard of Margaret Thatcher. He told us that she tried to "preserve English sovereignty an so they 'got rid of her'". Apparently losing democratic elections is a nefarious conspiracy as well.

I never understood any of the conspiracies or weird assed beliefs so many people I knew and know, have about Jewish people. It's clear that I missed something because it seems pretty widespread. It's always like you are talking about something and if a Jewish person enters that conversation someone will go - <person's name> You do know they're Jewish, right? No. Seriously it's something that literally never occurs to me and even if it did it wouldn't matter. I don't know if this is just low level antisemitism or what but it's creepy and it makes me want to haul their ass outside.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I never understood any of the conspiracies or weird assed beliefs so many people I knew and know, have about Jewish people. It's clear that I missed something because it seems pretty widespread. It's always like you are talking about something and if a Jewish person enters that conversation someone will go - <person's name> You do know they're Jewish, right? No. Seriously it's something that literally never occurs to me and even if it did it wouldn't matter. I don't know if this is just low level antisemitism or what but it's creepy and it makes me want to haul their ass outside.

The dumbest part about the whole thing is that nothing happened to Margaret Thatcher. She wasn't assassinated as far as I know. Granted, I'm no expert on the woman.

I suppose one positive effect of Trump is that the infowars crowd now has thier own messiah they can follow rather than muddying the waters of movements not based on bullshit.

To this day, I still blame the 9/11 truthers for popularizing a lot of this crap 9/11 trutherism wasn't exclusively a right-wing thing in those days.

 

[ceecee]

The dumbest part about the whole thing is that nothing happened to Margaret Thatcher. She wasn't assassinated as far as I know. Granted, I'm no expert on the woman.

She definitely was not assassinated and the IRA tried. She was a very typical of that austerity era, Reagan all of that. I was young but I remember her more than I remember Reagan. It ushered in the end of the post war good lives in this country and the UK and it's been one big neoliberal pile of shit ever since.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

She definitely was not assassinated and the IRA tried. She was a very typical of that austerity era, Reagan all of that. I was young but I remember her more than I remember Reagan. It ushered in the end of the post war good lives in this country and the UK and it's been one big neoliberal pile of shit ever since.

I know she's like Reagan and so sucks for that reason, but I don't know a great deal about the specifics behind a vague idea of something involving miners.

 

[ceecee]

I know she's like Reagan and so sucks for that reason, but I don't know a great deal about the specifics behind a vague idea of something involving miners.

There is a book I have read a few times called The Enemy Within, it's excellent. Like all conservative politicians, her administration waged war on labor unions, exactly like the US with similar results. The British establishment is trash, exactly like the US but I think their press is worse than anything we dole out.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

In my experience, I don't even bother bringing antisemitism up because what I called attention to gets brushed off, ignored, or otherwise dismissed at best when I mention it. I do get to listen to other people use it to justify their own bullshit though. Like, there was a lot of people using it in the run up to the Iraq war as a way to shout down any opposition. The worst douchenozzle in that regard I remember encountered actually had a Hillary Clinton avatar. He was also the first person I heard mention John Kerry as a possible Democratic nominee. He said that because he was actually in the millitary, Republicans would have to vote for him, or at least not criticize him. Lol.

 

[Red Memories]

First time I've heard that one. He's Jewish and was evidently in his early teens at the time, so I doubt that.

More info here: George Soros: Early Life and Education

George Soros Conspiracy Theories: The Truth is Bad Enough | National Review

They mention a 60 minute interview where he admitted he confiscated property from the Jews. A long stretch from again being a full boogeyman but there is something to that at least.

 

[ceecee]

In my experience, I don't even bother bringing antisemitism up because what I called attention to gets brushed off, ignored, or otherwise dismissed at best when I mention it. I do get to listen to other people use it to justify their own bullshit though. Like, there was a lot of people using it in the run up to the Iraq war as a way to shout down any opposition. The worst douchenozzle in that regard I remember encountered actually had a Hillary Clinton avatar. He was also the first person I heard mention John Kerry as a possible Democratic nominee. He said that because he was actually in the millitary, Republicans would have to vote for him, or at least not criticize him. Lol.

Right wingers use very cloaked language and are careful about their shit views on this subject but the most overtly disgusting antisemites I've met were centrist liberals. Those are the people that can convince complete dumb asses that someone like Bernie or Jeremy Corben hate Jews. I realize this is absurd, it is to me as well but it's simply the one accusation that's going to carry a ton of weight with the ignorant and the people least likely to look for proof of that accusation.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Right wingers use very cloaked language and are careful about their shit views on this subject but the most overtly disgusting antisemites I've met were centrist liberals. Those are the people that can convince complete dumb asses that someone like Bernie or Jeremy Corben hate Jews. I realize this is absurd, it is to me as well but it's simply the one accusation that's going to carry a ton of weight with the ignorant and the people least likely to look for proof of that accusation.

That would certainly jive with my experience with the guy with Hillary Clinton avatar.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

George Soros Conspiracy Theories: The Truth is Bad Enough | National Review

They mention a 60 minute interview where he admitted he confiscated property from the Jews. A long stretch from again being a full boogeyman but there is something to that at least.

Is there a link to a video of this interview, or a transcript of it anywhere you can show me?

 

[Red Memories]

Is there a link to a video of this interview, or a transcript of it anywhere you can show me?

So it appears they took a piece out of context since I managed to find the full interview here:

YouTube someone uploaded it here.

also the paste bin of the 60 minute interview here, which shows the removed bit where he mentions he was more of a spectator:
George Soros CBS "60 minutes" Interview 1998 Transcript - Pastebin.com

the full scripting of that section appears to be:
"Krost: You’re a Hungarian Jew who escaped the Holocaust by posing as a Christian, and you watched lots of people shipped of to the death camps.

Soros: Right, I was 14 years old, and I would say that’s when my character was made.

Krost: In what way?

Soros: That one should think ahead, one should understand and anticipate events, and one is threatened. It was a tremendous threat of evil, I mean, it was a very personal experience of evil.

Krost: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours, who swore that you were his adopted godson. Went out in fact and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Soros: That’s right, yes.

Krost: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Soros: Not at all, not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t see the connection but it created no problem at all.

Krost: No feeling of guilt?

Soros: No.

Krost: For example that I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there. None of that?

Soros: Well, of course I could be on the other side, I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away, but there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there because that was… Well actually, funny way, it’s just like in markets that if I weren’t there – of course I wasn’t doing it – but somebody else would be taking it away anyhow, and it was the- Whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator. The property was being taken away so I had no role in taking away that property, so I had no sense of guilt.

Krost: Are you religious?

Soros: No.

Krost: Do you believe in God?

Soros: No.

Soros told us he believes God was created by man, not the other way around, which may be why he thinks he can smooth out the world’s imperfections."

 

[Lark]

So it appears they took a piece out of context since I managed to find the full interview here:

YouTube someone uploaded it here.

also the paste bin of the 60 minute interview here, which shows the removed bit where he mentions he was more of a spectator:
George Soros CBS "60 minutes" Interview 1998 Transcript - Pastebin.com

the full scripting of that section appears to be:
"Krost: You’re a Hungarian Jew who escaped the Holocaust by posing as a Christian, and you watched lots of people shipped of to the death camps.

Soros: Right, I was 14 years old, and I would say that’s when my character was made.

Krost: In what way?

Soros: That one should think ahead, one should understand and anticipate events, and one is threatened. It was a tremendous threat of evil, I mean, it was a very personal experience of evil.

Krost: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours, who swore that you were his adopted godson. Went out in fact and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Soros: That’s right, yes.

Krost: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Soros: Not at all, not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t see the connection but it created no problem at all.

Krost: No feeling of guilt?

Soros: No.

Krost: For example that I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there. None of that?

Soros: Well, of course I could be on the other side, I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away, but there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there because that was… Well actually, funny way, it’s just like in markets that if I weren’t there – of course I wasn’t doing it – but somebody else would be taking it away anyhow, and it was the- Whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator. The property was being taken away so I had no role in taking away that property, so I had no sense of guilt.

Krost: Are you religious?

Soros: No.

Krost: Do you believe in God?

Soros: No.

Soros told us he believes God was created by man, not the other way around, which may be why he thinks he can smooth out the world’s imperfections."

So let me get this right, because he is an atheist he's wicked?

I'm not sure that supporting the charities of his choice is exactly smoothing out the world's imperfections.

Its a seriously far cry from perfectionism to simply want the world to be better or at the very least to try to arrest some of its worst failings, which is to say do something about avoidable suffering while accepting that there's a fair share of suffering besides that it'll never be possible to do anything about.

All that said I'm making generalizations there as I dont know anything about Soros other than he supports charities I wouldnt, if I had any money to do so, that he is a pretty wealthy guy and the subject of a load of ridiculous conspiracy theories, the majority of which all boil down to anti-semitism anyway. That kind of world view is reductionist and ridiculously over simplified. I'm sure there are conspiracies, plural, but they never turn out to be what people think and they've often got a lot more to do with organized crime, vice, drug trafficking, organized war and old money than the sorts of sectarian and/or ethnocentric ravings that pass as the staple.

Take as an example population, Earth First!, various racist groups, Malthusian conservatives, capitalists, consider some or all of the human population as better off dead. They converge on that single conclusion or policy, famine, war, pestilence, pandemic, poverty, scarcity, maldistribution, its all great so long as it reduces the numbers. Simply because they're all agreed upon that same end does not mean that they believe it justified for the same reasons, not for a second.

However, the conspiratorial outlook would have to decide that they're all part of a singular plot or the plotters are hidden behind the scenes pulling the strings of the whole lot of them no matter how seemingly at odds they in reality are. Its how you get raving lunatic absurdities like anti-semites suggesting that the jews created both communism and nazism or capitalist libertarians suggesting that communism, nazism, tax funded health services, its all socialism really. Daft. It suits a certain mindset though, one that never got used to thinking or one that's just gotten tired of it.