The George Soros thread

[Axxman300]

If only the same amount of effort was put into the activities of other billionaires and industries who've used money to influence the US Congress to tilt things in their favor.

[Checkmite]

Originally Posted by Bubba

Anyone not in agreement with Soros' behavior is anti-semitic. Got it.

No. Simply not agreeing with Soros' behavior - his actual, real-life behavior - is not necessarily anti-semitic. If you think weed is bad and want to criticize Soros for donating money to promote marijuana legalization legislation in California, that's not anti-semitic.

Accusing Soros of "funding illegal immigrant caravans", or "funding antifa", or "controlling voting machine fraud", or otherwise sneakily manipulating world (or even national) events behind the scenes is anti-semitic, because 1) he's not actually doing those things, and 2) that's historically an anti-semitic trope.

Claiming that Company A is "run by Soros" or "controlled by Soros" because Company A's owner also owns Company B which belongs to Corporate Cooperative C which sometimes gives corporate donations to Non-Profit Org D which has also received donations from Foundation E on which Soros is board member, is anti-semitic. Claiming that UK's Remain movement was "secretly funded by Soros" because Soros made public comments that he thinks Brexit is a bad idea, is anti-semitic. Claiming that Soros "secretly funded the Women's March and Antifa" because he has publicly stated that Donald Trump is an idiot, is anti-semitic.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

No. Simply not agreeing with Soros' behavior - his actual, real-life behavior - is not necessarily anti-semitic. If you think weed is bad and want to criticize Soros for donating money to promote marijuana legalization legislation in California, that's not anti-semitic.

Accusing Soros of "funding illegal immigrant caravans", or "funding antifa", or "controlling voting machine fraud", or otherwise sneakily manipulating world (or even national) events behind the scenes is anti-semitic, because 1) he's not actually doing those things, and 2) that's historically an anti-semitic trope.

Claiming that Company A is "run by Soros" or "controlled by Soros" because Company A's owner also owns Company B which belongs to Corporate Cooperative C which sometimes gives corporate donations to Non-Profit Org D which has also received donations from Foundation E on which Soros is board member, is anti-semitic. Claiming that UK's Remain movement was "secretly funded by Soros" because Soros made public comments that he thinks Brexit is a bad idea, is anti-semitic. Claiming that Soros "secretly funded the Women's March and Antifa" because he has publicly stated that Donald Trump is an idiot, is anti-semitic.

Sorta what I said in post #53.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

No. Simply not agreeing with Soros' behavior - his actual, real-life behavior - is not necessarily anti-semitic. If you think weed is bad and want to criticize Soros for donating money to promote marijuana legalization legislation in California, that's not anti-semitic.

Accusing Soros of "funding illegal immigrant caravans", or "funding antifa", or "controlling voting machine fraud", or otherwise sneakily manipulating world (or even national) events behind the scenes is anti-semitic, because 1) he's not actually doing those things, and 2) that's historically an anti-semitic trope.

Claiming that Company A is "run by Soros" or "controlled by Soros" because Company A's owner also owns Company B which belongs to Corporate Cooperative C which sometimes gives corporate donations to Non-Profit Org D which has also received donations from Foundation E on which Soros is board member, is anti-semitic. Claiming that UK's Remain movement was "secretly funded by Soros" because Soros made public comments that he thinks Brexit is a bad idea, is anti-semitic. Claiming that Soros "secretly funded the Women's March and Antifa" because he has publicly stated that Donald Trump is an idiot, is anti-semitic.

Would any of these accusations made against Jeff Bezos be considered antisemitic?

[Checkmite]

No. There is a separate identifiable reason that Jeff Bezos has right-wing conspiracy theories levied against him: the fact that he owns the Washington Post, which is "not nice to" Donald Trump, leading Trump to declare a single-sided rivalry with Bezos.

But even with Trump's permission leading to conspiracy-theories against Bezos, it's important to note that Bezos is not the subject of the same kinds of theories, in the same volume, as someone like Soros. That is because despite the fact that Bezos is objectively far richer and more potentially-influential, he is not Jewish.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

No. There is a separate identifiable reason that Jeff Bezos has right-wing conspiracy theories levied against him: the fact that he owns the Washington Post, which is "not nice to" Donald Trump, leading Trump to declare a single-sided rivalry with Bezos.

But even with Trump's permission leading to conspiracy-theories against Bezos, it's important to note that Bezos is not the subject of the same kinds of theories, in the same volume, as someone like Soros. That is because despite the fact that Bezos is objectively far richer and more potentially-influential, he is not Jewish.

Upthread you gave the example that accusing Soros of "funding illegal immigrant caravans", or ...otherwise sneakily manipulating world (or even national) events behind the scenes is anti-semitic, because 1) he's not actually doing those things, and 2) that's historically an anti-semitic trope.

Maybe Soros isn't providing all the financing for the caravans but OSF has established a fund to provide undocumented immigrants in NYC with financial assistance. Would accusing Soros of supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money be considered antisemitic?

If Abe Foxman gave large donations to help illegal immigrants by giving them money, would it be considered antisemitic to say that?

If I said Soros was a bad person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

If I said Soros was a good person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

Would it make a difference if I didn't know Soros is Jewish?

If I said Jeff Bezos was a bad person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

You already answered that in the negative because Bezos isn't Jewish. What if I believed that he was? Would it then be antisemitic?

[Allen773]

Originally Posted by Axxman300

If only the same amount of effort was put into the activities of other billionaires and industries who've used money to influence the US Congress to tilt things in their favor.

To be fair a lot of people have spoken out against the Koch network.

[Cosmic Yak]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Maybe Soros isn't providing all the financing for the caravans but OSF has established a fund to provide undocumented immigrants in NYC with financial assistance. Would accusing Soros of supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money be considered antisemitic?

The OSF has established a fund providing all immigrants with financial assistance, regardless of their documentation status. This assistance is to help people through the Covid crisis.
Deliberately misrepresenting what he's doing to make him look bad could well be anti-semitic: that would depend on whether you are suspicious of humanitarian support from everyone, or just from Jews.
Even the use of the word 'accusing' is a loaded term, especially as this programme is, by necessity, a public one. Why phrase it in this way?

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

If Abe Foxman gave large donations to help illegal immigrants by giving them money, would it be considered antisemitic to say that?

Same thing: loaded phraseology, misrepresentation of the full picture, deliberate selection of a Jew, rather than anyone else. Why pick him, if not because he's Jewish?

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

If I said Soros was a bad person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

Have you actually read the definition of anti-semitism? Somehow I doubt it.

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

If I said Soros was a good person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

I am baffled by this comment. I can only assume deliberate obtuseness.

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Would it make a difference if I didn't know Soros is Jewish?

But you do know he's Jewish. You are asking if you can hate someone for being Jewish if you don't know they're Jewish, and the only person who can answer that is you.

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

If I said Jeff Bezos was a bad person because he is supporting illegal immigrants by giving them money, am I an antisemite?

Now you're just being silly.

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

You already answered that in the negative because Bezos isn't Jewish. What if I believed that he was? Would it then be antisemitic?

You're actually asking if hating someone for being Jewish is anti-semitic or not. Wow. Just, wow.
You know it doesn't matter if they are or not, right? Yes, of course you do.
Keep digging, though. It's kind of fun to watch, in a weird, train-wrecky sort of way.

[Airfix]

He saw the Black Wednesday crash of 1992 coming a mile away, prepared for it and made a fortune.

He became known as the man who broke the Bank of England.
A very astute trader.