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George Soros

In 2020, everything is heightened. Ruth Bader Ginsburg cannot be an inspirational, pivotal figure worthy of deep respect, she must be vaunted into sainthood. Conversely, George Soros cannot be a financial shark who uses his immense wealth to influence politics, he must be devil-like figure, even a Nazi collaborator.

Have we lost the ability to analyze, distinguish, make judgments? — something, incidentally, Ruth Bader Ginsburg excelled at.

We recently ran an article, “Who is George Soros?” Its author, Ben Sales, fairly provided a point-by-point report examining the various accusations lobbed against the multi-millionaire who strongly believes in progressive politics and puts his money behind progressive candidates and organizations.

The comments that came to ijn.com seemed to prove exactly what the article was trying to combat: unnuanced conspiracy theories.

For example: the oft-repeated accusation that Soros was a Nazi collaborator. Soros, a Hungarian Jew, was actually a Holocaust survivor. Did he deliver notices of transport for Budapest’s Jewish Central Council? Yes. By that measure, the entire Jewish Central Council were collaborators. Did he once accompany an SS officer who was confiscating Jewish property? Yes. These comments fail to mention, however, that Soros was a pre-teen in hiding. Should he have betrayed his identity, risking his life?

People do all kinds of things to try to survive genocide. Do Soros’ crimes even rank that high, compared, say, to Jews who helped operate death camps? I have first cousins once removed, Hungarian Jews, who were about the same age as Soros when they were murdered at Auschwitz. If only they could have gone on such a mission: it might have enabled them to survive.

Anyway, who are these commenters to judge someone in that situation? Thank G-d they’ve never faced the dilemma.

Another comment accuses the piece of being yellow journalism because it doesn’t mention Soros’ attempts to influence US society. Actually, the article does mention that, but the point really is: If someone’s got a problem with money influencing US elections, Soros is one of many. Bloomberg. Adelson. The Koch brothers. Steyer. Outsized influence via money is not exclusive to the right or the left, but sadly has become a fixture of US politics. If one doesn’t like Soros, then by all means write op-eds disagreeing with his influence and positions and, above all fight for campaign reform. But don’t call him a Nazi collaborator. That’s ad hominem at its cruelest.

Shana Goldberg may be reached at [email protected].

Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News



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IJN Assistant Publisher | [email protected]


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