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If you want to know more about him or his philanthropic work, I suggest checking out what his charitable foundation: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/abou

If you want to know more about him or his philanthropic work, I suggest checking out what his charitable foundation: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about He's also written a number of books, some a better read than others, but I find all of his ideas interesting, even if his communication of them is at times a little dense. (It's clear he is or wants to be a philosopher at heart) It is striking the way he's demonized. When you press people (like in person, not on the internet) why they think he's the devil incarnate, you usually get some really wild ad hominem not rooted in reality or a realization that they don't really know why they hate him so much other than he's a benefactor of their political opposition and they were told to. It does have an effect, even subconsciously, after a while

kbenson 9y ago
> When you press people (like in person, not on the internet) why they think he's the devil incarnate, you usually get some really wild ad hominem not rooted in reality or a realization that they don't really know why they hate him so much other than he's a benefactor of their political opposition and they were told to. Sure, but we could probably say the same of the Koch brothers. They both occupy similar positions of power and influence on opposite sides of the fence, and suffer similar attacks.
- spinchange 9y ago
  I've never seen people claim the Koch's literally aided and abetted the Nazis (this is something that's actually claimed about Soros in spite of fleeing Europe with his parents as an adolescent). There's a hatred and fear of Soros that surpasses his political activities. He's pretty active with bonafide "do gooder" stuff and it's equated with Pizzagate-style conspiracies and worse that you don't see on the opposite side of the fence. What I'm saying is, it isn't strictly political and it's certainly not equivocal.
  - tclancy 9y ago
    It's anti-Semitism. The one thing you can say for the ignorant throughout history is that they are both consistent and enthusiastic about their awful beliefs.
  - jerf 9y ago
    "stuff and it's equated with Pizzagate-style conspiracies and worse that you don't see on the opposite side of the fence." "Koch brothers". There is nothing one side's fever swamp does that the other can't match, which is why wise people attempting to discern truths ignore both, but most especially, ignore the one on the "other side".
    - xenadu02 9y ago
      Except the left/liberal side (as defined in US terms) mostly rejects the extremes. The right/conservatives have turned a blind eye toward (and in some cases wholly embraced) their "fever swamp". The truth is not in the middle.
      - Fins 9y ago
        The whole "Koch brothers are teh devil!" seems to be quite an extreme position, if one bothers to read what Koch brothers actually promote.
      - lopmotr 9y ago
        That's not true. I see moderate right wingers like Jordan Peterson criticising highly fevered left wingers who are clearly extremists. The right that I see is reasonable and the left they talk about is extreme. I suspect it's the same for you but in reverse. You can't judge the whole side by what their enemies mock them for. I'm a right winger but I still believe in evolution and I don't have a portrait of Hitler on my wall.
  - briandear 9y ago
    This is where that aiding the Nazis claim originated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id0-Lsyr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id0-Lsyr0
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    The Kochs did literally aid and abet the Nazis: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/father-of-koch-brothers-helped-build-nazi-oil-refinery-book-says.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/father-of-koc... Along with a significant portion of other U.S. industry, including IBM, AT&T, Coca Cola, Ford, GM, and more. This isn't the quality of reference I'd generally provide, but it's a quick find and seems generally accurate in the basics: http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_nastybiz.html http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_nastybiz.html And: https://listverse.com/2013/10/24/10-big-business-nazi-profiteers/ https://listverse.com/2013/10/24/10-big-business-nazi-profit... (Several of the listed companies are in fact German, which isn't surprising. There are several American firms as well, including Kodak and Standard Oil.) Washington Post on Ford and GM: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/n... The IBM case is exceedingly well documented: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html Getting back to the Kochs and various Nazi, anti-semitic, and Holocaust-denial elements: Reason Magazine, almost wholly backed by the Koch Brothers, ran a Holocaust-denial special issue, and doubled down on it when called out: https://pando.com/2014/07/24/as-reasons-editor-defends-its-racist-history-heres-a-copy-of-its-holocaust-denial-special-issue/ https://pando.com/2014/07/24/as-reasons-editor-defends-its-r... Regnery Press, strongly associated with Chicago School economists (it published Milton Friedman, George Stigler, F.A. Hayek, and others), and long a standard of the conservative Right and Libertarian movements, is strongly associated with the alt-right: Regnery has become major figure in the white nationalist movement, having founded the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist “think tank,” and the Charles Martel Society, which publishes The Occidental Quarterly, a racist, anti-Semitic and pseudo-scholarly “journal.” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-h-regnery-ii https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/indi...
- quadrangle 9y ago
  The Kochs are widely misunderstood. They are typically seen as effectively a free-money-pit for generic Republican views that promote Capitalist exploitation, laying waste to the environment, and destroying any real grassroots movement to bring democratic power to the people. From my understanding, the reality is more like: The Kochs are typical dogmatic Libertarians who aren't anti-environment but have this simplistic economic model in their heads that insists that regulations are nearly always counterproductive. They don't support just any conservative view. They have good intentions and aren't about pursuing their own selfish power. They want to empower others. It's just that they are misled by their simplistic dogma (which certainly has a lot of actually fine ideas, but it's the holding them as a dogmatic set in the stereotypical Libertarian way that they go wrong). So, their opposition to mass incarceration and to regressive Nationalism… those things all fit their particular dogma that is simply not a plain polar opposite of progressive ideas but is more orthogonal in many ways.
  - kbenson 9y ago
    Sure. And similar, if in opposition, arguments could be made (and likely are), with regard to Soros. Some on the right probably view Soros as a socialist/capitalist that wants to control through party power or the manipulation of causes to his own end. The reality is likely much more similar to how you outlined the Koch motivations above.
  - rndmize 9y ago
    Good intentions? Any time I read something like this: https://www.thenation.com/article/big-brothers-thought-control-koch/ https://www.thenation.com/article/big-brothers-thought-contr... my doubts about them increase.
    - grasshopperpurp 9y ago
      I think they're true believers, which does not justify the evil they do, but I expect they would view this as a situation where the ends justify the means - or a situation where they are educating the uneducated.

kbenson 9y ago

> When you press people (like in person, not on the internet) why they think he's the devil incarnate, you usually get some really wild ad hominem not rooted in reality or a realization that they don't really know why they hate him so much other than he's a benefactor of their political opposition and they were told to. Sure, but we could probably say the same of the Koch brothers. They both occupy similar positions of power and influence on opposite sides of the fence, and suffer similar attacks.

spinchange 9y ago
I've never seen people claim the Koch's literally aided and abetted the Nazis (this is something that's actually claimed about Soros in spite of fleeing Europe with his parents as an adolescent). There's a hatred and fear of Soros that surpasses his political activities. He's pretty active with bonafide "do gooder" stuff and it's equated with Pizzagate-style conspiracies and worse that you don't see on the opposite side of the fence. What I'm saying is, it isn't strictly political and it's certainly not equivocal.
- tclancy 9y ago
  It's anti-Semitism. The one thing you can say for the ignorant throughout history is that they are both consistent and enthusiastic about their awful beliefs.
- jerf 9y ago
  "stuff and it's equated with Pizzagate-style conspiracies and worse that you don't see on the opposite side of the fence." "Koch brothers". There is nothing one side's fever swamp does that the other can't match, which is why wise people attempting to discern truths ignore both, but most especially, ignore the one on the "other side".
  - xenadu02 9y ago
    Except the left/liberal side (as defined in US terms) mostly rejects the extremes. The right/conservatives have turned a blind eye toward (and in some cases wholly embraced) their "fever swamp". The truth is not in the middle.
    - Fins 9y ago
      The whole "Koch brothers are teh devil!" seems to be quite an extreme position, if one bothers to read what Koch brothers actually promote.
    - lopmotr 9y ago
      That's not true. I see moderate right wingers like Jordan Peterson criticising highly fevered left wingers who are clearly extremists. The right that I see is reasonable and the left they talk about is extreme. I suspect it's the same for you but in reverse. You can't judge the whole side by what their enemies mock them for. I'm a right winger but I still believe in evolution and I don't have a portrait of Hitler on my wall.
- briandear 9y ago
  This is where that aiding the Nazis claim originated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id0-Lsyr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id0-Lsyr0
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  The Kochs did literally aid and abet the Nazis: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/father-of-koch-brothers-helped-build-nazi-oil-refinery-book-says.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/father-of-koc... Along with a significant portion of other U.S. industry, including IBM, AT&T, Coca Cola, Ford, GM, and more. This isn't the quality of reference I'd generally provide, but it's a quick find and seems generally accurate in the basics: http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_nastybiz.html http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_nastybiz.html And: https://listverse.com/2013/10/24/10-big-business-nazi-profiteers/ https://listverse.com/2013/10/24/10-big-business-nazi-profit... (Several of the listed companies are in fact German, which isn't surprising. There are several American firms as well, including Kodak and Standard Oil.) Washington Post on Ford and GM: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/n... The IBM case is exceedingly well documented: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html Getting back to the Kochs and various Nazi, anti-semitic, and Holocaust-denial elements: Reason Magazine, almost wholly backed by the Koch Brothers, ran a Holocaust-denial special issue, and doubled down on it when called out: https://pando.com/2014/07/24/as-reasons-editor-defends-its-racist-history-heres-a-copy-of-its-holocaust-denial-special-issue/ https://pando.com/2014/07/24/as-reasons-editor-defends-its-r... Regnery Press, strongly associated with Chicago School economists (it published Milton Friedman, George Stigler, F.A. Hayek, and others), and long a standard of the conservative Right and Libertarian movements, is strongly associated with the alt-right: Regnery has become major figure in the white nationalist movement, having founded the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist “think tank,” and the Charles Martel Society, which publishes The Occidental Quarterly, a racist, anti-Semitic and pseudo-scholarly “journal.” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-h-regnery-ii https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/indi...
quadrangle 9y ago
The Kochs are widely misunderstood. They are typically seen as effectively a free-money-pit for generic Republican views that promote Capitalist exploitation, laying waste to the environment, and destroying any real grassroots movement to bring democratic power to the people. From my understanding, the reality is more like: The Kochs are typical dogmatic Libertarians who aren't anti-environment but have this simplistic economic model in their heads that insists that regulations are nearly always counterproductive. They don't support just any conservative view. They have good intentions and aren't about pursuing their own selfish power. They want to empower others. It's just that they are misled by their simplistic dogma (which certainly has a lot of actually fine ideas, but it's the holding them as a dogmatic set in the stereotypical Libertarian way that they go wrong). So, their opposition to mass incarceration and to regressive Nationalism… those things all fit their particular dogma that is simply not a plain polar opposite of progressive ideas but is more orthogonal in many ways.
- kbenson 9y ago
  Sure. And similar, if in opposition, arguments could be made (and likely are), with regard to Soros. Some on the right probably view Soros as a socialist/capitalist that wants to control through party power or the manipulation of causes to his own end. The reality is likely much more similar to how you outlined the Koch motivations above.
- rndmize 9y ago
  Good intentions? Any time I read something like this: https://www.thenation.com/article/big-brothers-thought-control-koch/ https://www.thenation.com/article/big-brothers-thought-contr... my doubts about them increase.
  - grasshopperpurp 9y ago
    I think they're true believers, which does not justify the evil they do, but I expect they would view this as a situation where the ends justify the means - or a situation where they are educating the uneducated.