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Soros is the equivalent to the Koch brothers. The older I get the more I realize the Left and the Right are the same damn people.

beaconstudios 8y ago
they really are. Almost everything in the left or right has its mirror in the other side. This is why I think it's so unproductive/harmful when we move further from compromise and closer to a partisan divide - neither side wants to balance the priorities between their interest groups and the other side's, as you would do in a healthy society.
- matt4077 8y ago
  There's a big difference in that Soros spends his money on causes, as an actual food for hungry people and actual teachers to teach actual students. Whereas the Kochs are far more focussed on US domestic politics. Soros has become somewhat more active since 2016, but he's quite upset that it has come so far that his values need defending in the US, and that there are billions wasted in zero-sum political campaigns.
  - beaconstudios 8y ago
    It's been mentioned elsewhere in the comments here that the Koch bros also spend money on actual causes.
  - notyourday 8y ago
    > There's a big difference in that Soros spends his money on causes, as an actual food for hungry people and actual teachers to teach actual students. Whereas the Kochs are far more focussed on US domestic politics. "Let me short US dollars and fund those that promote economic policies that would lead to the collapse of the currency"
mixmastamyk 8y ago
It's a fight over who gets to steal the pie this year, sure. But, there are second order effects.
zjaffee 8y ago
Except I'm pretty sure most people on the left understand that Soros is unquestionably an economic terrorist that collapsed the economy of Thailand and the larger 1997 asian financial crisis, and also profited by breaking the bank of England. The right is far less concerned with the actions of the Koch brothers who are massive polluters due to their work around oil.
- root_axis 8y ago
  In my experience, the vast majority of people on the left (and on the right for that matter) don't know much about Soros besides "a rich guy that donates to democrats".
archagon 8y ago
Propaganda. Soros fear was manufactured in response to (very legitimate) concerns about the Kochs’ influence on US politics. The right needed their own boogeyman and so they blew up Soros far out of proportion to his actual influence.
wwweston 8y ago
Soros and the Kochs both function as bogeymen, that's true. It's also true that both are engaged in various forms of activism. What their goals are seem to be different, though, and as far as I can tell, though, it's more frequently true that the Kochs are actually doing the things "the Left" calls out than it is that George Soros is actually doing the things that "the Right" calls out. So it's possible there are important differences between the two that "the same damn people" papers over.
root_axis 8y ago
This is an oft-repeated platitude that doesn't really say much. What does it mean for them to be the same? Objectively, we can state that "the left" and "the right" have completely different policy objectives, so in the context of politics, how do we reconcile "being the same" with "supporting totally different government policies"?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

beaconstudios 8y ago

they really are. Almost everything in the left or right has its mirror in the other side. This is why I think it's so unproductive/harmful when we move further from compromise and closer to a partisan divide - neither side wants to balance the priorities between their interest groups and the other side's, as you would do in a healthy society.

matt4077 8y ago
There's a big difference in that Soros spends his money on causes, as an actual food for hungry people and actual teachers to teach actual students. Whereas the Kochs are far more focussed on US domestic politics. Soros has become somewhat more active since 2016, but he's quite upset that it has come so far that his values need defending in the US, and that there are billions wasted in zero-sum political campaigns.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  It's been mentioned elsewhere in the comments here that the Koch bros also spend money on actual causes.
- notyourday 8y ago
  > There's a big difference in that Soros spends his money on causes, as an actual food for hungry people and actual teachers to teach actual students. Whereas the Kochs are far more focussed on US domestic politics. "Let me short US dollars and fund those that promote economic policies that would lead to the collapse of the currency"

mixmastamyk 8y ago

It's a fight over who gets to steal the pie this year, sure. But, there are second order effects.

zjaffee 8y ago

Except I'm pretty sure most people on the left understand that Soros is unquestionably an economic terrorist that collapsed the economy of Thailand and the larger 1997 asian financial crisis, and also profited by breaking the bank of England. The right is far less concerned with the actions of the Koch brothers who are massive polluters due to their work around oil.

root_axis 8y ago
In my experience, the vast majority of people on the left (and on the right for that matter) don't know much about Soros besides "a rich guy that donates to democrats".

archagon 8y ago

Propaganda. Soros fear was manufactured in response to (very legitimate) concerns about the Kochs’ influence on US politics. The right needed their own boogeyman and so they blew up Soros far out of proportion to his actual influence.

wwweston 8y ago

Soros and the Kochs both function as bogeymen, that's true. It's also true that both are engaged in various forms of activism. What their goals are seem to be different, though, and as far as I can tell, though, it's more frequently true that the Kochs are actually doing the things "the Left" calls out than it is that George Soros is actually doing the things that "the Right" calls out. So it's possible there are important differences between the two that "the same damn people" papers over.

root_axis 8y ago

This is an oft-repeated platitude that doesn't really say much. What does it mean for them to be the same? Objectively, we can state that "the left" and "the right" have completely different policy objectives, so in the context of politics, how do we reconcile "being the same" with "supporting totally different government policies"?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]