Daniel Miller

Elon Musk, George Soros and the blurring of life and art

George Soros at Davos (Credit: Getty images)

Was Elon Musk antisemitic when he compared George Soros to Magneto, the apparently Jewish, Marvel Comics supervillain? Whatever one’s view on this question, Musk’s comments may be taken as a pointed marker of a time in which life and art are increasingly indistinguishable.

Musk claimed in a tweet to his 140 million followers that Soros is akin to the X-Men anti-hero Magneto, of comic book and movie fame. Like Magneto, Musk said, Soros ‘hates humanity’ and ‘wants to erode the very fabric of civilisation.’

Not flattering, but the claim that it’s antisemitic, because the atheist billionaire Soros, aged 90, is ethnically Jewish, bears interrogation.

The comparison of Soros to Magneto is cutting. Some readers of The Spectator are doubtless familiar with the canon of X-Men, but for those who may be rusty on the details, Magneto, who is played in the movie version by Sir Ian McKellen, is the leader of a terrorist gang called the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It’s bent on world conquest.

What triggered Elon to compare Soros to Magneto? Soros had just dumped his remaining shares in Tesla (on which he apparently recorded a loss), which may have been taken by Musk as an insult or provocation. But in recent months, Musk has repeatedly drawn attention to how Soros’ money is being used to reshape the United States’ criminal justice system, which Musk claims has helped to elect progressive district attorneys with a laissez-faire attitude to antisocial behaviour and recidivist criminality. This is blamed by many for helping to fuel an ongoing collapse in public order across major American cities. 

The comparison of Soros to Magneto is cutting

This might be legitimate criticism if it was not for the Jewish angle. Musk did not just compare Soros to a supervillain in general (although even had he done, he would have faced the same criticisms) but to a specifically Jewish supervillain, who took up his career of evil following the death of his parents in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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