What if everybody, just before they denied, was given an honest assessment of what everybody thought of them? The judgment may not be a true and fair picture of the person since even society can be so corrupted as to blight their analysis. But of those people who roamed with self-regard, it might be useful to preview their legacy. Was one’s time on the earth was a waste of oxygen.
George Soros, privileged in everything else, was given privilege in that department. Someone at Reuters news wire “pressed publish” by accident of a pre-fabricated obituary, which was soon retracted. But Business Insider obtained a screen capture before the article was withdrawn.
George Soros, who died XXX at age XXX, was a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor, who argued paradoxically for years against the same sort of free-wheeling capitalism that made him billions.
An enigma, wrapped in intellect, contradiction and money.
All his spectacular winning bets at the expense of the public good (1997 Asian Financial Crisis) and consequent self-righteous hypocrisy in decrying poor government policies that allowed a predator like him to exploit them, are highlighted.
Legacy might be the last restraint upon the self-indulging plutocrats. And consciously facing one’s legacy in a pre-obituary in the sight of peers in one’s remaining days, is the last revenge of the public before Judgment Day.
An Iconoclastic Orthodoxy 