Over the last few weeks since the public release of the Epstein files — which contains revelations about the evils of the late paedophile and millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, as well as public figures close to him — I have sometimes found myself unable to look at the information directly in the eye. The larger picture is mind-boggling. Still, there are two particular facets that are clear.
Take for instance: Epstein and his friends have destroyed the lives of many real people, chiefly girls and young women, and that these survivors, victims, and their loved ones deserve at least some form of justice. They deserve it, even if it will not come to pass. The second is that the repercussions of the culture created and maintained by these wicked men and their enablers have affected every single one of us in some way or another, whether we are aware of them or not.
Take for instance: Epstein’s direct influence helped ensure that women in STEM were kept away from opportunities. In a published article, it is said that he asked a correspondent over email that women be disinvited from an elite conference held in 2018. “The women are all weak, and a distraction sorry” (sic). His associations with people at top universities and thinktanks around the world would have had countless ramifications on funding and innovation. This isn’t only about talented women being deprived; it’s about what the world has been denied as a result.
Take for instance: how modern beauty standards praise aesthetics such as being without wrinkles and other markers of age, hairless below the neck, and small. These are what children — the “girls”, as Epstein’s friends called them — look like, and to sexualise them is despicable. These are also what grown women are punished for not looking like.
Take for instance: how people like the guru Deepak Chopra, implicated in the files, have sold vastly popular ideas that gaslight individuals into self-blame in the guise of self-healing, keeping our focus away from systemic harm. As author Joshua Turek posted: “…the New Age self help movement is only one more tool for capitalists to pacify the productive rage against our exploitation into self work… rather than channelling that energy into collective revolution…”
Take for instance: the war that has begun in West Asia now, with the United States and Israel attacking Iran. Among the pretences for this onslaught is that Iranian women will be freed from the shackles imposed by the Islamic Republic’s regime. One of the first actions in this war was the bombing of a school, where hundreds of girls were killed or injured. As a line repeated across the Internet goes: “They are murdering girls to distract from the fact they were raping girls.” The Epstein files implicate politicians and government officials all the way to the very top. War of this scale, at this time in history, will have global consequences.
Each of these examples and more have traceable links to Epstein and his network. Their effects are widespread, ongoing, and devastating on every level. This darkness is at the core of how the world has been run for a long time.