Sharing – The Monsters in The Machine
Chrissy makes a valid point:
What The Epstein Files Teach Us About The Ecosystems of Abuse:
But perhaps more insidious is the network of people who surround the abuser – the ones who see and hear and know exactly what they are, and break their own backs to run cover for it.
https://irreverenthealing.substack.com/p/the-monsters-in-the-machine
I’m not suggesting we all run to read every available file related to the Epstein case. It’s triggering, upsetting, and shocking, while not being shocking at all if we remember what happened at places like US Gymnastics, the Catholic Church, and many other groups where abuse went unchecked for years, despite many reports of what was going on.
I once wrote this about Larry Nassar:
The reality of the US gymnastics program during this time is that it had been remarkably successful at the one thing we ask athletic programs to do: winning. We finally had a program that consistently beat the Eastern European and Chinese teams. The US was dominant; the young ladies were heroes and athletic role models for the next generation of gymnasts, and the sport’s popularity was growing by leaps and bounds. Every little girl wanted to be the “next” gold medalist, and things were going great. Why mess that up with investigating something that might not even be true?
The Epstein case wasn’t different. It wasn’t about athletic success, but about what he offered to all those people who enabled what was happening. Some took part themselves, though I fear we will never truly know the extent of that. Others suspected, saw hints, learned something, but did nothing. They seem to have even joked about it. A couple now claim to have cut off contact when they suspected, but none of them ever reported it. Not one person in those photos from the parties, private jets, and gatherings of the wealthy and famous called the police.
Do we believe that none of them suspected anything? I don’t because I’ve seen this same thing play out time and time again. They don’t want to know. They benefit from access to this person or group of abusers, and convince themselves that what they think isn’t worth risking all of that. Those young women aren’t worth it. They don’t consciously believe those words, of course, but their actions give it away. They were connected to some of the most powerful people in the world through their friendship with a man who was only enriching and empowering them.
Jeffrey Epstein was making people a lot of money and connecting them to power and influence. Surely whatever might have been happening was secondary to that, no?
That’s why we see more concern for the “friends” who might be hurt by being connected to Epstein than we see for the victims. They aren’t rich and powerful. They don’t matter. They should get over it and put it behind them.
They are gaslit, ignored, ridiculed, and dismissed daily. They have nothing to offer the rich and powerful beyond what has already been taken from them, and too many people in our society are willing to continue doing so to protect their own interests.
Many people complain that we’ve lost our moral compass, but too many of those same people are willing to ignore abuse if it makes them uncomfortable. They will actively oppress victims to protect the powerful, and there is nothing less moral than that.
