New chapter in Jeffrey Epstein saga
On Monday US district judge Loretta Preska ruled that documents relating to more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of the late and disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein are to be made public on January first. That could mean a very unhappy new year for certain people. We will have to see.
If it does, well, so much for the conspiracy theory that Epstein was murdered in order to keep him from embarrassing or inconveniencing anyone. Looks like this list could turn out to be pretty damned embarrassing and inconvenient for an awful lot of people. Again, we will have to see..
Which brings me to my central point. If you remember nothing about conspiracy theories about things like the death of Jeffrey Epstein remember this: conspiracy theories do NOT get better with age. More than four years have passed since Epstein’s death and not one document has been uncovered, not one witness has come forward, not one strand of incriminating DNA has been found, not one single solitary shred of evidence has been produced to suggest that Epstein was murdered. Not one.
I’ll say it again, conspiracy theories do NOT get better with age. One of the tantalising characteristics of conspiracy theories that true believers cling desperately to is the misguided notion that soon — very soon! — some investigation or piece of evidence will finally be revealed to exonerate their pet theory. Any day now. Next year on the outside.
For example, many believe that some brand new clinical trial will finally establish a link between MMR vaccines and autism. Or some brand new government “expert” will finally come forward with ACTUAL physical evidence (unlike that bullshit last summer) that UFOs (or UAPs) really are extraterrestrial. Or some “retired engineer” will come forward with ACTUAL evidence that the destruction of building 7 couldn’t possibly have happened if the George Bush government hadn’t planted demolition explosives in the World Trade Center.
This is what belief without evidence looks like. If you want some insight into what you look like when you believe things without evidence, you need look no further than today’s Republican Party. Think about the impeachment inquiry. What is that? It is an investigation into something that Republicans want to believe about the President but have not a single solitary piece of hard physical evidence to go on. All they have is pitiful innuendo. All they have is wishful thinking.
Innuendo and wishful thinking are not evidence. Because a death or a circumstance or a disaster is convenient for someone you hate, that does not mean that the person you hate caused that death or that circumstance or that disaster. You may not like Freddy, but just because Freddy’s aunt died and left him a million dollars, that does not mean Freddy murdered his aunt. Freddy’s inheritance all by itself is not something you can go to the police with.
Not only is this true, it’s also just. If you’re a conspiracy theorist you don’t want someone else using the same standards of evidence against you that you use against them. You don’t want someone who doesn’t like you to assume that every time something favourable happens to you that you employed some underhanded or illegal means to achieve it. That is not justice. That’s the stuff of witch hunts.
That’s why we have things called courts of law where the standard of evidence prevails. That’s why hearsay and gossip and speculation have no place in a court of law. That’s why you can’t take something to a court of law without evidence.
We’re often delighted when the legal system works for us. But the true test of an actual faith and belief in Due Process comes when the faithful and the believer are content whenever it doesn’t work in their favour as well.
More than four years ago I wrote an article suggesting that the likeliest explanation for Jeffrey Epstein’s death was suicide. Despite the fact that I got publicly and repeatedly pilloried for months about that article I stand by every word of it.
What was my crime? Why was I abused? I was abused because I dared to refer to suicide as being the LIKELIEST cause of Epstein’s death, while many of my detractors INSISTED that he was murdered. I wasn’t merely siding with the best probability, I was also being careful not to be sweepingly categorical.
So my point wasn’t so much an argument for a position as it was a call to be careful and side with the statistically most likely point of view. My point was both ignored and rudely disparaged by many who were “absolutely certain” Epstein was murdered. They would not brook any disagreement, particularly from me.
Many of those critics are silent today. Cooler heads have since prevailed in many (though probably not all) cases. Back then I was smugly and condescendingly informed by several people that I just needed to wait for a Democratic administration to come along and I would find out just exactly how stupid I have been. Boy would I be sorry! Well, a Democratic administration has come along.
Rudy Giuliani says he regrets that Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman have been treated so unfairly by the mob he provoked, but that everything he said about them is true. Why does he insist on that? Because he wants to believe it. Because he needs to believe it. Because it’s the only narrative that might possibly still save him from economic ruin. And he would be right to think that if he had any evidence for it. But he does not. So don’t be a Rudy, don’t be a conspiracy theorist.
One thing that conspiracy theorists forget about is their victims. Rudy Giuliani doesn’t really care about Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman any more than 9/11 “Truthers” care about the hundreds (or even thousands) of reputations they have destroyed. Republicans don’t care that they have made Hunter Biden into a pariah. Republicans don’t care that they have destroyed the political career of Liz Cheney. These are just a few of the victims of accusations that are made without evidence.
The rape victims of Jeffrey Epstein have suffered enough without also having to hear that he was murdered by their very own American government. I’m not saying that didn’t happen, I’m saying there is no evidence that it did. And as long as there is no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered, it’s irresponsible to insist that he was. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.