Epstein's Shadow

Even if the entirety of the Epstein files are released, it will change nothing.

I don't mean because "they" will "win" and avoid justice.  But because, given what has already been released, it's clear there's no evidence of an elite pedophile sex trafficking ring.  There's plenty of embarrassing information, and evidence of crimes, but nothing pointing to a large conspiracy to unmask.

But, boy, do we wish there was!  It would be exciting to live during a time of big change.  The Big Bads of the world are revealed, defeated, and something new arises to take its place.  We get to be in the struggle.  Our names go down in history.  In a decadent time, we finally get something that matters.  Our lives can have BIG meaning, rather than eking out an existence which consists of work, community, and leisure.

But work, community, and leisure are the cornerstones of life.

Work provides us money, which is needed to live comfortably in society.  Our work, in return, helps the rest of society function.  Community is our friends, family, neighborhood, Frisbee team - whatever we decide.  We give and get from them, and hopefully this is returned in kind.  Leisure is for ourselves, directly.

And to an extent it is a treadmill.  The routine will feel stale occasionally.  When that happens we should reach down, not out.  Rather than bring new things into our lives we should find new nuance in what we have.  Learn something new about a favorite music album, take a walk at a different time of day than normal, invite friends to go axe-throwing instead of to trivia.

Seeking out greatness is risky because it requires so much time and attention.  We take a big swing on one thing and may come away with nothing.  Only one person can be the first, or the best.  Even Olympic records are surpassed eventually.  But at least those examples provide something real.  It would be cool to have a gold medal for, say, the high jump, even if it got bested the next cycle.

But with Epstein, I don't think there is anything to uncover.  There have been a lot of promised dates for when the Epstein Files were going to change the world.  Normally, a broken promise is a sign that one's expectations should change.  Only a cult claims it's a test of loyalty: "Are you a True Believer, or were you only pretending to be of the Chosen, when it was convenient?"  It's about belief, instead of proof.  And once belief becomes a loyalty test, rather than a basis for a hypothesis to check and revisit, it's easy for it to become tangled in our idenity.  Instead, we just have to decide to walk away.

We’re letting Epstein cast a long shadow over our lives, not because of what’s been revealed, but because of what we want him to represent.

So say it with me: Even if the entirety of the Epstein files are released, it will change nothing.  Of course, any crimes or corruption revealed should be followed up on.¹  But a conspiracy that our elites are in on which justifies tearing them all down?  That ain't it.

It would be exciting to live during a time of big change, and there are certainly changes we can resist or embrace.  But ultimately, to find meaning in our lives, we should accommodate the fact we won't overturn the Ancien régime.  That's a big swing we are destined to miss.

Instead, we should carve out a piece of the world for our work, our community, and our leisure.  If that feels too compromising then carve out a different piece - there are a lot of ways to skin this cat!²  And when the routine we inevitably fall into feels too dull to bear, we should find a way to deepen our connection with what we have - rather than looking for something new and exciting.  Because that will lose its shine as well.

But ultimately railing against an elite pedophile sex trafficking ring that doesn't exist is a waste of our time, and as I've spent the last year of this blog focusing on, our attention is an important resource and we must use it wisely.

 

¹ If you click the link above, the crime revealed is financial wrongdoing by a British politician.  It isn't the eye-popping sort of crime we've been led to expect.  Just run-of-the-mill  fraud.

² Community can include political organizing, activism, voting, contacting represtentatives, blogging etc.  Work, of course, can be connected to political change as well.  Leisure, of course, should not be.