edit: I really want to clarify, I am not upset that people are angry about Epstein. I am not complaining that Americans want more transparency, that they want those involved to be punished for their actions. I am not unhappy that people want to raise more awareness towards the issue of the rich evading the law. I am certainly not trying to argue for the protection of those involved, nor am I trying to make a case for them/“playing devil’s advocate”. I am simply asking the question of why it is brought up so often in off-topic discussion. Why are people interpreting Trump yelling about annexing Canada as “diverting attention from the Epstein files”? Why are his threats towards Greenland and the Panama Canal called similar?

(original post begins here)

Everybody can accept that what he and his billionaire friends are horrible people who did horrible things to minors. The implication that so many high-ranking politicians from all over the world is associated with it is very bad indeed. But why do so many Americans seem to be so obsessed with Epstein and his “files”?

It seems like whatever discussion there is, there’s always someone going on about “releasing the files” when it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. And when anything is vaguely about America and its politics (e.g. kidnapping of Maduro), many will claim that it’s because they want to “distract the public from Epstein” or similar, feel good about themselves, and move on without contributing anything to the discussion like some sort of conspiracy theorist who tries to win arguments by saying it’s a conspiracy by the CIA/aliens/lizard people/etc. (side note: who actually believes in lizard people? Is this a joke or do people actually believe in those?) Not everything is about egg head island.

The involvement of so many powerful and rich people is quite bad indeed, and the coverup (suicide and maybe-murder of the guy, the hidden and almost mythical “files” that, even when released, are super redacted, the denial, etc) is concerning too. It is normal to seek out punishment for those involved, to press for more transparency around it, etc., that I can agree with, but it is not normal to justify all the war, conflict, and incitations of invasion that America is doing now, will do later, and has done in the past because of this.

  • sbird@sopuli.xyzOP
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    4 hours ago

    I understand that these people should, of course, be held accountable and shouldn’t just run free after doing all that horrible stuff on his island. What I don’t really get is why it is so often brought up in off-topic discussion. I get that people want to spread awareness and all that, but screaming “release the files!” on internet posts doesn’t really help.

    • blueworld@piefed.world
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      4 hours ago

      I empathize with your off-topic comments, but I think it has much to do with the context of information today. Trump himself is trying to drive any comments of Epstein away by distraction and events. This is one paper on the topic. So many people are throwing the references in as an eye to defiance, anger, frustration, and as part of a trend. If the idiocy in charge wants to distract us, then more than ever we need to stay focused on why he wants to distract us.

      That being said, it does have unintended consequences and is not necessarily the best way to handle this. However this new generation hasn’t really had a civil rights, suffrage, British tea party, or even just Arab Spring event to use as a baseline to make change in this entirely digital world now. People are still trying to figure out how to push, have a phone that causes attention distraction, live pay check to pay check, etc. Which is to say organization and protesting is still figuring itself out, so you get ‘release the files’ as a call to arms everywhere.

    • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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      3 hours ago

      I understand that these people should, of course, be held accountable

      Right, so who? And with what evidence?

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      Oh yeah, that info is (probably) in the Epstein Files.

    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Because our current President was best friends with Epstein and a third of the population believes he has nothing to do with it, or would rather the files go away so they don’t have to deal the rest of us saying we told you so!

      We’re literally trying to talk ourselves into whether or not we should punish these people.