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.

  • darthelmet@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    The thing that bothers me about the whole discussion around the Epstein files is why do people think THIS will be any different? The rich and powerful have been getting away with heinous and illegal things in public for a long time. Wars which aren’t just immoral, but illegal by both international law and the laws of our own country. Gross violations of civil liberties and human rights. Police just straight up kill people and get away with it. Illegal torture facilities. Companies have killed tons of people through either negligence or outright malicious greed. Etc.

    We KNOW about all of these thing already. Some were just straight up done in public, some done in private but eventually got leaked or declassified, but either way, we’ve had plenty of evidence of these people doing things that should have put them away for the rest of their lives and the worst consequences they’ve ever suffered were slap on the wrist fines if they even got those.

    To me, the Epstein files are a perfect crystallization of the broader reality that the rich and powerful can use their money and influence to commit crimes with impunity. The idea that they are distracting from these crimes by committing even bigger crimes is just sheer absurdity. Not in the sense that it may be wrong, but rather how it shows how fucking insanely broken our system is. If you can get out of one crime by going out and murdering a bunch of people… what the hell are we even doing? Why do we think any of these people will ever pay for their crimes? The very system that would do that has been corrupted by those same criminals. They’re not going to put themselves, their buddies, or their benefactors in jail.

    Something needs to change. Something needs to be done. But the idea that all that we need is for people to see the complete evidence of this particular set of crimes and the legal system will finally work properly is beyond delusional.

  • Mugita Sokio@lemmy.today
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    14 hours ago

    This is just a distraction from what’s really going on: the New World Order, ruled by the Vatican (religion and politics), London (finance and trade), and DC (District of the Roman Goddess Columbia, and that’s a real goddess, but military and intelligence), forcing people to revere and obey the Pope (Mark of the Beast) in order to get a digital ID, CBDC, and social credit score. On top of that, those who won’t revere and obey the Pope (because Catholicism and its forks are the Babylonian Mystery Religion) are either cut off (if they aren’t much of a threat) or murdered (for people who witness against them openly like I do).

    Also, as a side note, this is covering up that since 2023 or so (yes, that long ago), we’re in the third spirit unto frogs, WWIII. This is almost the finality of the pouring out of the 6th vial, found in Revelation 16. This is where we’re at in the timeline, in the ekklesia age of Laodecia (we’re blind due to the Jesuits misdirecting us).

    Anyway, that’s the best reason I can give for it.

  • itkovian@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Yes. It is about holding people accountable and punishing them for their crimes. If they can get away crimes, then what is the point of courts of law or even a justice system? Might as well, throw those in the bin.

    • sbird@sopuli.xyzOP
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      1 day 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.

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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        1 day 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.

      • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

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

        Right, so who? And with what evidence?

        .

        .

        .

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

  • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    because the current administration is made of bullies spewing bullshit. One of the things they kept talking about were the epstein files, and how they were going to finish off the democrats, and if they got voted in , they would release them. they turned them into a talking point.

    If you call them out for being hypocrites on things that they will lie about, like the economy or health or whatever, they will use group consensus and lies to bullshit their way out of it. However, since they demonised anyone related to epstein, and how one of their cornerstone policies was releasing the epstein files, they can’t do that about the epstein files, so it’s useful to beat them over the head with, since trump was in extremely deep with epstein (into people they shouldn’t have been fucking)

  • Ryoae@piefed.social
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    24 hours ago

    Because it’s pulling up the veil how all of these rich and powerful people, are associated with a rich pedophile and could very well be involved with all activities with said rich pedophile.

    I mean, fucking people thought Bill Clinton was the last good president besides Obama and Carter. Then we saw his name come up multiple times in these files.

    And Trump knows completely well, how knee-deep he is within these files. He doesn’t have to orally deny involvement, it is his actions alone that paint the picture that yeah this guy has probably been involved with kiddie fiddling. No surprise since he’s a convicted rapist.

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Because if you look at any local news anywhere, poor people are being jailed for decades for merely looking at CSAM. And I’m not saying that shouldn’t be illegal. But we have proof the rich and powerful are actually doing the things in those photos and videos. It’s shocking, and it’s still shocking, that they’re getting away with it. And that people are still supporting them.

    That should bother anyone regardless of what country you’re from.

    • sbird@sopuli.xyzOP
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      1 day ago

      Fair enough, everyone should be upset that the uber-rich can evade the law as they are now. Yes, they are horrible people. That I can understand.

      What I don’t understand is why many people (not all people, but some certainly) bring it up in off-topic internet discussions.

      • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        Oh, the off-topic “release the Trump-Epstein files” memes (or tongue-in-cheek references to them)?

        I guess it’s to remind those at the top that we still haven’t forgotten.

        Like the whole post-9/11 thing, “we will never forget.” Except a bunch of similar things happened around the world, Hollywood started cashing in on 9/11, and bringing it up while worse shit was going on kinda faded, but the “pride” of remembering 9/11 stuck around for about a decade. These things have a long shelf life.

      • Scratch@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        IMO it’s because they are pissed off. And the longer it takes for justice, the more pissed off they get.

        Couple that with Congress ordering the release of all the documents, then the justice department dragging its feet. Everything the us government does that isn’t just releasing the docs is seen as a distraction. Delay until people forget or stop caring, so to counter that people refuse to stop talking about the files, to keep them in the conversation.

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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    1 day ago

    Why are Americans so hung up on Epstein and his egg head island and “the files”?

    Because they could not have them (for some time).

    When you are a bratty child and you want something and you cannot have it…