What the Epstein files has shown me about people.

[CantChainTheSpirit]

I've found the Epstein debate they eye opening about how people really think and react on the subject of underage sex.

The Republicans were VERY eager to see justice done when they thought it was democrats in the files. When it started to look like Republicans would be in there then it became less of an issue for many Republicans. This tells me that the Epstein files were never about pedophilia or kids, it was about a new weapon to be used to punish political opponents.

Recently I was out with a group of male friends and the subject of Trump came up and I was taken aback by how the conversation unfolded. One person expressed that Trump being a billionnaire was just doing what most people would if they could, he was partying with attractive young ladies. Then other jumped in to support this view, that it would be a waste of money and power if they just sat at home doing the same thing as the rest of us. If they had the money, they wouldn't be sat in a pub drinking beer preparing to go home to do some chores, dealing with their kids, doing the trash, helping with the washing. If they had the money and they were invited to a sex party island then they'd be on the first flight.

I asked what about the fact that they were younger girls, underage. Well people shrugged and just said for each their own, they're rich guys doing what they want and who can really blame them.

These were regular family guys just out drinking and being honest. I was really surprised at what I was hearing but upon reflection, should I be so surprised? It's as if a few beers in and for a short while, these guys could just be open and honest and suddenly guys with underage girls wasn't a problem, no one cared in the slightest, they were only envious that they were in a position to do what they want without a care. If their wives were there would they have been so open and say the same things? I doubt it.

So it just tells me that anti's are one thing but I suspect these guys out for beers are the middle majority. They don't outright say it because they're not supposed to but underneath it really isn't the big problem we're told it should be. Guys with young girls isn't what they stress about, what guys care about are dealing with all the stress and bs they have to day in and day out, work, bills, family, crap like that, and given a choice if they could without anyknow knowing, most guys would be partying with young ladies whether they're in their twenties or teens or younger for some.

[aeterna91]

I believe that most straight men will recognize an attraction for post-pubertal teenage girls if they drink a few beers and feel like they are in a friendly environment. But there is a big difference between their attitudes toward that and their attitudes toward sex that involves actual children (or even younger adolescents).

[PorcelainLark]

Maybe, though it's worth noting it's the one thing some republicans were willing to break with Trump over, and we've seen extremely partisan loyalty to Trump before. I'd like to think what you're saying is right, but I can't help but see it as revealing a split in the American right-wing: those who are loyal enough to Trump to excuse anything, and the post-MAGA future of the far-right like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

There are plenty of people who showed sympathy/support for Polanski because of how well he was respected, who would now show no sympathy or support to "pedophiles". Progress can't be sustained if it centers on charismatic figures or cults of personality.

[bluestater]

Recently I was out with a group of male friends and the subject of Trump came up and I was taken aback by how the conversation unfolded. One person expressed that Trump being a billionnaire was just doing what most people would if they could, he was partying with attractive young ladies. Then other jumped in to support this view, that it would be a waste of money and power if they just sat at home doing the same thing as the rest of us. If they had the money, they wouldn't be sat in a pub drinking beer preparing to go home to do some chores, dealing with their kids, doing the trash, helping with the washing. If they had the money and they were invited to a sex party island then they'd be on the first flight.

I would've jumped on an opening like that voraciously. Like, "I would too, fellas. But doesn't that mean we should do something to relieve the common people who are being locked up for decades for doing less?"

[CantChainTheSpirit]

Maybe, though it's worth noting it's the one thing some republicans were willing to break with Trump over, and we've seen extremely partisan loyalty to Trump before. I'd like to think what you're saying is right, but I can't help but see it as revealing a split in the American right-wing: those who are loyal enough to Trump to excuse anything, and the post-MAGA future of the far-right like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

There are plenty of people who showed sympathy/support for Polanski because of how well he was respected, who would now show no sympathy or support to "pedophiles". Progress can't be sustained if it centers on charismatic figures or cults of personality.

You may be right, there is a split there. But in that instant age didn't matter because while yes they were older teens in the Epstein case, someone did use the term "kids" when saying billionaires are just enjoying what they have and for some that's teens and kids. No one seemed shocked by that idea, they were just nodding that "lucky b*starts having so much money they can do whatever they want".

What shocked me is that even I wouldn't go to that extreme of opinion, I don't think money should be a key to doing anything. But it was ordinary family guys, a few beers in, unfazed by the idea of billionaries with teens and kids. They were just expressing that if they had that money, they would choose differently but probably no better, one guy said he'd have a yacht full of naked Asian women, although his wife might not be so happy.

It just made me think that what people say in front of their wives and work mates isn't necessarily what they think deep down, that only sometimes slip out after a few beers in very familiar and relaxed company.