As an anthropologist, something stands out to me from the Epstein files: these men weren't just motivated by their depraved desires, but also wanting to be liked by the Party Guy. They were clambering for invites because they wanted to be part of the special in-group. It's sort of pathetic
But it also shows, yet again, how people (already primed by colonialism to dehumanize others) can be pushed by this desire for inclusion to participate in depraved acts. We see this in frats, in police departments, in lCE, in the lDF. It really is a systemic, and human, problem
If we dismiss these people as monsters, all, then we're losing an opportunity to take a hard look at the broader system that creates the conditions for harm, and the ways *we* participate in harmful behaviour in order to be accepted by our in-group. Whiteness & patriarchy run almost entirely on this
We can use this as an opportunity to assuage ourselves about how we're the Good Guys who would never, or we can ask some hard questions about what actually makes humans go against the collective good and do harm, and what we can do to fix the rot within our social systems.
Can people with bad political beliefs change?
100% of the people we need to talk to in order to grow the movement have some weird and harmful beliefs. We still need to build with them.
