How Epstein groomed people with no power and people with all the power, and what that reveals: a conversation with Joanna Coles for “The Daily Beast Podcast”
Excellent idea! And tbf, what we probably need as a society if we are ever to get through this mess and build a fairer more sustainable America. I'm in dc area and would def do a book club or meet up. I need to finish Nobody's Girl.
This is so illuminating! I remember times in my life witnessing the adulation or acceptance of a powerful man and/or his ideas that made no sense to me. I would ask myself, “What am I missing.” Learning about “power over” systems helped. But these revelations about being entitled to no limitations and no loyalty to a place and a people answer so much of that for me. Thank you, Anand, for your keen insights!
Great interview. Looking forward to the next one.
FYI…I can relate to your wife’s experiences at those dinners. 😣
When you do a followup with The Daily Beast in two weeks, please go deeper into the psychology of women who enable men with power and money. Especially Ghislaine Maxwell and what devil’s bargain is she getting out of her entanglement with Epstein. We need more deep dives on the “vulnerable class” that runs in tandem with the Epstein class. One cannot exist without the other. In the field of self awareness and healing from abuse, it is recommended that we start with ourselves and work outward from there. This is definitely not about victim blaming-but rather further empowerment of girls and young women (boys as well) to become sovereign and immune to predators.
What a wonderful job you are doing with this series, AG, exposing and analyzing the irrational insecurities that accompany greed, and several other of the Seven Deadly Sins. This installment has left me, however, with one question. How many box tops do I need to send in to get the decoder ring?
What I have learned in this life is that mental illness is the family secret we all share. In every family you will find a few mentally unstable people. Pedophilia is a form of mental illness.
The root cause for troubling behaviors from drug and alcohol addiction, sexual assault, abuse and molestation etc. is mental illness. Let’s continue to find a cure for this terrible disease.
What an interview! I actually put everything aside to sit and watch this 2 hour interview. Just brilliant!
Anand said only one thing that I disagreed with. In describing the pictures of these odious men with girls, he says the men are smiling like they actually believe that the girls enjoy being with them. I think that is wrong.
The young women and girls feelings are irrelevant. They might as well not have feelings. You would find the same smile if they were standing next to a new Lamborghini. Those pictures are of men smiling because they've acquired the playthings that give them the approval of other men.
Why do you think Andrew is so proud of himself in that photo with an underaged Guiffre, why Epstein could even get them to take photos of themselves about to commit crimes? They were trophy photos like you would see of hunters standing one foot atop a dead rhino. The girls are there to show other men that they matter. Men are weird.
Creating a problem that you are then hired to solve- absolutely yes! I learned this from my time in a religious cult many years ago. It took so long to see this method. I never thought i would see it at a national level, as you have just pointed out. Thank you for this insight.
Anand, would you be opening having a “book club” for this series? There is so much to chew on.
Or, any folks in the Washington DC area wanna meet up IRL?
Excellent idea! And tbf, what we probably need as a society if we are ever to get through this mess and build a fairer more sustainable America. I'm in dc area and would def do a book club or meet up. I need to finish Nobody's Girl.
People are drawn to stories like this because they’re shocking — but also because they create distance.
It becomes something happening over there, involving people with extreme power or pathology.
But the more uncomfortable question is what allows these systems to exist in the first place.
Not just at the top — but in everyday human behaviour.
Compliance. Silence. The pull toward proximity to power. The ability to override instinct.
Those patterns don’t begin in elite circles. They scale up from something much more common.
If we only consume the story, we stay spectators.
If we start looking at the conditions that make it possible — including where we place our own attention — we move a little closer to actual agency.
https://whereattentiongoes.substack.com/p/the-cult-that-believed-sin-was-the?r=7vrhym&utm_medium=ios
Fascinating conversation!!!
This is so illuminating! I remember times in my life witnessing the adulation or acceptance of a powerful man and/or his ideas that made no sense to me. I would ask myself, “What am I missing.” Learning about “power over” systems helped. But these revelations about being entitled to no limitations and no loyalty to a place and a people answer so much of that for me. Thank you, Anand, for your keen insights!
Great interview. Looking forward to the next one.
FYI…I can relate to your wife’s experiences at those dinners. 😣
Brilliant analysis, Anand! Everyone needs to hear this.
When you do a followup with The Daily Beast in two weeks, please go deeper into the psychology of women who enable men with power and money. Especially Ghislaine Maxwell and what devil’s bargain is she getting out of her entanglement with Epstein. We need more deep dives on the “vulnerable class” that runs in tandem with the Epstein class. One cannot exist without the other. In the field of self awareness and healing from abuse, it is recommended that we start with ourselves and work outward from there. This is definitely not about victim blaming-but rather further empowerment of girls and young women (boys as well) to become sovereign and immune to predators.
It’s a problem of the system we live in, patriarchy: entitlement, gender inequality, distorted masculinity. See Celeste Davis’s post here: https://celestemdavis.substack.com/p/epstein-files-patriarchy?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
What a wonderful job you are doing with this series, AG, exposing and analyzing the irrational insecurities that accompany greed, and several other of the Seven Deadly Sins. This installment has left me, however, with one question. How many box tops do I need to send in to get the decoder ring?
Keep em coming and keep the faith.
What I have learned in this life is that mental illness is the family secret we all share. In every family you will find a few mentally unstable people. Pedophilia is a form of mental illness.
The root cause for troubling behaviors from drug and alcohol addiction, sexual assault, abuse and molestation etc. is mental illness. Let’s continue to find a cure for this terrible disease.
What an interview! I actually put everything aside to sit and watch this 2 hour interview. Just brilliant!
Anand said only one thing that I disagreed with. In describing the pictures of these odious men with girls, he says the men are smiling like they actually believe that the girls enjoy being with them. I think that is wrong.
The young women and girls feelings are irrelevant. They might as well not have feelings. You would find the same smile if they were standing next to a new Lamborghini. Those pictures are of men smiling because they've acquired the playthings that give them the approval of other men.
Why do you think Andrew is so proud of himself in that photo with an underaged Guiffre, why Epstein could even get them to take photos of themselves about to commit crimes? They were trophy photos like you would see of hunters standing one foot atop a dead rhino. The girls are there to show other men that they matter. Men are weird.
Creating a problem that you are then hired to solve- absolutely yes! I learned this from my time in a religious cult many years ago. It took so long to see this method. I never thought i would see it at a national level, as you have just pointed out. Thank you for this insight.