In this conversation with Joanna Coles of The Daily Beast, I tried to situate the Epstein story in a larger historical context. America, for all its faults, once earnestly strived toward the idea that no man is better than any other or above the law. It has never achieved the ideal, but it has pursued it. What the Epstein story and the impunity it highlights make clear is how far we have drifted from this ideal. We live now in an age in which it is all but certain that being powerful means justice won’t come for you. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Watch our conversation and share your thoughts.
SEXUAL IMPERIALISM. I wish de Toqueville would write a new book called Sexuality in America. After listening to your talk with the Daily Beast where you explored the idea of the reversal of hierarchy we are now seeing in America, I can't help but think that slavery provided a new avenue in this country for personal imperialism. Sexual predation of slaves of any age was the right of the master. In a Puritanical country that is still so conflicted about sexuality to this day, the opportunity that the Epstein class was afforded seems like a continuation and consolidation of that tantalizing taboo. More than sex, it was domination of the most vulnerable with impunity. The ultimate prize.
Great analysis, Anand. I guess this age of globalization combined with technology is the new way to gain status or the new aristocracy, so to speak, over name and land ownership.