Your analysis needs to name misogyny as a structural aspect of this power elite. These are not just men. These are men who operate to protect and enlarge the system of male privilege and sexual exploitation. If it isn’t named it isn’t seen and can’t be fully changed
Anand, I think your analysis of the dynamics of this "Epstein Class" is different than most. You seem to have worked it through with deep curiosity and with a goal to increase our understanding--and not just our rage and disgust--of how a segment of our society can operate with impunity. There are important lessons for us to learn here that go beyond "perverted rich guys." I hope you keep talking about this.
This interview has opened my eyes to a bigger and deeper understanding of implications of the Epstein files. The phrase, “empathy is what makes us human,” is a stunning phrase. Empathy is so easily lost when one has power and control, when other humans become tools that contribute only to $ success, when other people are regarded as distant bystanders, not people who have aspirations to build lives based on caring and love.
Loved this conversation Anand! Had to restack, it’s that important! My question is, what more can we do to influence an unfavorable result on corporate greed & destruction? Hoping the next administration holds all of them accountable.
I think viewers would appreciate seeing a film I made in 2012, newly updated, called Heist: Who stole the American Dream which features Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and retired CEO of American Airlines Robert Crandall, among others, explaining the income and wealth inequality we are currently experiencing and how we got here. It's available free here. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1116316793
This is such an important conversation! Thank you for this. Sarah Kendzior has been writing about this for years and has been threatened by the elites and disregarded as a conspiracy theorist by the media and pundits. Try reading her books, “They Knew”, and “Hiding in Plain Sight”.
Exactly Anand-‘they operate in a world of impunity.’ Nothing changes if nothing changes. Trump is now the literal poster boy of operating as if he will never be brought to reckoning. His goon squad, encompassing the entire firmament of rot we allowed by not watching or by being so fucked with mentally, financially, metabolically-we were/are incapable of giving that critical attention to those we’ve elected or ignored as ‘beyond our capabilities to do anything about’.
The ‘Epstein class’ needs to be caged out of society and minimized by taxation or some mechanism because They are the apex predators. They are completely corrupt and when and if not acting overtly evil they lack awareness of anything else in this earthly plane. Taylor Caldwell wrote fiction about international bankers who are nationless and out for themselves. This is so much more insidious because of the technological overlords that we will soon be subjected to with surveillance from palantir. Excellent conversation
For better or worse, I've always been one of those people who naturally extrapolates a given situation to the bigger picture. That is what first drew me to you, Anand, i.e. your ability to do that and your platform to explain it to others. Very few things happen in isolation, but our society likes to treat them as if they do. People play whack-a-mole instead of doing the really hard but effective thing of dealing with the foundation that allows those harmful things to pop up in the first place. When you see the connections, it's infuriating because you feel like you're wasting your time and resources trying to fix a problem that only exists because of the atmosphere in which it's allowed to flourish. There is no shame in not being able to see how things connect, but I would submit that there is a responsibility to act when the connections are revealed to you.
Also I think you’re right, Anand, about what Trump is really afraid of. You’ve been right ahead of the curve like every time in the last almost 20 years. I think you’re right this time too. I am a paid subscriber to the Ink and it is the best $5 I spend every month. So glad I can support in-depth journalism, interviews, and soul-crushing perusals of psychopathic emails. God bless you Anand and keep up the good work.
I also restacked this. I loved this conversation and also your article in the NYT. So important! Here’s the thing: we are all capable of looking away from stuff we don’t want to see. I think this is a modern sickness, in part because we are flooded with outrages all the time. In self defense we have to look away from the darkness sometimes. But we don’t have to forget or demand accountability from the use in power. We must demand accountability. We must refuse to tolerate the intolerable.
Thanks Anand. Thanks for reading all of that shit so we didn't have to. Wonderful analysis. Trump is the swamp. 100%. But so is Schumer. So is Jeffries. So are so many long-standing democratic politicians saying one thing in public and serving themselves and their billionaire buddies in private.
We really have to get away from "right vs. left". It's not traditional Republicans who are the problem for democrats. And it's not "far left, progressive positions" the right should be fighting against. Everyone outside of the Epstein Class needs to understand that nothing that class does is for our benefit. Whether they appear left, right or center, they only serve themselves. They have always only served themselves. And any politician who won't say that, who won't side with us, needs to go. Every democrat who caters to that class, or is a part of it, needs to go. We can no longer tolerate legacy democrats who have always served the Epstein class while saying they were working for us and our interests.
Anand is terrific. The Ink is essential. No one else is making these connections and we need his analysis. Wealth and power and influence---a class of people who feel they are above the law, who feel that the rules don't apply to them and who will PROTECT one another---that's what we're up against. If we can't find a way to hold them to account, we're lost.
Your analysis needs to name misogyny as a structural aspect of this power elite. These are not just men. These are men who operate to protect and enlarge the system of male privilege and sexual exploitation. If it isn’t named it isn’t seen and can’t be fully changed
Anand, I think your analysis of the dynamics of this "Epstein Class" is different than most. You seem to have worked it through with deep curiosity and with a goal to increase our understanding--and not just our rage and disgust--of how a segment of our society can operate with impunity. There are important lessons for us to learn here that go beyond "perverted rich guys." I hope you keep talking about this.
Great summary of the story behind the story!
I needed that. My head spins with this awful stuff. Unfortunately, it clears up a little more just how much worse it is even than I thought! Argh
Very intelligent, insightful convo. (Is it wrong to point out that it's a 90% man problem? Rich and white maybe 90% of that 90%?) Thank you
This interview has opened my eyes to a bigger and deeper understanding of implications of the Epstein files. The phrase, “empathy is what makes us human,” is a stunning phrase. Empathy is so easily lost when one has power and control, when other humans become tools that contribute only to $ success, when other people are regarded as distant bystanders, not people who have aspirations to build lives based on caring and love.
Loved this conversation Anand! Had to restack, it’s that important! My question is, what more can we do to influence an unfavorable result on corporate greed & destruction? Hoping the next administration holds all of them accountable.
I think viewers would appreciate seeing a film I made in 2012, newly updated, called Heist: Who stole the American Dream which features Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and retired CEO of American Airlines Robert Crandall, among others, explaining the income and wealth inequality we are currently experiencing and how we got here. It's available free here. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1116316793
Thank you, too, for explaining the example of Larry Summers.
I now understand more than. Wish this conversation was unnecessary :-/
Thank you, too, for explaining the example of Larry Summers.
I now understand more than I’d like. Wish this conversation was unnecessary :-/
This is such an important conversation! Thank you for this. Sarah Kendzior has been writing about this for years and has been threatened by the elites and disregarded as a conspiracy theorist by the media and pundits. Try reading her books, “They Knew”, and “Hiding in Plain Sight”.
Exactly Anand-‘they operate in a world of impunity.’ Nothing changes if nothing changes. Trump is now the literal poster boy of operating as if he will never be brought to reckoning. His goon squad, encompassing the entire firmament of rot we allowed by not watching or by being so fucked with mentally, financially, metabolically-we were/are incapable of giving that critical attention to those we’ve elected or ignored as ‘beyond our capabilities to do anything about’.
anything
Incapable
The ‘Epstein class’ needs to be caged out of society and minimized by taxation or some mechanism because They are the apex predators. They are completely corrupt and when and if not acting overtly evil they lack awareness of anything else in this earthly plane. Taylor Caldwell wrote fiction about international bankers who are nationless and out for themselves. This is so much more insidious because of the technological overlords that we will soon be subjected to with surveillance from palantir. Excellent conversation
For better or worse, I've always been one of those people who naturally extrapolates a given situation to the bigger picture. That is what first drew me to you, Anand, i.e. your ability to do that and your platform to explain it to others. Very few things happen in isolation, but our society likes to treat them as if they do. People play whack-a-mole instead of doing the really hard but effective thing of dealing with the foundation that allows those harmful things to pop up in the first place. When you see the connections, it's infuriating because you feel like you're wasting your time and resources trying to fix a problem that only exists because of the atmosphere in which it's allowed to flourish. There is no shame in not being able to see how things connect, but I would submit that there is a responsibility to act when the connections are revealed to you.
Also I think you’re right, Anand, about what Trump is really afraid of. You’ve been right ahead of the curve like every time in the last almost 20 years. I think you’re right this time too. I am a paid subscriber to the Ink and it is the best $5 I spend every month. So glad I can support in-depth journalism, interviews, and soul-crushing perusals of psychopathic emails. God bless you Anand and keep up the good work.
I also restacked this. I loved this conversation and also your article in the NYT. So important! Here’s the thing: we are all capable of looking away from stuff we don’t want to see. I think this is a modern sickness, in part because we are flooded with outrages all the time. In self defense we have to look away from the darkness sometimes. But we don’t have to forget or demand accountability from the use in power. We must demand accountability. We must refuse to tolerate the intolerable.
Thanks Anand. Thanks for reading all of that shit so we didn't have to. Wonderful analysis. Trump is the swamp. 100%. But so is Schumer. So is Jeffries. So are so many long-standing democratic politicians saying one thing in public and serving themselves and their billionaire buddies in private.
We really have to get away from "right vs. left". It's not traditional Republicans who are the problem for democrats. And it's not "far left, progressive positions" the right should be fighting against. Everyone outside of the Epstein Class needs to understand that nothing that class does is for our benefit. Whether they appear left, right or center, they only serve themselves. They have always only served themselves. And any politician who won't say that, who won't side with us, needs to go. Every democrat who caters to that class, or is a part of it, needs to go. We can no longer tolerate legacy democrats who have always served the Epstein class while saying they were working for us and our interests.
Anand is terrific. The Ink is essential. No one else is making these connections and we need his analysis. Wealth and power and influence---a class of people who feel they are above the law, who feel that the rules don't apply to them and who will PROTECT one another---that's what we're up against. If we can't find a way to hold them to account, we're lost.