In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
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I had a friend* once who invited me to some parties and after one, I made some comments about how I was uncomfortable with one of the guys there, hitting on younger women, making crude jokes. Unfathomably she really liked this guy and kept saying he was "so amazing" I wanted to know *why* she admired him. He just seemed like a creep.
"can't you just be fun?" she said to me.
And I didn't hang out with her again.
I'm no fun.
I was in my early 20s then and looking back I think she brought me in (she was in her 30s) because they just tried to get as many young people as they could at those parties, which it turned out this guy paid for: they were at really cool locations like the historic basement of a building with antique decor.
The creep was a casting director. I don't know what happened to him. But I recognize a pattern.
Or maybe I'm no fun.
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I had a friend* once who invited me to some parties and after one, I made some comments about how I was uncomfortable with one of the guys there, hitting on younger women, making crude jokes. Unfathomably she really liked this guy and kept saying he was "so amazing" I wanted to know *why* she admired him. He just seemed like a creep.
"can't you just be fun?" she said to me.
And I didn't hang out with her again.
I'm no fun.
@futurebird Yeah, this is the sort of thing why I'm allergic to idolizing people – not just myself, but when I see others doing it, too.
It's why Jacob Applebaum could be a rapey asshole for years on end before enough people finally spoke out and he was kicked out of the community – he was culturally entrenched because so many people idolized him…
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I was in my early 20s then and looking back I think she brought me in (she was in her 30s) because they just tried to get as many young people as they could at those parties, which it turned out this guy paid for: they were at really cool locations like the historic basement of a building with antique decor.
The creep was a casting director. I don't know what happened to him. But I recognize a pattern.
Or maybe I'm no fun.
@futurebird Yeah no, you were definitely not the problem there, that sounds hella predatory.
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
Here is some more info on who is in the book. Some of the people listed have confirmed that it is real. Others say they don't remember.
Who Other Than Trump Is in Jeffrey Epstein’s Birthday Book?
‘The Wall Street Journal’ reports several prominent names were found in the birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Leon Black. Here’s what we know.
Intelligencer (nymag.com)
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@futurebird It's a political suicide pact.
The participants know who they are and can rely on each other for cover. (Freedom of action is a lot larger when you've got a cooperating group.) They are ALSO highly vulnerable to anyone defecting or blackmail from the operators of the enterprise. So things like the birthday book are a sort of group cooperation signal that all is well with the pact.
(Epstein wasn't the operator as such; someone supplied capital.)
I think that "roasts" also function this way. The concept of having a roast for someone always confused me. I can't think of that many terrible things to say about any of my friends. On the occasions I've encountered people doing a roast it often seemed like between them they had a lot of things they needed to keep quiet about each other.
There is something sinister about all of this chummy BS often enough.
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Here is some more info on who is in the book. Some of the people listed have confirmed that it is real. Others say they don't remember.
Who Other Than Trump Is in Jeffrey Epstein’s Birthday Book?
‘The Wall Street Journal’ reports several prominent names were found in the birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Leon Black. Here’s what we know.
Intelligencer (nymag.com)
@futurebird before I read the article, is it because Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's business involved working with Mossad for blackmail?
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@futurebird before I read the article, is it because Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's business involved working with Mossad for blackmail?
It doesn't say anything about that. Just who contributed to the book and what "funny" message they put in it. They are all along similar themes, like a roast. Ha ha all in good fun.
ugh.
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@futurebird Yeah no, you were definitely not the problem there, that sounds hella predatory.
I also remember feeling so lucky and cool going around the back of this big lovely building under renovation and going past the velvet rope with my smart and cool (so I thought) friend from work who knew about the good parties.
It seemed very glamorous.
I don't even think this was anything big or at the extremity of how these things become sinister.
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@futurebird Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's the latter for at least a sizable chunk of the people who were involved with Epstein.
As far as I can tell, rich and powerful people virtually always have a completely warped sense of self-esteem, with many of them seeming to think they're damn near gods, i.e. inherently better than us plebians.
@phryk @futurebird Does wealth and power do something to the brain that makes them this way, or does wealth and power attract people who are already predisposed to this way of thinking?
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@phryk @futurebird Does wealth and power do something to the brain that makes them this way, or does wealth and power attract people who are already predisposed to this way of thinking?
I think anyone can get sucked in, but maybe one needs to be broken to help run it and working to keep it alive like Maxwell did. Everyone said that she worked so hard to "keep Jeffery happy"
why.
why?
She was from a rich family. She must have enjoyed the power trip, or the people who think it's an intelligence conspiracy might be right. Working so hard just to make something seedy and ugly.
