Since the dawn of the history, human beings have manifested their tendency to influence others of their own kind. This can be attributed to the presence of Predator- Prey relationship in our social ecosystem on account of power dynamics within the society. Predator- Prey relationship symbolizes how the elite membersprey upon the inferior and vulnerable sections of the society by employing illegal and unscrupulous means. Epstein Files serves as a testament to this fact and the notion that legislative prohibitions do not apply to these elites for their economic prerogative permits all.
Jeffrey Epstein is the paradigm of predation. He was an elite with powerful connections, the sexual predator whose realm of female exploitation had no bounds. People like Epstein do not rise to power alone rather through endorsement of people so strong, rich, and influential, that they cannot be challenged. For Epstein, this power came from people like Alan Greenberg whose banking company was responsible for funding money to provide Israel weapons for the Iran-Contra affair, and Lex Wexner- a powerful businessman who helped fund groups for Israeli intelligence.
The Epstein Files in their entirety contain six million reports whereas only proportionate quantum has been released, that too with many redacted records concerning identification. The files were released with copious editing and ambiguity that it has been left to the public to decipher the absurdity. Codes such as “pizza”, “grape juice”, “muffins” all used in emails in unnatural contexts, made it apparent that it was not food that was being referred to. References to “baby cheese” being better than “vegetable cheese” may leave one imagining the worst act a man can do to another, consuming one of his own flesh, let alone someone harmless. Nevertheless, this is just the tip of an iceberg. Major prominent global figures namely American President Donald Trump, former American President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew have been bracketed in the files which creates supposition of their diabolical activities. Epstein Files not only speaks of crimes against humanity but also epitomize aristocrats’ supremacist, hedonist, and misogynist beliefs.
In pre-civilized society, people indulged in crimes against humanity because of two factors- survival instincts and sexual hedonism. Slavery was the genesis of all evil which then led to sexual victimization and perpetual torture. As the society evolved to transform itself into a civilized form, men’s survival instincts eased off, but their sexual hedonism remained intact and so slavery began to function in its modernised form. In contemporary era, humans have not been able to shed their aforementioned inherent nature, or more so it is the Modern Aristocrat– leveraged people dominating the world, sitting at the apex of the human food chain who find themselves so consumed with authority that they would resort to any means to satiate their desires. These modern aristocrats prove to be no different from the lusty barbarians in the dark ages. They prey on ordinary and vulnerable strata of the society (women and children) and commit heinous atrocities such as rape, slavery, human trafficking, torture, cannibalism, and all sort of sexual victimization.
The modern society is experiencing a phenomenon that could be termed as Red-Collar Retrograde. The term Red-Collar Crime was coined by Frank S. Perri to describe white-collar criminals who turn violent. According to Perri, “red-collar criminals engage in violence to silence those who are in a position to detect and disclose their fraud schemes”. In his study of red-collar criminals, Perri discerned narcissism as their basic trait inclusive of the belief that one is superior, unique, and ‘chosen’, sense of entitlement to resources regardless of the imposition it places on others and exploitative nature all of which corresponds to the characteristics of modern aristocrats as aforesaid. What we are also witnessing in contemporary times is their inverse. Therefore, crimes in Epstein files can be inferred as Red-Collar Retrograde because conventional and violent crimes are committed by the aristocrats and thereafter kept out of sight by virtue of their financial and political resources. In essence, red-collar crime denotes financial trickery followed by resorting to violence, but red-collar retrograde demonstrates violent crime followed by financial trickery to conceal the former.
Capitalism proves to be a key contributor to the above phenomenon because these modern aristocrats, they derive their power from the capitalist structure of the society. The States, who are both, developed and capitalist administer the retrograde. But the impact is apparent and greater on the developing countries because they tend to follow the footsteps of the developed countries. Needless to say, capitalist nations are preying upon the development of the developing countries for they control the resources, influence their markets and manipulate their cultures and are left with no quality structure of their own. It all comes down to the fact that it is the weakest who suffers the most. As George Orwell quoted in his satirical novel Animal Farm “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”, notwithstanding the era, area or group of people, humanity has always been a sufferer of those who prey upon them, especially those of their own kind. We call ourselves civilized but the question is whether we ever truly rose above barbarism, or did we just get better at putting a veil over our true deprave nature?
Our fate is inevitable, reigned by the capitalists, where we just play the role dictated to us. Contrary to pre-civilized society where the concept of forbidden knowledge was determined by God himself, the same is dictated by mortals like us in the “civilized society”. Even the realm of our knowledge is restricted by them for knowledge is acquired through information which is again made inaccessible for the common man in contemporary times. Moreover, even if information becomes accessible, the public at large is diverted by creating distractions such as war or political conflicts around the world leaving them blind sighted. What is happening behind the veil of civilization is the modern aristocrats’ greatest façade, and the best kept secret.
(The authors are law students at Chandigarh University)
