Conspiracy or Logic? Epstein edition

Jeffrey Epstein's case does not interest me very much I will lead off in saying. I don't really care about the particulars beyond sympathy for his victims and generalized rage against the wealth inequality our system produces that allows predators like him to exist. But like anyone vaguely aware of current events, I heard about his death which brought about a shoulder shrug (tentacles shrug?) and a vain hope that maybe we can get back to news about the daily blows to democracy delivered by republicans. Yeah, sure, that happens right.

Well, no. My social media almost immediately began filling up with conspiracy memes. And mine must not have been the only one because Gin and Tacos posted a very interesting blog called "The Singularity" because seriously, this shit has to stop. Conspiracies do happen, in boardrooms everyday unaccountable elites plot and scheme ways to separate you from your money and time, but to just fall in line with the conspiracy du jour because somebody made a convenient meme about it is just plain bad.

The Epstein thing is fascinating, as perhaps the only current example of an issue where nobody will trust or accept the official view of events irrespective of political beliefs.

People want the world to be more interesting than it is. People want life to be like the movies. That is the basic appeal of conspiracy theories. Plus, speculating is fun. No, seriously. It is. I get it. In this case and as usual, it requires people to assert with a high degree of confidence that they know how something works without really having any idea what they're talking about.

Obviously Epstein's death is extremely suspicious at best. However, a few things need clarifying before we can jump with any reasonable certainty to "omg murder."

In the country that has spectacle and Hollywood big screen excitement practically as a central pillar of its economy, yes it is no surprise that we have gotten to the point of instant and universal conspiracies of epic proportions with every new event. Ed is right on as usual. So, Occam's Razor has to come into play at some point. That would involve everyone letting go, just for a moment, about the fantasies involving Hillary Clinton and pedophiles; so I won't hold my breath.

First of all, the idea that an aged pedophile would kill himself in prison is plausible and given more credence by Epstein's previous suicide attempt (or maybe attempts). In a vacuum, it isn't hard to believe at all that he would commit suicide.

This particular rant was written before many facts came out, namely that he wasn't on suicide watch on that night. Ed was pretty spot on though in saying that no prison is really a panopticon, it's practically impossible to keep watch on anyone continuously.

Yet even under the latter conditions, it's not impossible that this really was suicide. Have you ever met a prison guard? They're like cops, but lazier. It's also not impossible that someone tasked with staring at a bank of monitors for hours on end could let their attention wander. Maybe the people responsible for watching him are just bad at their job. That's not hard to imagine.

Lo and behold: