Epstein Class Clowns

"Adisturbing number of the oligarchs responsible for the mess we're in are not very smart. I realize that this seems like a minor complaint when so many of them are also evil, incompetent, and causing enormous amounts of human suffering. (Though perhaps it's better that they're dimly lit, because who knows how much worse things would be if they were truly evil geniuses?)"

"It's precisely this benign assumption of competence and intelligence that lets them get away with murder. (For any lawyers reading this: I am not talking about any specific or literal murder, though I think I can safely and legally say that the hyperbolic overestimation of their collective intelligence lets them get away with, among other things, participating in a global sex-trafficking ring.)"

"Is it more important that they're immoral than that they're wildly incurious people-mediocre thinkers who only seek out opinions and research that conform to their worldview that their privilege and power as wealthy white men (they're almost all wealthy white men) is both natural and correct? Sure. But their evil and their ignorance are neither mutually exclusive nor unrelated. On some level, much of society thinks these men are wealthy because they know better than most and deserve the power and plunder they luxuriate in."

Many oligarchs responsible for societal harm are not very smart. Many are evil, incompetent, and cause enormous human suffering. A portion of powerful elites around Jeffrey Epstein are portrayed as geniuses solely because of power and wealth. The benign assumption of competence shields them from accountability and enables participation in crimes, including global sex trafficking. Many of these men are incurious, preferring opinions and research that confirm a worldview that their privilege and power as wealthy white men is natural and correct. The Horatio Alger myth connects hard work and moral deservingness to wealth, reinforcing the equation in reverse.

Read at The Nation