On the Regime in Light of Epstein
Mystifications abound: the will of the people; the rule of law; international law; fair elections; the balance and separation of powers; sovereignty.
But to dismiss them on this account would be facile. For the people accept them as verities, as they always have accepted prevailing shibboleths. In fact, every dogma regards every other as a lie; the man who hubristically regards himself as above dogma - that every worldview contains precepts which are asserted in the absence of evidence escapes him - regards the mass of mankind as operating, passively or actively, in accordance with falsehoods. What I assert, therefore, ought not to be rejected prima facie.
Belief actualises — even lies! Men act as if these falsehoods exist; consensus keeps the disbelievers in line. Institutions ostensibly act in full accordance with the foregoing mystifications. Operatively, in a day to day sense, they do so. Ergo, one may rely on the falsehood. Truth and falsehood blurs for the Englishman, for both work — such is truth when truth is defined pragmatically (Pace Herbert Spencer). But all bears the face of Janus; we witness the half-moon, in most ages, through most times — ‘til punctuated by providence.
After the recent Epstein revelations, the dark side of the moon has been illuminated. The will of the people is the obfuscation of power; the rule of law obscures the rule of men; sovereignty is invoked, but never Oz; the public-private distinction is a nominal distinction: Gates and Clinton both paid their dues — or rather, their plane ticket...
The horror of truth acts as a wrecking ball, demolishing the superstructural lies of power. The stench of the rotten underbelly has awoken the people momentarily: for the would-be agitator, whatever the cause is, the zeitgeist is fruitful. Proceed in accordance with its spirit.
Epstein, in all his ugliness and duplicity, is power. The power of finance, yes. But the power of legion, also. The power of the national and the international; the cosmopolitan and the tribal. The power of a ruling caste which makes no apology for its rule. The power of supremacy and self-regard. The power of a group that regards all others as lesser. The grammar of conservatism prevents me from being specific - inasmuch as I am vague, this article perpetuates mystification, and thus power. And thus subjugation.
From now on it is apt to think in terms of networks; of blackmail; of central nodes, without which networks would remain discrete. Epstein was one of these nodes - operating as the go-between, the intermediary, vis-à-vis a variety of networks. With his demise these networks did not dissipate, nor did interfacing nodes become passé. If information is power, then the node is arguably the king, or perhaps the king-maker.
Our relationship to these networks is asymmetrical. We can never truly parse them. We describe them in a gross, sensationalist, and often salacious manner. This makes it easy for those with a vested interest in the system - that I have to rely on such ambiguities is telling - to dismiss and marginalise critics as conspiracy theorists. In reality, the conspiracy theorist is merely one who has opted to make the ill-fated choice of peering through the mirage of prevailing shibboleths. That they do so haphazardly is incontestable; that they’re on the right track is indisputable.
The Epsteins of the world would have us be Englishmen: naïve, civically minded, conformist, trusting, decent, reticent to rock the boat. Let us defy him. Let us be Irishmen: wary, uncouth, defiant — like the men of Soloheadbeg.