An Indian view of the Epstein files: We are like this only |
Epstein who? Emails when? Meetings where? Every era produces its own prophets, who inscribe their wisdom on our digital walls; the year 1 AE (After Epstein) is no different. A friend has just forwarded to me this priceless diagnosis of what ails us: 'When faced with temptation, wise people abstain. The others Epstein.'
This single-digit sentence explains what the Epstein files are all about, and why a long-dead paedophile and sex-trafficking celebrity is causing so much churning in the capitals of the neoliberal world (and in India, which is neither neo nor liberal). Here are the titbits (is that the appropriate word?) which I have gleaned so far from this affair.
One hears that Mr Vivek Agnihotri, the filmmaker so beloved of the BJP, is a very angry and worried man these days. He has lost his IPR and franchise of the word 'files'; his Kashmir Files, Bengal Files and Kerala Files had an authoritative ring about them, for are files not the repository of truth within the government?
But he no longer has the 'personality rights' on this word, for it has been hijacked by Epstein and Pam Bondi and henceforth will convey, not pseudo-nationalism and Islamophobia, but sex, sleaze and betrayal — a more exciting batter, I agree, but not one which can garner votes. Mr Agnihotri will now have to look for a new word for 'files': may I suggest 'lies' or 'fakery' or 'fibs'?
The world's glitterati — the Davos types, politicians, marquee actors and singers, the fixers, fashionistas, sheikhs and sultans — who cannot bear to be out of the news........