Two ways of reading an article about Jeffrey Epstein

A recent Wall Street Journal article (non-paywall link):

The article sheds no light on how exactly this elite guy became elite, made money, etc. A guy goes from being the son of a gardener (Wikipedia) to being rich enough to operate a Gulfstream and nobody has any explanation for how it happened (based on my extensive research (i.e., reading the Wikipedia page), I’m guessing that he stole it from investors and clients).

What about those who are interested in learning about Mr. Epstein’s associates (customers?) in activities involving young women? They too will be disappointed. No names are named! The Wall Street Journal broke open the Theranos fraud, but they can’t find the name of even one person who was a customer of what we are told was a big prostitution operation.

Where does that leave us? With an interesting use of language and a demonstration of the different impressions that selective reading can produce.

Path 1 through the article:

… registered as a sex offender … soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution … federal sex-trafficking charges … groom a new generation of women to exploit … lured dozens of women … sexually exploited … coerced them to perform sex acts

Path 2:

… private jet … then in her 20s … New York townhouse … private jet to visit scientists, political leaders and tech-company founders … in exchange for money … private island … paid the women as if they were employees … If he thought their teeth were crooked or yellow, he sent them to Manhattan dentist Thomas Magnani for a consultation … units in an apartment building near his townhouse where he housed dozens of young women as well as prominent guests

The last part of Path 2 may explain why Mr. Epstein was so tightly connected to Democrats. He was providing health care and housing, the twin pillars of the Democrat project. (See “Billionaire sex offender Epstein gave heavily to Democrats, until he didn’t” (2018))

And, of course, Mr. Epstein’s actions may depend on the context…

Harvard said in a 2020 report that Epstein donated $9.1 million before 2008 and had visited the campus dozens of times after his conviction. It declined to comment further.