Thank you for this. I have encountered SEP not in people of power, who are actively complicit, but in ordinary neighbors, acquaintances who I suspect are causing as much damage to our resistance and fight against this fascist kleptocracy by their lack of critical thinking, low information and simplistic rationalization. Case in point: a conversation I had with a self-identified Christian neighbor who insisted the news reports about the horrors of ICE and administration’s antipathy for immigrants and people of color was exaggerated and sensationalist because he is acquainted with two families who are immigrants (one “brown”) who are doing fine and realizing what he sees as the “American Dream”. In the past I’ve tried offering a different perspective to him, along with news articles, Substack essays, and reports but his mind is closed. I wouldn’t say he’s a trump supporter but he’s clueless and not willing to participate in anything to even insure that his two immigrant families keep their good fortune.
Thank you Asha, you are star, shining even more brightly for citing Douglas Adams. Little seems to be known publicy about Groff's background. Was there anything in her early life that might have contributed to her conscious or unconscious acceptance or even normalisation of the horrors perpetrated by Epstein et al? As a key member of a staff team she would have been subject to what Zimbardo termed the "Lucifer Effect" (in relation to the Stanford Prison Experiment). Seeing Epstein hobnob easily with the likes of Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor (formally known as Prince) and Peter Mandelson (a Lord of the Realm, also known as the Prince of Darkness) would reinforce the notion of one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us. She might also have experienced Adams' Total Perspective Vortex -feeling insignificant alongside the Great and the (not) Good. (I get that feeling of insignificance when visiting the British Library.) For most ordinary people, learned heplessness is much more common rather than having the agency to pluck up the courage to blow the whistle with a high likelihood of being both unsuccessful and losing one's livelihood.
You nailed my thoughts about her early life. I'd narrow it down to 0-5. That shapes a person for life. The sense of being loved and loving others. To trust. To have secure attachments.
Audrey Hepburn once said something that will always stay in my mind: “I think an animal, especially a dog, is possibly the purest companionship you can have. No person and few children, unless they’re still infants, are as unpremeditated or as undemanding. They only ask to survive—to eat. They are totally dependent on you and therefore completely vulnerable. And this complete vulnerability is what enables you to open your heart completely, which you rarely do to a human being. Except perhaps children.”
What happened to the perpetrators at those ages? What happened to the SEPs then? What happened to the survivors at 0-5 as well?
I, at this point in time, can not remember the source on SubStack. I believe I read that she was abused repeatedly sexually by at least one family member but her family decided she was lying, then she escaped by marrying a man who was extremely abusive, escaped that but then found herself in other situations where she was raped by those promising to help her, etc.
My impression after reading that SubStack? She would have a high ACE psychologically. My apologies for not finding reference.
I’m trying to discern the difference between Groff "arranging schedules and meetings” and the pimps I arrested “arranging schedules and meetings”, and the only real difference I can come up with is for the most part the pimps didn’t pretend they weren’t pimps.
Primo Levi wrote that “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
The world is filled with Lesley Groffs. Before her, not long ago, was Annette Bongiorno, Madoff’s former secretary. At her sentencing hearing she claimed (under oath) “I never figured out the truth. I did what I was told. I didn’t know what was going on.” Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Ms Bongiorno had “willfully blinded herself” to illegal acts and handed down a prison term with demand to forfeit all property and money gained through her work at Madoff Securities, estimated at $16.4m. In finding Ms Bongiorno culpable as an accomplice to her boss’s massive Ponzi scheme, Judge Swain invalidated contrived ignorance as an avoidance of guilt, and delivered a speck of justice to victims (though negligible economic restitution).
Underlying ‘Somebody Else’s Problem’ are two things: (1) Some quasi/semi-awareness that there IS a problem; and (2) it can’t be MY problem.
Outsourcing or externalizing problems is a [fantasy] maneuver to protect the self. But while it sidesteps accountability it is of course, as effective in solving the problem – which is still there – as, say, slathering Ivermectin to cure Covid or blaming vandals or Obama for blooming algae in the Reflecting Pool. It’s an ostrich move. It’s also relational – like fraud – in that it requires others to cooperate.
Willful blindness is ubiquitous. It is a basic, vexing element of the human condition where we ignore, deny, negate and otherwise ‘un-know’ substantial aspects of the world and our lives in it.
All the people who accept other people’s problems enable both the original person’s avoidance AND become involved (complicit) in the preservation of the problem. While unfortunately there’s no all-purpose cure for these basic human tendencies and certainly not at scale, articles like yours – and your focus on complicity -- help: SEP can only be halted by others refusing to take it.
Sometimes change comes first by addressing everyone and everything around the source of the problem.
Thank you, Asha. I can’t imagine Lesley Groff not knowing what was going on. She was Epstein’s assistant for so many years. That sculpture you showed is beyond alarming…
I see the connection you made to the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and the SEP. Talk about willfully ignoring obvious signs of perversion. That Groff is a piece of not really work at all. Active laziness.
SEP? Isn't this the Cloak that constantly surrounds The Donald, because he's not responsible for anything bad, especially all the stuff he Screws Up every day! (Yes, we know, he's spreading Peace around the world - how's that going?) Maybe it's an Immunity cloak thanks to the DOJ. He must still be wearing it because his name only comes up a few Thousand times in the Epstein Files, yet he claims he barely knew him. And we all know The Donald doesn't lie
Thank you for this. I have encountered SEP not in people of power, who are actively complicit, but in ordinary neighbors, acquaintances who I suspect are causing as much damage to our resistance and fight against this fascist kleptocracy by their lack of critical thinking, low information and simplistic rationalization. Case in point: a conversation I had with a self-identified Christian neighbor who insisted the news reports about the horrors of ICE and administration’s antipathy for immigrants and people of color was exaggerated and sensationalist because he is acquainted with two families who are immigrants (one “brown”) who are doing fine and realizing what he sees as the “American Dream”. In the past I’ve tried offering a different perspective to him, along with news articles, Substack essays, and reports but his mind is closed. I wouldn’t say he’s a trump supporter but he’s clueless and not willing to participate in anything to even insure that his two immigrant families keep their good fortune.
Yes for sure the head-in-the-sand people right now are total SEPs
This. So much this!
Thank you Asha, you are star, shining even more brightly for citing Douglas Adams. Little seems to be known publicy about Groff's background. Was there anything in her early life that might have contributed to her conscious or unconscious acceptance or even normalisation of the horrors perpetrated by Epstein et al? As a key member of a staff team she would have been subject to what Zimbardo termed the "Lucifer Effect" (in relation to the Stanford Prison Experiment). Seeing Epstein hobnob easily with the likes of Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor (formally known as Prince) and Peter Mandelson (a Lord of the Realm, also known as the Prince of Darkness) would reinforce the notion of one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us. She might also have experienced Adams' Total Perspective Vortex -feeling insignificant alongside the Great and the (not) Good. (I get that feeling of insignificance when visiting the British Library.) For most ordinary people, learned heplessness is much more common rather than having the agency to pluck up the courage to blow the whistle with a high likelihood of being both unsuccessful and losing one's livelihood.
Not an excuse, but merely a hypothesis.
You nailed my thoughts about her early life. I'd narrow it down to 0-5. That shapes a person for life. The sense of being loved and loving others. To trust. To have secure attachments.
Audrey Hepburn once said something that will always stay in my mind: “I think an animal, especially a dog, is possibly the purest companionship you can have. No person and few children, unless they’re still infants, are as unpremeditated or as undemanding. They only ask to survive—to eat. They are totally dependent on you and therefore completely vulnerable. And this complete vulnerability is what enables you to open your heart completely, which you rarely do to a human being. Except perhaps children.”
What happened to the perpetrators at those ages? What happened to the SEPs then? What happened to the survivors at 0-5 as well?
I, at this point in time, can not remember the source on SubStack. I believe I read that she was abused repeatedly sexually by at least one family member but her family decided she was lying, then she escaped by marrying a man who was extremely abusive, escaped that but then found herself in other situations where she was raped by those promising to help her, etc.
My impression after reading that SubStack? She would have a high ACE psychologically. My apologies for not finding reference.
Thank you Asha for your deep insights: Do not stop.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!! 💜💜💜💜
Thank you. Take care. Given the extreme temperatures about to hit you and others, stay safe.
This is one of your most powerful pieces you’ve ever written.
Thank you Asha.
I’m trying to discern the difference between Groff "arranging schedules and meetings” and the pimps I arrested “arranging schedules and meetings”, and the only real difference I can come up with is for the most part the pimps didn’t pretend they weren’t pimps.
“42.” I still live by Adamsisms in my daily life: My favorite: “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by…”
This is an exceptionally thought provoking and well done piece. Thank you!
Primo Levi wrote that “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
The world is filled with Lesley Groffs. Before her, not long ago, was Annette Bongiorno, Madoff’s former secretary. At her sentencing hearing she claimed (under oath) “I never figured out the truth. I did what I was told. I didn’t know what was going on.” Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Ms Bongiorno had “willfully blinded herself” to illegal acts and handed down a prison term with demand to forfeit all property and money gained through her work at Madoff Securities, estimated at $16.4m. In finding Ms Bongiorno culpable as an accomplice to her boss’s massive Ponzi scheme, Judge Swain invalidated contrived ignorance as an avoidance of guilt, and delivered a speck of justice to victims (though negligible economic restitution).
Underlying ‘Somebody Else’s Problem’ are two things: (1) Some quasi/semi-awareness that there IS a problem; and (2) it can’t be MY problem.
Outsourcing or externalizing problems is a [fantasy] maneuver to protect the self. But while it sidesteps accountability it is of course, as effective in solving the problem – which is still there – as, say, slathering Ivermectin to cure Covid or blaming vandals or Obama for blooming algae in the Reflecting Pool. It’s an ostrich move. It’s also relational – like fraud – in that it requires others to cooperate.
Willful blindness is ubiquitous. It is a basic, vexing element of the human condition where we ignore, deny, negate and otherwise ‘un-know’ substantial aspects of the world and our lives in it.
All the people who accept other people’s problems enable both the original person’s avoidance AND become involved (complicit) in the preservation of the problem. While unfortunately there’s no all-purpose cure for these basic human tendencies and certainly not at scale, articles like yours – and your focus on complicity -- help: SEP can only be halted by others refusing to take it.
Sometimes change comes first by addressing everyone and everything around the source of the problem.
Thank you, Asha. I can’t imagine Lesley Groff not knowing what was going on. She was Epstein’s assistant for so many years. That sculpture you showed is beyond alarming…
Everything / everyone around Epstein was evil and creepy.
I see the connection you made to the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and the SEP. Talk about willfully ignoring obvious signs of perversion. That Groff is a piece of not really work at all. Active laziness.
SEP? Isn't this the Cloak that constantly surrounds The Donald, because he's not responsible for anything bad, especially all the stuff he Screws Up every day! (Yes, we know, he's spreading Peace around the world - how's that going?) Maybe it's an Immunity cloak thanks to the DOJ. He must still be wearing it because his name only comes up a few Thousand times in the Epstein Files, yet he claims he barely knew him. And we all know The Donald doesn't lie
A ghastly account but true.