Where Were the Parents?

A question which, as far as I know, has never been asked, let alone answered, in this whole Epstein/Maxwell thing is, “Where were the parents??” I.e., where were the parents of all of these countless minor females who were talked into flying off to some secluded island to “service” the most rich and powerful men on the planet (or, for the B-list types, merely whisked over to one of Epstein's town houses, mansions, or condos in the States)? I mean... especially in the age of “helicopter parenting”... didn't it arouse some suspicion when these kids turned up missing for days or weeks at a time? What, no Amber Alerts? No faces on milk cartons? And were the schools totally apathetic? (I had to ask that last question, even though I suspect I know the answer.)

One might contrast this case with that of Michael Jackson. As far as I know, all of his underage guests were there with the full knowledge and consent of their parents. I can see it now – cocktail hour out on the patio, and “Where's Billy?” “Oh, he's spending the weekend with Michael Jackson at Neverland.” Cue expressions of awe and extreme envy. Sure, there had to have a been a good deal of vicarious glamour involved. But apparently none of them ever caught on, which shows you that glamour can be blinding. And of course there is always the “If only we had known” alibi. Right – sending your pre-teen son off to spend the weekend with a total freakazoid on his private estate is the most normal thing imaginable. What could possibly go wrong?

But in the Epstein case, how many of these parents knew that their daughters were off to parts unknown to do heaven knows what with, or to, powerful men? I can see it now – the kid prances out the front door, Hello Kitty backpack in hand – “Well, I'm off to some island that some woman invited me to, and I'm going to meet all kinds of rich men. It oughta be fun. Toodles, see ya!” So... the parents or legal guardians didn't body-block her and immediately call the police? There is something definitely missing from this picture. One might almost suspect that some of them were in on it. Or maybe they were simply negligent. Or maybe... what? I mean, what can possibly explain all of this? This is the biggest question of all, which is probably why it's never asked.

And Maxwell apparently “recruited” a lot of her, um, young friends by simply driving up to a schoolyard, parking the car, running out, and presenting likely prospects with phone numbers and promising them modeling jobs. I'll bet she wasn't even wearing a trench coat and dark glasses. And not a one of them got suspicious and reported the incident to school officials or parents? I guess they were just too bedazzled. Hey, it could happen. I mean, your average public school is not exactly “glamour central”, and it would be easy enough to lure someone away with promises of money and adventure. But still. The kid goes home that evening with the phone number clutched in her hand and waits for a chance to make the call. Reminds me of the Beatles classic “She's Leaving Home”.

And then what? Presumably most if not all of these youngsters returned home eventually. No questions? Wow. Things must be even worse than anyone thought. Or, maybe they were all “emancipated minors”. Maybe Maxwell had a list, cross-referenced to schools.

Or – was their home life so lousy and dysfunctional that anything else seemed preferable? Think about the statistics for runaways. (There is a nexus here since the modal age for female runaways seems to be 14.) But again, did Maxwell have a list in her hand, with photos? How would she have known who the most unhappy, but nonetheless extremely attractive, girls were? It simply doesn't add up. There was clearly facilitation – massive facilitation – going on all along the line. To imagine that Maxwell acted alone would be like imagining that some Mafia don acted alone; he was just at the top of the pyramid, and so was she (along with Jeff).

At any rate, if the government is serious about this case they might just want to bring some of these “parental units” in for questioning. For every one of these girls there is at least one parent, guardian, or social worker out there. Bring them in! What, are they all hiding out? Are they all in the witness protection program? Otherwise all we have is Ghislaine, whose life expectancy is about on par with that pesky housefly that's buzzing around my computer screen.

The conventional wisdom was that once Epstein was gone, the cause was lost, but then Maxwell turned up and revived people's hopes – but perhaps all in vain; we shall see.