On sangfroid – Naomi Fry in The New Yorker:

‘On Wednesday afternoon, Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of conspiring with her late partner, Jeffrey Epstein, to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls, during a period spanning from 1994 to 2004. Maxwell, a former socialite and a daughter of the British media mogul Robert Maxwell, who maintained her innocence throughout the trial, was convicted of five of the six charges of which she was accused, and faces up to sixty-five years behind bars. (Judge Alison J. Nathan, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has yet to set a date for her sentencing.) When the jury announced its verdict, Maxwell, who was wearing a black mask and dark clothing, sat very still. According to the Times, she took a sip of water and touched her face briefly, before being ushered out of the courtroom. At no point did she betray any emotion.’

(…)

‘And yet, aside from occasionally consulting with her legal team and taking notes, Maxwell remained sphinxlike throughout the trial, expressing no frailty and certainly no regret. One can only assume that this stance did not win her very many points with the jury.’

(…)

‘She offered the girls money and gifts, such as Victoria’s Secret underwear, in return for them giving Epstein “massages,” which were merely a smoke screen for sexual abuse. One victim, testifying under the pseudonym Jane, told the court that, beginning when she was fourteen, Maxwell not only made her feel more comfortable with the increasingly sexualized atmosphere in Epstein’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, but also actively participated in her abuse. “She, along with others, would just start taking their clothes off,” Jane said. “And Jeffrey would get on the massage table, and it would just, you know, sort of turn into this orgy.”’

(…)

‘A third woman, who testified under her first name, Carolyn, recounted how, starting at the age of fourteen and continuing until she was eighteen, she would come to Epstein’s Palm Beach estate two or three times a week to give him sexualized massages—appointments that were often scheduled by Maxwell, who would then be present to greet Carolyn on her arrival. On one occasion, Maxwell entered the massage room where Carolyn was standing in the nude: “She came in and felt my boobs and my hips and my buttocks and said that . . . I had a great body for Mr. Epstein and his friends,” Carolyn testified. She also said that when she confessed to Maxwell that her own grandfather had begun raping her when she was four years old, this revelation didn’t seem to deter Maxwell and Epstein from continuing to abuse her.’

(…)

‘As I was following the trial, I happened to pick up Émile Zola’s 1871 novel, “The Kill,” in which the decadent Parisian wife of a wealthy speculator sleeps with her stepson. “She ended by believing that she lived in a world above common morality,” Zola wrote. “Sin became a luxury, a flower set in her hair, a diamond fastened on her brow.” Reading these words, I could imagine a similar logic at play for Maxwell.’

Read the article here.

A I wrote before, pedophilia or the appearance of it is the favorite excuse for hatred. You want to hate someone without feeling ashamed of it? Just pick a sexual predator and your banal contempt bordering on ordinary sadism becomes a virtue. At least according to contemporary morals.

Ghislaine Maxwell is not the monster some people try to make of her. And of course, as a friend said over dinner tonight, it’s delightful to hate the daughter of a media mogul. Let’s call it a mutation of class warfare.

Not to mention the absurd accusations that Ms. Maxwell took a sip of water after the verdict instead of eh let’s say asking for forgiveness. Whatever she would have done, in the eyes of the pious community all her gestures would have been proof of her monstrosity. Whatever the witch does it’s all the same: she is the worst witch of the century.

If we haven’t moved beyond the primitive belief that the suffering of our perpetrators or so-called perpetrators is justice we are not ready for democracy and an open, liberal society.

Oh, and what if Naomi Fry would have picked up let’s say ‘Crime and Punishment’ or ‘Madame Bovary’ or God-forbid ‘The 120 days of Sodom.’

Namedropping and a spiteful sermon, disguised as an article for The New Yorker.

But the believers left the church in a good mood after the sermon.