International Does the Epstein scandal make the West look bad?

[The XL]

Bad? No.

It makes the West look like hypocrites for moralizing to 3rd world nations.

How does it not make the West look bad?

 

[panamaican]

Look bad to whom? To our own citizens it does, but for countries outside of the west, most of them have an age of consent of like 12-15, so a bunch of old creeps getting handjobs from 16-18 year olds is just a Tuesday. The age of consent in China is like 14.

That is the reality of it. In most of the world, they wouldn't give 2 shits about this so long as it's consensual. And consensual means the girl agrees or, in some places, the parents agree. But the actions themselves aren't some evil thing to them.

What those people do care about is when the West runs up in their country and wags its fingers saying "You can't do that. You're not a civilized nation if you do that. There's no admission to international governing bodies if you that. Etc., etc."

It's the cultural moralizing that takes a hit. Some dude in Africa or Asia or the Middle East with 2 wives, both of whom he married at 16, isn't going to suddenly change his perspective on his lifestyle choices.

 

[panamaican]

How does it not make the West look bad?

Because most of the world doesn't think these types of things are "bad". We live in a world where, outside of the West, polygamy is legal, child brides are legal. They don't see the actions themselves as inherently bad.

They resent the hypocrisy of the West always telling them to change their cultures because the West knows better. But the people in these Epstein files, while objectionable to me (and others with our cultural values) weren't carrying out the whims of the West. They were doing what men all over the world are doing. So, the gripe will be that the West needs to police itself and leave other people alone.

But here's the thing. The rest of the world has always known the West were hypocrites on this. Sex tourism tends to be people from the West flying to these other people's countries to engage in the sexual behaviors that are legal in the destination country, but not in their country of origin. And everyone in those countries knows it. They know the West is hypocritical, it's just never been put front and center like it is now.