The Epstein affair should be separated in to the "pedophilia - prostitution - trafficking" part and in to the secret services part. I put pedophilia - prostitution - trafficking in quotes because it's a very complicated discussion. The "pedophilia - prostitution - trafficking" was what brought Epstein into the spotlight and made people interested about him but the most important part is how secret services operate and how close they are with companies and money making.
No. The rape, sodomizing and even murder of children by a group of Satanists who sit above the law and control governments is what is most important. Anyone who tries to diminish that or claim otherwise is, to me, normalizing pedophilia and other Satanic behavior.
Concept of pedophilia:
In my mind and I believe in most people's minds pedophilia is when an adult is sexually attracted to children. The vast majority of people will agree that an 8yo or 10yo or 12 yo is child but above 13yo we start to go into a gray area. Some girls that have early puberty (girls enter puberty earlier than boys) are not children by 14yo and some other that have late puberty can be biologically children at 16-17yo. On top of that there is the age difference of the couple. If one is 20-22yo and the other is 16yo I think that most people will not find anything objectionable but if one is 60yo and the other 18yo then many will find it at least weird.
You'd be in the minority. You're joining the club of Michael Tracey, Nick Fuentes, and probably all the people who engaged in this behavior by trying to determine fault through age. If that is the company you want to keep, go ahead. But remember, these victims were raped. Children were trafficked and compelled to engage in sexual activities against their will. Some of the were murdered. You can claim otherwise but the evidence is very strong that you are wrong. Trying to determine whether that's okay by whether the victim was 12 years old or 15 years old is completely missing the point. It is also engaging in normalization of pedophilia. That is pathological thinking.
Law:
It's impossible for a law to take individually into account all the biological parameters to distinguish if a person is a child or not. The law has to put a line when childhood ends. In UK the law says that if an adult engages in sexual activity with a person that is 16yo minus 1 hour then he/she is a criminal, a pedophile and a rapist because a 16yo minus 1hr cannot consent. If the person is 16yo plus 1hr then there is no crime. Two hours difference can have life changing consequences. In the same country (UK) If a person sleeps with 18yo minus 1 hour and pays him/her then it's a crime but if he doesn't pay then everything is legal. If a person is for example 22yo and has a sexual relationship with a 17.5 yo then there is no crime but if the police finds the 22yo to be in a possession of pictures of sexual nature of the 17.5yo then he can be guilty of possession of child pornography.
If an adult travels for example in Turkey and he/she sleeps with an 18yo minus 1 hour it's a crime but if he sleeps with an 18yo plus 1 hour then no crime is committed. On the other hand if someone is in Italy and he/she sleeps with a 14yo minus 1 hr he commits a crime but if the person is 14yo plus 1hr no crime has been committed. Different countries have different laws and laws are very complex.
Unnecessarily nitpicking and besides the point. These examples have nothing to do with victims in the Epstein files. Those are the laws that the people of each country saw fit to enact based on what they considered to be morally acceptable.
Law on trafficking in USA:
If for example a person lives in S. Carolina and arranges for a taxi to take a prostitute from a city that is only 5km away from him but happens to be in N. Carolina (another state) then this is considered trafficking but if he arranges for a taxi to take a prostitute from a city that is 100km away but happens to be in the same state no crime has been committed.
Unnecessarily nitpicking and besides the point. These examples have nothing to do with victims in the Epstein files. Those are the laws that the people of each country saw fit to enact based on what they considered to be morally acceptable.
Was Epstein a pedophile?
Epstein was interested in girls that were above 14yo although it would not surprise me if he slept with younger than that.
Others have tried to make that point. The release of photos of young children in the Epstein files show that claim is wholly untrue. I have no idea why you would even attempt to make this argument, unless you want to normalize Epstein's behavior and are clueless about the facts surrounding this whole fiasco. Have you even looked into Pizzagate?
Legally this can be considered pedophilia in some countries but not in others. What matters is what the laws in his state were and on this ground he is guilty. His first conviction was about abusing (not having sex) a girl that was 14yo. He payed her to massage him and probably he exposed him or something similar. His second incarceration was about trafficking because he flew girls to his island in a different state. He didn't force anyone to travel there and the girls were payed a lot (I think Giuffrey was payed $15,000) but on the other hand laws are laws.
I believe that what matters in the whole affair is how secret services function and how businesses close to them are making money. The sex scandal was what brought this to light.
Why anyone would try to defend Epstein is beyond me. Most well-adjusted humans understand the absolute cruelty and evil that is involved in this case. Trying to lessen that by claiming he "only" got a massage or exposed himself is absurd and goes against all the testimony of the victims. Have you read Virginia Guiffre's claims? He didn't force anyone to go there? This is an absurd and cruel statement to make of all the things to say about this horrible tragedy. Imagine if your sister or daughter or son were one of the victims and you said to them, well he just abused you and exposed himself what's the big deal? People who think like that are lost souls. You either need to get right with God or go back to your masters and tell them you failed at your mission here.