You’re right, of course, that the billionaires’ all-encompassing power—especially through digital media—makes public resistance very difficult, but I don’t think that such blatant corruption, as the U.S. regime practices it so shamelessly and, above all, so openly, would be tolerated in my home country (Germany). I mean, this is literally organized crime on a scale that’s almost beyond belief.

Corruption exists everywhere, but such blatant criminality in public office seems to me possible on this absurd scale only in the land of superlatives.

I can't understand how this can be tolerated, especially since it has such negative consequences for the population.

The fact that U.S. authorities are actively covering up the crimes of what appear to be numerous and influential co-conspirators—by unlawfully redacting documents and withholding material they are required to release—is likely a factor. The fact that U.S. law enforcement agencies refuse to investigate this case for the same reason is another factor.

Consequently, there have been no new developments, since it is clear that the investigation has effectively been suspended, even though the case is obviously far from closed.

This in itself is, of course, a scandal that in any reasonably functioning country would inevitably lead to the government's downfall.

But as many have already said, the media isn’t reporting on this because there is essentially no free press left in the U.S.

However, I simply cannot comprehend the fact that U.S. citizens have apparently resigned themselves to the fact that their system is so obviously corrupt that it not only fails to prevent the most serious crimes but actually enables them in the first place. To me, it is absolutely inexplicable that the current regime remains in office despite its obvious criminality and is not forced to resign through mass civil disobedience.

This regime and its network of oligarchs behind it are the reason why the most serious crimes, including those committed by Epstein’s accomplices, go unpunished.

In short: There is no longer any reporting on Epstein and his network because high-ranking members of the U.S. government are quite obviously involved themselves and are therefore doing everything in their power to suppress coverage. This, however, is only possible because U.S. citizens are not holding them accountable.

That's frightening, but unfortunately it's the reality.

I'd say it's the consequence of a lack of consequences.

I am firmly convinced that most of the problems facing humanity can be traced directly back to billionaires like him.

It’s quite simple: you can only become that rich if you are an utterly inhuman, unscrupulous monster. Unfortunately, it is precisely these monsters who rule the world, and they have created systems that require you to be a monster in order to succeed.

I’ve had many positive interactions with other users on Lemmy and piefed—across various communities.

I really appreciate the Fediverse, but unfortunately I’m also familiar with the phenomenon where people go along with the majority and downvote comments or posts just because the opinion expressed doesn’t match their own.

I think the developers of reddit clones like Lemmy should change the system so that downvotes are only available to users who have already contributed helpful posts or comments.

The requirements for this should be left to the community.

In my opinion, this would significantly reduce the burdensome negativity of apps of this kind, and the discussions would be better. This is all the more true in the Fediverse, since it is much easier here to create multiple accounts to influence the discourse.

It would likely also prevent the inevitable misunderstanding that downvotes on reddit clones like Lemmy are not intended to express disapproval, but rather to flag a post or comment that are unhelpful, nonsensical, offensive, deceptive, or malicious—in short, not conducive to the discussion.

If you feel that way, social media is no different at all from what legacy media used to be. The only difference is that you don’t want to pay for that content and take all of that for granted.

That in no way contradicts what I’m saying: People don’t want to be confronted with reality.

The problem with that, however, is that burying their heads in the sand instead of joining forces to change the situation doesn’t help anyone—it actually hurts anyone.

An excellent example of what happens when people don’t band together to put a stop to those who harm everyone out of ruthless self-interest is the U.S.

It is simply wrong to resign oneself to injustice. People can change things together—there are more than enough examples of this in history.

To say, “That’s just the way it is,” is the worst thing you can do, because that is exactly what the powerful of this world want—and they want it because they are so vastly outnumbered.

I say this myself above, and unfortunately, it’s because I’ve pretty much given up hope— because even on the most niche platforms, you’re still confronted with people’s hedonism.

Well, I would say that it is an insurmountable systemic problem if the system allows—or rather, explicitly provides for—the idea that those who don’t have enough money are not entitled to justice. This contradicts the fundamental principle of any democratic state governed by the rule of law. And that is precisely the starting point of Ben’s videos: someone is clearly being robbed, but cannot defend themselves because they have less money than the criminal.

This fact alone shows how absurd the U.S. system is—and that’s just the beginning of the first video. Everything that follows is the reality of this system, which allows—or rather, makes it a logical consequence—that the U.S. president is the person he is.

This is not due to tribal affiliation or the like. It is the result of a constitution written by large landowners for a country where slavery was legal. By the way, in case you didn’t know: The U.S. Constitution is the hardest to amend of all the democratic countries in the world. That is why it is also the least-amended democratic constitution in the world. In other words: It continues to cement the conditions of 250 years ago to this day. What U.S. citizens are experiencing today is merely the consequence of that.

Added to this is just how corrupt the legal system and the executive branches are.

All in all, this results in a state of injustice, which should be perfectly obvious to everyone today. I mean, the U.S. president is obviously more of a mafia godfather than anything that could still be called a politician with a mandate to represent some interests, let alone the people.

This country is an oligarchy that has as little to do with democracy as Russia does.

Ben’s video demonstrates this in a way that should make it quite obvious to everyone. This is not the exception, it is the rule.

Well, unfortunately, that’s just the way it is. If people would sacrifice their own entertainment just a few times for the greater good, organizations like FIFA wouldn’t exist. Unfortunately, though, they don’t—not even when it comes to things as utterly dispensable as sporting events. The result is the world we live in today.

Edit: On a smaller scale, you can actually observe this effect even on Lemmy as well: just look at how many large communities have imposed the absurd “no politics” rule on themselves. Obviously, this rule is so broadly defined that it opens the door to arbitrary censorship and can only lead to arbitrariness, since there is nothing that isn’t political in one way or another. Yet people insist they don’t want to be confronted with reality—not on showerthoughts, not on asklemmy, and not on many other communities. They then say, “Post in a political community,” meaning somewhere where no one will see it. That’s just how the world is, that’s how the majority of people are, and that’s why we have to live the way we do.

Sorry for the rant.

The only soccer team I'm a real fan of is the Fuck Fifa Team.

As a European, I find Reckless Ben’s “Lego Scandal” videos quite revealing, because they illustrate very well—albeit on a smaller scale—just how utterly corrupt the U.S. system really is. It’s obviously the same on a larger scale, though the corruption and the outrageous injustice are carried out using the same utterly mindless methods—by truly mindless people whose only distinguishing feature is that they are so incredibly unscrupulous and selfish.

If you haven’t seen the Ben's Lego videos yet, check em out. They really do a great job of showing how the world works in the US.

Edit: Just to be clear: Some of Ben’s methods are certainly questionable, and some things are misrepresented for the sake of production value. Nevertheless, the videos are very compelling and entertaining, even though it’s frightening just how irreparably broken the U.S. system is.

Thank you very muc! I’m not really into jazz, but even I know these songs. It just goes to show how timeless they are—and how well-known they are, even among people who don’t know the first thing about jazz.