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> I don't get it. This is one of those things where somebody noticed that things just didn't seem right and the proper response to that is to raise concern and
by crispyambulance 7y ago
> I don't get it.
This is one of those things where somebody noticed that things just didn't seem right and the proper response to that is to raise concern and ask questions.
Sorry, but a 60-something "finance" guy with an entourage of teen models doesn't add up. Sure some of these people have trophy wives half their age, and it raises eyebrows, but this is far beyond that and totally unacceptable once somebody looks into this guy's history.
At a minimum Ito should have used better judgement after being altered to this stuff.
- ryanlol 7y ago>Sorry, but a 60-something "finance" guy with an entourage of teen models doesn't add up Honestly, it sounds like you just don’t go out very much.
- liability 7y agoIf this sort of scenario seems normal to you, maybe you live in the wrong neighborhood. I see a lot of shit when I go outside, but old geezers with entourages of very young eastern european women is not something I can claim to have witnessed.
- ryanlol 7y agoEpstein could’ve passed for someone in their 40s, hardly a geezer. An entourage of eastern european women? You just need to order a bottle.
- nf8nnfufuu 7y agoVery rich people are not that common in general, perhaps?
- ethbro 7y agoMay I suggest a trip to Miami?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chirau 7y agoYou probably have not spent time in Midtown, UES, UWS, Chelsea, West Village, SoHo and TriBeCa in Manhattan, or Vegas, or LA, or Miami. I live in Manhattan and see this at every upscale establishment I go to. The old dude-young lady combos are everywhere in these places, part of the normal.
- liability 7y agoOld dude with a single young lady (possibly daughter or grand daughter) is something I've certainly seen. But a veritable entourage of young women? That's something I can't say I've seen. If that is common in those locations, I'll be avoiding them.
- crispyambulance 7y agoWell, I guess I am not cool enough to go to places where I can see old-guy billionaires with teen models from Eastern Europe in tow.
- wheels 7y agoReally? My wife and I see it often enough that we've even labeled it: "the wife or daughter game". You observe such a constellation and try to figure out which one it is. Less often the answer is "escort".
- mulmen 7y agoHow do you validate your assumptions to ensure your mental model is correct?
- wheels 7y agoDifferent levels of physical affection often make it clear. Put another way: you can't always rule out wife. You can often rule out daughter. But we also don't particularly care about being accurate all the time.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- prepend 7y agoI play this game as well but call it “daughter or prostitute.” It’s pretty common to see old dudes with young women. I’ve rarely been able to actually find the answer. The few times I’ve gone to fancy resorts or expensive areas, I’ve always seen couples like this. Only a few times did I see more than one woman. I worked for a ceo once who always had a much younger (25 vs 65) assistant in the building. I don’t think I would change my behavior if some rich guy had two models in tow for business meetings. I might assume they are prostitutes, but as long as they aren’t children I don’t know what action I would take.
- testis321 7y ago> Sorry, but a 60-something "finance" guy with an entourage of teen models doesn't add up. The only problematic thing here is the age of those models. Otherwise, rich people like that are often surrounded with girls of questionable morals and intentions, who do stuff and in return get stuff (some would call it prostitution, some would imply that prostitution had an agreement done in advance...). In some poorer countries, just an expensive car and willingness to pay expensive drinks can get you a table full of such girls.
- jacobolus 7y agoYes, in places where there is an extreme power imbalance, with few employment opportunities for the disadvantaged, and no morals or accountability among elites, all manner of scummy things happen. We should strive to ameliorate the conditions in the world that make this happen, so that young women can aspire to being scientists or doctors or businesswomen, instead of some corrupt asshole’s decorative servants.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- matt-attack 7y agoIt's this type of attitude that makes most on the right cringe at the left. The notion that if someone isn't living their life in a way that you deem to be of value, then there must be a "power imbalance" that needs to be corrected. Has it occurred to you that not everyone wants to be a doctor, or "businesswoman". And that many young women actually like sex and furthermore like using their sexuality to get things in return? Has it occurred to you that there's nothing wrong with that? It doesn't have to be a "power imbalance". When I buy an orange at the grocery store is that a power imbalance? Should that grocer find a better job by your estimation? Should he have been a doctor? Does he need your "saving"? If a young woman wants to follow a man to meetings, live in his mansion, have sex, and look beautiful at all times, and in exchange gets what she considers fair compensation, then what exactly is the problem? It's an exchange of goods and services on the open market. It does not imply a "power imbalance".
- oh_sigh 7y ago"teen" is a big range. If they were 14 - then that is a problem. If they're 19 then I don't really see why I or anyone else should care. In fact, it seems like one would be attempting to remove autonomy from these women if you tried to prevent an adult from serving as an assistant "for their own good" because you're creeped out by the employer.
- codysan 7y agoHuman trafficking is illegal regardless of age. That’s why people would or should care. No one is talking about firing assistants besides you.
- googlryas 7y agoClearly it is - I don't know why you would think I implied otherwise. My point is that maybe you have a hunch they are trafficked, but it is a logical leap to simply state it as a fact that they are trafficked.
- liability 7y agoI'm confused. Are you and oh_sigh the same person?
- googlryas 7y agoYes - sorry. I had one logged in on my laptop and one on my phone which I switched to. I initially created this secondary account to talk to some other poster about hiring advice at my company without linking it to other autobiographic details I've possibly posted on my other account in the past, but have since unfortunately muddled the two in a big OPSEC fail(don't worry - I'm not in cybersecurity).
- ryacko 7y agoYour not behind ryanlol too, are you? Strange arguments from people with weak hamming distances to my first name.
- tomp 7y agoShe’s getting money, he’s getting ... something. (sex? youthful energy? sight of beauty?) As long as it’s legal, it’s a fair exchange. Or do you object to young women (and otherwise beautiful men and women) acting in movies and things like Victoria’s Secret shows as well (well, you could object on the “encouraging body image problems” angle but that’s orthogonal).
- crispyambulance 7y agoThe fact that some of the women in the lab suspected a human-trafficing situation and try to get the girls to open up about it makes NOT LIKE a scenario where some guy merely has a penchant for younger girl-friends. And anyway, if it were some kind of "fair exchange", WTF is going through his mind to bring that "entourage" to a place like the media lab. It sounds like a script to a Sacha Baron Cohen film.
- topmonk 7y agoWhy? What makes you hold these women up as such good judges of character? It sounds like it could be just typical office gossip/jealousy to me.
- PaulHoule 7y agoIt is not so unusual to have a trophy wife, it is the trophy harem that goes against Western culture. Also it is highly unusual for somebody to show up at an academic event with even a trophy wife in tow. As for the VS fashion show you do know that Epstein had some kind of hold on the CEO of their parent company, he harassed women under the pretense he was a talent scout for them and plausibly could have abused the models.
- dang 7y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20906116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20906116.