Beyond the list: Epstein's spectacle obscures America's systemic stain

Editor's note: Yuan Jiayi is a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Out of sight, out of mind? Refocusing a blurred public discourse

The recent release of the U.S. Department of Justice's Epstein files, spanning millions of documents, should have served as an X-ray to examine the U.S. power structures. However, their circulation on social media, which rapidly devolved into a digital voyeurism, paints a worrying picture. Among the most viral posts under the hashtag #EpsteinFiles on X are those that, apart from expressing outrage, guessing, mocking, or doxing celebrities, drown out serious reflections on political protection and regulatory loopholes.

The DOJ's "Epstein Library" grants easy access. Visitors need only click "yes" to confirm they are "18 years of age or older" before being allowed entry into the deceased sex offender's email inbox. The files are keyword-searchable and seemingly open to public scrutiny. In theory, anyone can contribute to the collective analysis of the abundant clues of photos, emails and timelines.

In practice, however, the discourse has been crammed with gossip fixating on celebrity names, salacious details and sexual exploits. The algorithmic stream of social media platforms exacerbates the Epstein spectacle, diverting public attention to the consumption of "bad apples" rather than to the examination of the "bad soil" that breeds rotten fruit.

This imbalance of attention operates as a political fig-leaf, obscuring the questions that really matter: What underlies the infamous scandals, enabling impunity to survive and thrive? And why should ordinary onlookers redirect their focus to sustained inquiry into systemic issues?

After all, this kind of "defocus" is not novel. It reflects the long-standing collusion between scandal-driven media economics and the American political ecosystem. Reviewing major American political scandals over the past three decades, from "Zippergate" to "Emailgate," public attention has consistently been skillfully steered toward digestible morality plays, while the institutional decay escaped sustained scrutiny. Pressure from the "Fourth Estate" is presented, but power elites remain intact. Instead of spurring systemic change, the superficial exposure in the name of "democracy" reinforces and reproduces the existing power structure. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the familiar Clintons once again hover near the "Epstein list," weathered yet unscathed.

Shed light on the wood: On the 'privilege list,' off the 'kill line'

The Epstein case reveals that social and financial capital outweigh legal and ethical responsibility within the American upper class, but it belongs to only one side of the coin. Apart from the privileged, there's a far larger population confronting economic precarity due to structural pressures.

Closely related is the "ALICE threshold" (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), the minimum income required for individuals or families to afford basic necessities. According to the 2025 report released by United For ALICE, the share of U.S. households below this threshold remains unchanged at over 40 percent. For numerous Americans, even minor disruptions such as a sudden medical bill risk pushing them over the "kill line," as the popular metaphor vocally depicts.

This is more of a policy choice than a policy failure. Decades of lobbying by pharmaceutical and insurance interest groups have obstructed the development of a universal social safety net, creating a profiteering market exploiting the underprivileged. The rich benefit from tax refunds as stipulated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which leaves low-income families behind. American society operates a system in which rules serve profit rather than justice, and capital is prioritized over humane care. The same logic allowed Epstein to walk away unscathed via a non-prosecution agreement. Those at the top are sheltered, the underclass filtered.

One cannot see the wood for the trees. The names on the Epstein list, as well as the faces blurred by statistics below the "kill line," together shed light on the persisting landscape: a society that places capital and privilege above all, granting the haves the freedom of distorting the law while tolerating the have-nots' fall. And that is exactly how the overall "equilibrium" is maintained. Power and resources are concentrated upward at the expense of downwardly distributed deprivation.

Critical attention as resistance: Made-in-America scandals to be continued

Therefore, it is prudent for American society to be vigilant about institutional defects. The privilege list is not a closed circle. Rather, it drags the underprivileged into the mire. If the public is misled into mere satisfaction with the individually disgraced spectacle, the systemic stain risks contaminating the broader society in one way or another.

History does not automatically turn because of a declassified document. Only when collective scrutiny moves beyond names on a list to the underlying structures can spectators become potential agents of change. Otherwise, the same defocus is doomed to replay itself. The Epstein case will not be the last episode of the scandal series of American exceptionalism.

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