Funny Epstein Didnt Kill Himself Memes
The phrase "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" is all over social media. Why does it keep making the rounds? Credit: bob al-greene / Mashable
Zoomers on TikTok, establish hobbyist meme accounts, and Fox News guests have little in mutual. Only they all declare the same rallying cry: Jeffrey Epstein didn't impale himself.
Whether a macro image or a curt video, the meme more or less follows the same format. It starts out by either list mundane facts near a natural miracle, or with a brusk skit that hooks the audience with catchy audio. When information technology has your attention, it hits you with the phrases "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" or "Jeffrey Epstein was murdered."
"It's blunt. Subtlety is not a office of this meme," Don Caldwell, editor in master of Know Your Meme said in a phone interview with Mashable. "It's nigh slapping you lot in the face up with this theory."
The fact that this meme is and then popular sheds a light on how many people may believe that the elite billionaire grade is decision-making current events backside the scenes, protecting themselves at the expense of the greater public. And how practice we deal with believing that these insidious puppeteers keep ordinary people out of the know? Nosotros brand memes.
Epstein was plant dead in his jail cell in Baronial, where he was awaiting trial after being charged with federal sexual activity trafficking charges. Dr. Barbara Sampson, the chief medical examiner in New York City, adamant Epstein died by suicide and described his death every bit a "hanging" in a statement released vi days after his death.
All the same, some are still reluctant to believe the official coroner's written report. Later on a individual pathologist hired past Epstein'south blood brother claimed his autopsy "points to homicide," Sampson doubled down on her original assessment. Some of the footage from his prison cell is unusable, simply the extent of usable footage is unknown. The guards who were tasked with watching him were allegedly asleep when he died.
The memes began trending in full force last week after a video of ABC news anchor Amy Robach ranting nearly the network killing an interview with an Epstein accuser leaked. Caught on a hot mic, Robach said she spent three years trying to get an interview with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was trafficked into having sex with Prince Andrew. Robach as well said that ABC shelved the story when the royal family threatened them "a million different ways."
Prosecutors accused Epstein, who was a wealthy hedge fund manager, of trafficking dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005. Some were as young as fourteen years old. Epstein's social circle in the past included former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, and in 2002, Donald Trump described him as a "terrific guy" to New York Magazine. Epstein was a convicted sex offender, and had a long history of allegations.
Epstein's abrupt death and connections to the wealthy and influential immediately sparked conspiracy theories that the elite had orchestrated his death to prevent him from implicating more powerful figures. The theories cross party lines and have been pushed by conservatives who want to see the Clintons taken down, and liberals who want Trump'due south administration held accountable. Alex Acosta, Trump'southward former labor secretary, oversaw a 2008 deal that protected Epstein from federal prosecution. Instead of serving a harsher sentence, the lenient bargain cut under Acosta'southward picket allowed Epstein to serve 13 months of prison house time while notwithstanding existence able to leave the facility and piece of work in his office during the twenty-four hour period.
These theories are far from fringe — fifty-fifty New York Urban center Mayor Nib De Blasio is skeptical of the coroner's report. He told reporters "something doesn't fit" during an unrelated press conference in October. A Fox News guest who was talking most the viral classified dog blurted "Epstein didn't kill himself" at the stop of his live segment. Paul Gosar, a Republican Congressman representing Arizona, used the meme to promote pro-Trump letters during the impeachment hearings on Wednesday.
Conspiracy theories are congenital into the framework of American politics; people have always been suspicious of those in power. Add together sex, money, and a mysterious death into the mix, and yous take all the right ingredients to fuel uncertainty.
"With Epstein it'south rationalizing wide populism with the concern that billionaires have so much coin, [and] the feeling that rich people command all the levers of political ability," University of Chicago political scientific discipline professor Eric Oliver said in a telephone interview.
Oliver studies conspiracy theories, and in a nationally representative survey he conducted last week, he found that 50 pct of respondents said they thought Epstein "killed himself while left alone in his jail cell," 43 percent indicated they idea he was "murdered by powerful people agape that he would expose their ain crimes," and 7 pct endorsed neither caption.
Another survey conducted in Baronial by the Emerson College Polling Society concluded that 34 percent of Americans believed Epstein was murdered and 32 per centum were still "unsure." Neither survey took memes into account, only both conclude that a sizable, and growing percent of Americans believe Epstein didn't kill himself.
"He sort of symbolizes the degradation and the depravity of the billionaire class," Oliver theorized. "His 'murder' also shows what this class is willing to do to protect itself."
Oliver notes that conspiracy theories aren't new — they even fueled the founding of the Anti-Masonic party in the 1800s, a third party that opposed the Freemasons and whose supporters believed the hush-hush society was murdering those who spoke out against them. The way social media allows these theories to spread, though, is relatively new.
When Oliver first began studying conspiracy theories in the 1990s, he said they were spread by guys wearing tin foil hats and passing out pamphlets on the street. With the internet, speculation can exist spread with simply a click. Memes are ripe for disseminating wild rumors, because they play on being included in shared thinking, whether you're in on the joke or in on assertive in a shadow ruling form puppeteering democracy.
"A large number of people experience like their interests aren't being accounted for, and conspiracy narratives rationalize and validate that sense of disempowerment," Oliver said. "Donald Trump is our president... what else practice you need to say at this point?"
Although these memes may appear lighthearted, they're indicative of a widespread sense of helplessness. No matter how politically active you may be, how much of a sway tin can your vote really take if an elite billionaire grade has the power? Joking about it is a small comfort in an otherwise dour political landscape.
"I think it says a lot about how deep corruption in politics is and only how much control these evil groups of people have on the operations of merely about everything," higher student Alexander Ruiztagle said in an Instagram DM. "Nosotros as a society have no other way of dealing with just how horrific this situation is other than to make it a meme."
Ruiztagle noticed the Epstein meme taking off on Instagram and Reddit, and translated it to TikTok in a video that made information technology onto the app'due south elusive For Y'all Page concluding calendar week. He pantomimes singing the opening bars to Neon Trees' 2012 song "Everybody Talks," and when the song builds up to the lead vocalist clearing his throat, Ruiztagle tossed in his ain voiceover: "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself."
"Our generation has go so accustomed to memes that it transcends jokes and it'due south go a form of expressing our emotions in a way that's more effective than plain text," he continued, adding that it's easier to have living in such a dark reality by dealing with it through a more digestible format like memes.
While this particular meme may aid some people cope with their feelings of powerlessness, its viral spread has besides had an unintended upshot: forcing an unknown number of survivors grapple with the trauma of seeing their abuser go a joke.
Whether or not this particular conspiracy theory has really swayed anyone'due south opinion isn't clear. Both Oliver and Caldwell question whether the general public really believes Epstein's death was part of some nefarious cover upwardly. Surveys about this topic may always be flawed because of the meme'due south popularity.
Caldwell pointed out that while some conspiracy theories, like QAnon and Pizzagate had genuine supporters and ended in real globe consequences, many are satire. Memes like "Birds aren't real" claim the government eradicated all birds during the Cold War, and replaced them with surveillance drones. The phrase "the bird work for the bourgeoisie" is a popular audio prune on TikTok.
In 2016, a 22-year-one-time Redditor's comment virtually his parents telling him Republic of finland doesn't exist inspired a meme that became a parody of all conspiracy theories. The phrases "Bush did nine/11" and "Jet fuel tin can't melt steel beams" appointment back to when memes were just Bear on font superimposed on images.
Conspiracies have also dominated internet culture this year, from Shane Dawson'south YouTube docu-series nigh conspiracy theories — and subsequent themed "Conspiracy Collection" makeup line — to the "Raid Surface area 51: They Can't Stop All Of United states of america" Facebook event that became an actual music festival based off the belief that the government is hiding proof of alien life.
Net culture laid the perfect foundation for Epstein'south death to have off equally a meme. It but needed a phrase that could be repeated then easily and oftentimes that it lost any meaning pregnant.
A phrase like "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself."
"When you're memeing it, you can also have plausible deniability well-nigh whether you actually believe it," Caldwell said. "This is definitely a genre of memes that isn't going away anytime shortly."
Regardless of whether or not anyone actually believes that Epstein's death was organized past shadowy elites, it isn't the first and likely won't exist the final conspiracy theory to go viral. A blend of distrust in the system, a universal sense of helplessness, and plenty of absurdist sense of humour makes sure of that.
If yous want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. For international resources, this list is a good place to starting time.
If you have experienced sexual abuse, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-Hope (4673), or admission the 24-7 help online past visiting online.rainn.org.
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Source: https://mashable.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-conspiracy-memes
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