Well, there is not much that can be done now about Robert (dead) or Ghislaine (locked up). You’re better informed about Epstein than I was. As for the refugees thanking Robert, has anyone asked them? They were kids, it was decades ago, etc., but probably some of them are still around and would remember. I don’t see how “Robert abused Ghislaine” implicates Ghislaine and if anything seems like something she could have used in a plea for lighter sentencing. I don’t know what parentification is but yeah it’s well known that Ghislaine was Robert’s favorite. I read some of the news coverage when the story was all over the press, but don’t know any more than what little I remember from that.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I mean, their victims deserve justice. The families of the victims deserve to know what happened if that is something that happened. Kinda absolutely wild that you are saying, “So what if they trafficked people?” Lol. Kinda matters.
If you would like, please go ahead and try to find them and ask them. Thanks for suggesting that on your part, seems natural you should be the one to do it since you suggested it.
I was looking for the term “emotional incest” and not “parentification” earlier, two very very closely related concepts. Basically, it means he made his kid his wife. Often this is done before physical incest occurs. As someone who speaks with survivors a bit, Robert Maxwell’s relationship with Ghilsaine does seem incestuous and likely sexual given Ghilsaine’s later involvement with raping minors. Showing “favoritism” like that is a pretty big sign because she’s not a favorite, she’s his wife.
Abuse victims have 2 choices when faced with their abuse: agree or disagree. The vast majority of abuse victims disagree with their abuse and do not go on to perpetuate it. However, I do not think Ghilsaine was one of them, clearly.
Yes, she did try to use “I was abused,” as sympathy for her sentencing, that’s in the linked articles in the OP. It doesn’t excuse her actions over decades and as a 50 year old.
Thank you for sharing what you remember. If you see the title of this thread, my question wasn’t asking if you personally felt like this was true. It was asking if anyone had more sources about this aspect of Robert Maxwell’s life so I can read more info about these people he supposedly helped.
solrize@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Oh I see, I didn’t realize what you were getting at about the kids on the airplane. No I didn’t see any indication that Robert “trafficked” them, so I took the news story at face value.
As for the title of the thread, it sounded to me like you were skeptical of the news reports you linked to, so I responded that they seemed consistent with other stuff I had seen.
As for your suspicions about the kids on the plane, and about Robert/Ghislaine, it all sounds pretty speculative. Of course almost anything is scientifically possible, and you’re probably better than I am about reading past surfaces about this type of stuff. But, without actual evidence, it doesn’t seem like something to discuss in public. If you think there is something to go on, it’s probably better to relay your info to investigators. They might want it since I believe Ghislaine still has court cases in progress…
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Ah sure, I can see the comedy of errors there
I was actually nearly kidnapped as a child in the 90s and have tried to contact investigators with tips previously to cases I believe are related - …m.wikipedia.org/…/Disappearance_of_Morgan_Nick
Afaik, they never followed up on my lead and at the time I was unable to contact her mother and idk if it’s ethical really for me to contact the family vs investigators.
I will say public analysis of crimes tends to be done well. I’m not talking about reddit and the Boston bomber. I’m talking about the Don’t Fuck With Cats people, and the people in Portland who forced PPB to investigate a serial killer after 5 women showed up dead - they initially said no, it’s unrelated, and then caught Jesse Calhoun. I’m talking about the retired investigators and volunteers who work missing persons/jane doe cases in their spare time in dedicated forums to help identify dead people (I used to volunteer for these programs until my dreams were haunted with dead faces).
It helps a LOT to get public awareness if you want police to do their jobs.