Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "Dr. Todd Grande"
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I couldn’t watch the whole thing. I copped out, just after his son testified. Too heartbreaking . . . O’Neil was emulating a pastor, giving a fire and brimstone sermon, in an evangelical church. He seemed to believe he would, “convert,” members of the jury, perhaps in a manner that he’s witnessed growing up? Pure speculation, of course, but I would be fascinated to ask him if he’d ever witnessed a big, “come to Jesus,” conversion, at a church service? He did himself a great disservice, but genuinely didn’t seem to comprehend that he was alienating the jurors in every conceivable way. Did he know his guilty verdict was beyond question? He’s obviously not well and a danger to the public. But what interests me is where those pastor style influences came from?
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Sadly, history is littered with bordello madams who have acted as procurers for wealthy scumbags. Women have only barely known equality with men, historically speaking, and still aren’t quite there yet, so they have traditionally fulfilled such roles as a way to equalise the scales in their own life.
But, Maxwell’s case is rather unique in that her father (probably) committed suicide when he was exposed in the giant pensions fraud, in which his daughter was only at the edges of in terms of liability. The abject and frequent abuse of his power as a corrupt media mogul and thief was a prototype model for the types of problems the world is having with Rupert Murdoch and Donald trump today. She was brought up by that man, with zero morals and a reputation for sexual exploitation, litigious revenge, smearing people in the best selling papers he owned and, having spent all the pensions of the entire staff who worked at his rags, took out his yacht, never to be seen again. His yacht was found, but his body was never recovered. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover he was in Epstein’s cellar for a further 20 years.
Epstein helped Maxwell’s daughter out of her liability for millions of pounds, and she became his madam. That’s a story as old as prostitution itself. Many great female figures have been maligned to look like whores by the men who wrote their histories, but Gislaine Maxwell was and is the real deal. I’m only surprised that you’re surprised.
There are far more female sexual predators than the statistics show. When I was a social worker, there was nearly always a responsible female figure who at least knew what was happening, when a man paid the price for his crimes. I was always glad when the man was convicted and punished. But, the women were rarely even arrested, let alone prosecuted. And some were very good at lapsing into playing the role of, “victim,” for which they would usually get support from the actual victim, being as how they were usually their daughter or son and confused.
The world is Dracula Black if you’re willing to look. And you cannot unsee what you’ve witnessed. I live with that, and the bile comes back up when I see Maxwell, having already exploited her privileges and power to the hilt to get away with murder repeatedly. Even if she’s found completely guilty on all counts, she still won;t pay the penalty that you or I would pay for such sick transgressions. The air is different up there, for the super rich. It’s so rich with extra oxygen that one day it will catch alight, and they’ll all come flying down like shooting stars, aflame with revolutionary fire.
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I think the simple act of hiring a social media company for the purposes of character assassination should be a crime. A serious misdemeanour at the very least.
You noted that there was, “no single act or action to latch onto,” at first, but it seems to me that the intent and malevolence behind deliberately hiring a company for such a malign purpose is that one action that we can all latch on to; demonstrating culpability and guilt. It is very different from hiring image consultants to improve your own image.
I really, genuinely feel bad for Blake Lively and all she’s been through. She seems to have tried so hard for the sake of everyone involved with that project. I wish her nothing but the best.
Perhaps she should get a talented screen writer to put a script together for a movie, outlining her experiences? Or a fictionalised version, so as to avoid law suits?
Perhaps she could even start a new campaign group, highlighting the fact that such dirty tricks organisations exist and that there is an entire industry, within social media, built around the business model of trying 18:39 to get people, “cancelled,” for their clients? I’d be willing to bet that not many people know about these shady, despicable organisations, or how they work. And that they would be grateful for the knowledge; especially if it was demonstrated to them through the medium of a powerful drama.
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I did find your analysis most interesting, but I would have liked to have heard more of your thoughts on what, “harm,” you believe Shelby caused, or was responsible for? She has been charged with crimes, and she has certainly embarrassed a whole bunch of professionals, probably harming their careers and the reputations of certain establishments. But it doesn’t appear to me, from the little I know, that she had any, “intent,” to harm anyone? She doesn’t appear to exploited people financially beyond achieving her goals of setting up this fantasy life? It seems she is not a, “criminal,” in the usual sense of that term, as she was not attempting to defraud out of malice, not targeting any individual or organisation to harm them in any way, nor attempting to get away with financial theft or stealing property.
I think a big part of why this case is so unique and baffling is exactly that. It must have been difficult for the prosecutors to decide what to charge her with, especially in terms of serving the public interest?
She committed a vast and complex fraud, which involved duping a raft of people and organisations, which is a form of damage. And she got financial backing from these organisations under false pretences, which is obviously criminal. And, in so doing, she demonstrated her cleverness, understanding of the systems in play, and consciousness of committing illegal acts; even if she wouldn’t necessarily be able to name the laws she’d broken or describe the manner in which she done so, which means she was a self aware - knowing criminal, consciously committing elaborate crimes.
But, to what end? That is the question that needs to be answered if we are to know what action would best serve the public interest. Is she a threat to society? Does she need treatment? Has the real-terms damage she’s done been assessed and evaluated? Is she likely to reoffend if allowed to go free? Or, does she simply need psychiatric care? She is not violent, menacing, or (apparently?) deliberately attempting to harm anybody?
I would love to be a fly on the wall, to hear whether she feels remorse for her deceptions? Particularly with regard to the people who took her in and who’s trust she betrayed most personally, if not most deeply? As to how much harm she has done, that is a matter the courts will determine, I suppose. But as to how much actual, “harm,” she has committed, I cannot answer that question. Maybe the people she lived with are just shrugging their shoulders, or maybe they’re heart broken?
There’s a novel in here somewhere.
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O’Neil was emulating a pastor, giving a fire and brimstone sermon, in an evangelical church. He seemed to believe he would, “convert,” members of the jury, perhaps in a manner that he’s witnessed growing up? Pure speculation, of course, but I would be fascinated to ask him if he’d ever witnessed a big, “come to Jesus,” conversion, at a church service? He did himself a great disservice, but genuinely didn’t seem to comprehend that he was alienating the jurors in every conceivable way. Did he know his guilty verdict was beyond question? He’s obviously not well and a danger to the public. But what interests me is where those pastor style influences came from?
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