Dear reader,
We are now at the end of the most devastating fortnight for anyone who has survived sexual abuse as a child. UNICEF reports that 650 million people alive today (1 in 5 girls and women) were subjected to sexual violence as children, including over 370 million (1 in 8) who experienced rape or sexual assault.
The Epstein files laid bare that governments, judicial systems, and leaders in every field—business, politics, academia, and royalty—are not just completely apathetic; they actively participate in the abuse and protect the abusers.
But that is not all. Any sense of trust citizens had in democracy, justice, and the basic human decency of the rich and powerful has evaporated.
Billionaires were cavalier, weak, and selfish. Journalists lost a longstanding institution. Children and women lost hope for justice. And people who loved life peacefully coexisting across different races, genders, religions, and castes took to the streets to protest.
In this painfully cruel time of defeat, trust between the powerful and the relatively powerless is at an all-time low. It deteriorated to a new low every single day:
On January 30th, the U.S. Justice Department released over 3 million pages, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos from its Jeffrey Epstein investigative files, revealing what the government knew about the millionaire financier's sexual abuse of young girls and his associations with politicians, billionaires, and other elites.
January 31st was the eve of a consumer boycott called "Resist and Unsubscribe" that targeted Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Netflix, Paramount+, Uber, and X for the month of February. It was launched by New York University professor Scott Galloway, who urged people to avoid Big Tech companies for the entire month. The aim was to protest against the Trump administration, especially immigration enforcement that involved fatal shootings.
Here are some noteworthy moments from February:
The Epstein Files: Blackmail, Power, and Geopolitical Shadows, Middle East Monitor: The Epstein files are more than a scandal; they are a case study in how power, secrecy, and exploitation intersect. They reveal a system where elites were compromised, justice was warped, and geopolitics were manipulated through blackmail.
Epstein Files Shows How the Elites Move, Black Agenda Report: Epstein provides a useful window into the high echelons of wealth and power. It is useful that the public gets a glimpse of how little influence they actually have. While we are exhorted to vote at every opportunity, the Epsteins of the world are determining what does and does not happen.
UK Privacy Watchdog Opens Inquiry into X Over Grok AI Sexual Deepfakes, The Guardian: Elon Musk's X and xAI companies are under formal investigation by the UK's data protection watchdog after the Grok AI tool produced indecent deepfakes without people's consent.
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The move came after French prosecutors raided the Paris headquarters of X as part of an investigation into alleged offenses including the spreading of child abuse images and sexually explicit deepfakes. X became the subject of heavy public criticism in December and January when the platform's account for the Grok AI tool was used to mass-produce partially nudified images of girls and women. The standalone Grok app was also used to generate sexualized deepfakes.
How Jeff Bezos Brought Down the Washington Post, The New Yorker: Then, early Wednesday morning, newsroom employees received an email announcing "some significant actions." They were instructed to stay home and attend a "Zoom webinar at 8:30 a.m." Everyone knew what was coming—mass layoffs. The scale of the demolition, though, was staggering—reportedly more than three hundred newsroom staffers.
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It did not help the staff's morale that Lewis and his team were hobnobbing in Davos, or that Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, were in Paris for Haute Couture Week.
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As the staff awaited the axe, the President and the First Lady celebrated the premiere of "Melania," a documentary that Amazon had licensed for forty million dollars and was reportedly spending another thirty-five million to promote. The deal was inked after Bezos had dinner with the Trumps shortly before the Inauguration.
One fortnight made evident what several commentators have been warning about for the last decade: the accumulation of power with a few wealthy men in politics and business, and how they are bringing an end to hard-earned social gains on justice, freedom, and equality.
No one needs to read lengthy academic papers to understand the narrative now.
I established this newsletter, YouTube channel, and storytelling coaching over the last few weeks with one goal: to help aspiring leaders say the truth transparently and build trust in a world where the powerful are rapidly losing it.
To show you how it can be a lasting source of strength.
Thus, for you, a founding subscriber, I offer the first foundational lesson in crafting trustworthy narratives:
Empathy.
Trustworthy leaders communicate by stepping into the shoes of their audience. They see the world from their perspective. They show a commitment to story listening before they craft their messages.
Two artists who did that recently were Bruce Springsteen and Bad Bunny. Read the two linked pieces to know how wonderfully they did.
Empathy and love are always more powerful than hate.
Lastly, read these two brilliant books written by one of my favourite professors on gender and patriarchy to understand the social systems that enable the Epsteins of the world to abuse with impunity.
Happy empathising.
Warm regards,
Ruhi