The Charismatic

 Last night I watched the Jimmy Savile documentary.  It has been on Netflix for a long time and I have always given it a miss. Last night in the absence of anything I could find to watch I decided to give it a go.

I never liked Savile when I was a teenager, nor later, and hated it when he hosted Top of the Pops,  and my mother always considered he was a pervert and refused to have him on television in our house if she had anything to do with it.   I didn't know about perverts in the early days of Top of the Pops and later Jim 'll Fix It but my mother certainly felt very strongly about it and made it clear what she thought of him.  She died before it all came out but she would have just said 'told you so'.

It is a strange thing about people that some/many are taken in by certain individuals who have a charismatic influence, something about them that makes people go weak at knees and believe every word they say.    Epstein was another who charmed his way through the world, his world starting out as the world of investment houses to work his way up through the major investment houses and commerce, and even when he stole millions from Wexner, Wexner never pressed charges and kind of just buried it.  Epstein would charm his way into finance jobs, lie about universities and qualifications and somehow pull it off with his charm.  Then it followed that intelligent, high profile people all wanted to be seen with him at his parties and join him in massive weekends of rubbing shoulders with each other, being seen to be seen.  And all the time he was up to no good with under age girls and a total pervert.   Ghislaine Maxwell was bereft after her very flamboyant, crooked father mysteriously died and she got totally taken in by Epstein. She was also short of money.   Who would have thought it?  She must have some genes from her father that account for her willingness to join with Epstein.  It is almost beyond belief that she would join with him with the luring of young girls from high schools  to give massage to Epstein and not see that she was involved in something totally perverted and wrong.  Why did she not leave in total disgust?   But then Ghislaine needed money too and Epstein provided it.   Fergie was another but she did it for money, always needing Epstein to bail her out and send him begging emails, supporting him when he got out of jail the first time 'I love you still, can you lend me $50,000?' (I later note that even one of Peter Mandelson's emails to Epstein also said 'we still love you'  and 'press for early release').   Much of what Epstein did to curry favour was fueled by money that he gave to individuals who couldn't say no and in turn kept Epstein celebrity image intact.  Individuals who were sadly lacking in life and too much time doing nothing but wanted the high life like Andrew.  

Like dictators, Savile, Epstein, find people you can buy are useful.  Stalin called them useful idiots.  Savile's currency was to raise money for charity and become a visible saint who everybody wanted to be seen with.  

Another who charmed his way with falsehoods and lies all done with money is Singaporian Jho Low who defrauded the Malaysian investment fund by siphoning off millions for himself.  He is not being accused of being a pervert and I am not suggesting he has wronged children.  However, he did charm celebrities across Hollywood to attend his elaborate parties and pose as friends to give him the popular playboy image when all the time he was taking billions for himself from the Malaysian 1MDB fund which was intended for investment projects in Malaysia.  He was in a major fraud with the then Prime Minister.  Jho Low actually paid Hollywood stars to attend his parties and they were happy to take the money.  He escaped Singapore.  He is now being hidden by the Chinese in Shanghai under a false name and passport.  It is said that for the Chinese to be willing to help him then there is one hell of a lot of money involved. 

One sees these kind of charismatic people, taking people for a ride, throughout life at all levels.   People believing what is said, the gullible are always there like Ghislaine who was at a low point, just one example.  It happens in every locality in small ways that do not make the headlines like Savile, Epstein, Jho Low did, but fraudulent behaviour whether it be perverts or finance fraud or both or just good liars, there is always an audience, a willing crowd to pat the dog.  There are many who have a dark side which they seem to have the ability to hide for a very long time and fool many people.  I would like to say that eventually they all get caught out but I am not so sure that they do.