This Isn’t About Epstein Anymore. It’s About Us
What If the Monster Wore Our Team’s Hat? A Reckoning With Tribal Loyalty, Identity Collapse, and Moral Maturity
A midwestern mother sits silently at her son’s soccer game. Two years ago, she was a vocal anti-trafficking advocate, posting daily, attending rallies. But now? Everyone in her community knows she voted for someone whose name showed up in the court records. Every glance feels like a question. Her silence feels safer than her truth.
This isn’t about Epstein anymore. It’s about us. And whether we’re actually who we say we are… when it really counts.
The Big Idea
The Epstein case is no longer just a scandal. It’s a collective reckoning. A spiritual MRI for the American psyche. A moment where the values we claim to hold are colliding with the tribes we cling to.
This isn’t politics.
It’s identity.
It’s trauma.
It’s fear.
It’s human.
But it’s also a rare opportunity…
To stop performing…
And start becoming.
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” —Winston Churchill
The Breakdown
Tribal Identity Is a Hell of a Drug
When our identity is "anti-child trafficking" and also "pro-our guy," and suddenly those two realities start clashing? Our nervous system freaks the hell out.
This is cognitive dissonance. And instead of feeling it fully, we contort our beliefs to make it go away:
“They couldn’t have known.”
“This is probably fake news.”
“But what about their side?”
Because if we admit our "hero" is compromised, we might have to admit we were wrong. And sometimes, being wrong feels more terrifying than being betrayed.
The Fear of Identity Collapse Is Real — and It’s Biological
Neuroscience confirms it: when our worldview is threatened, the amygdala lights up like we’re under physical attack. It triggers fight, flight, or freeze.
"In experiments, people shown evidence that challenged political beliefs experienced brain activity similar to that of a physical threat." (Kaplan, Gimbel & Harris, 2016)
So instead of integrating truth, we double down. We radicalize. We defend what’s familiar—because the alternative feels like ego-death.
This isn’t simply moral weakness. It feels like our biology is under siege.
There is an antidote though. It is the only thing stronger than that fear... it’s truth paired with humility.
“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” —Hannah Arendt
Base Level, Culture Level, Next Level
Let’s name it:
Base Level: fear-based, power-obsessed, control-driven.
Culture Level: tribe-first, optics-first, us vs. them.
Next Level: principle-first, people-first, growth-first.
Right now, we’re being asked to choose: Do we cling to the team? Or do we rise to the truth? This is happening everywhere. It is the spiritual challenge of our time. The Epstein case is just the test.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
Here’s the uncomfortable fact: This isn’t about being liberal or conservative.
It’s about being mature.
It’s about choosing children over cults.
Truth over image.
People over power.
The real sickness is the team-based thinking that allows us to forgo our morals to maintain our membership.
The Call-In: From Reckoning to Redemption
Look… I get it. We all have things we care deeply about. We all have things we’re confused about. And we all, every single one of us, have base-level tendencies where our fear, ego, and outrage make us petty and hypocritical.
There isn’t a human alive who hasn’t defended the wrong thing too long. We get the impulse to lash out. To want our own bully when we feel bullied.
But every once in a while, something happens that cuts through the noise. This is that moment.
I believe in people. Regardless of your rhetoric, I bet you do too.
I’ve seen kindness from strangers who didn’t look like me or vote like me. Americans, even the confused and misled ones, usually show up when it matters. I’ve seen it. I believe in it.
That’s why I hope this moment, the Epstein moment, is a turning point. Not because it’s political. But because it’s universal.
Many of my friends say no. They say people are too divided and will stick to their team regardless. I say, all we need is few too change how we all think.
Research on social movements, revolutions, and major policy change shows that a very small but active minority, about 3.5% of the population, has historically been enough to guarantee “immense change” in society.
This is known as the “3.5% rule,” made famous by political scientist Erica Chenoweth’s research on nonviolent protest movements.
The Soul-Shattering Question
The moment we need our side to be innocent more than we need the truth to be told... we’ve already betrayed ourselves.
Not because we’re evil. But because we confused being right with doing right.
If the same crimes were exposed on the other side… would we be screaming? Would we be sharing the headlines? Or would we stay quiet, just like we condemn others for doing?
What if the child on that flight log was our niece? Our goddaughter? Our neighbor’s kid?
Would it matter whose name was on the manifest?
“Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Practical Takeaway
Here’s how we rise:
Pause the performance. Stop defending people we wouldn’t trust alone with our kids.
Speak the uncomfortable truth. Say what we see… even if it’s our side.
Pick a new team. Choose people over politics. Children over candidates.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” —Theodore Parker (popularized by MLK)
Imagine what would happen if we all chose courage over conformity to our political team.
It’s not weakness. It’s what real values and morality look like.
We don’t need to be perfect. We just need to be honest.
Because history doesn’t remember who shouted the loudest. It remembers who stood up when it would’ve been easier to sit down.
Closing Thought
The Epstein case was never just about names in a black book. It’s about the part of us that looks away when the truth is too costly.
To me it is just another example of humans who say they stand for something when they actually stand for nothing.
Living the standard, not simply talking about it. Being able to spot, call out and reject your team’s leader when required…. That is Next Level. That is rare. And that... is what changes everything.
If we’re going to pick a team… Let it be the team that stands for honesty, integrity, morality and good.
Let it be a team not defined by political bullshit.
Let it be the team that remembers our humanity.
References:
Chenoweth, E., & Stephan, M. J. (2011). Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Columbia University Press.
Chenoweth, E. (2024). Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule. Harvard Kennedy School.
Kaplan, J. T., Gimbel, S. I., & Harris, S. (2016). Neural correlates of maintaining one's political beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Scientific Reports, 6, 39589. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39589
So insightful, you nailed it.