In 2008, Jeffrey Epstein took a plea deal on charges involving sex with females below the legal age of consent, with prosecutors claiming victims as young as 14. In 2019, Epstein was arrested, and again the stories/allegations involved victims as young as 14.
It looks like Epstein did a lot of bad things. None of the bad things he's publicly accused of doing, so far as I can tell, entail pedophilia -- sexual attraction to and/or sexual activity with prepubescent children.
Yet I see the p-word thrown around quite a bit vis a vis Epstein, including in reasonably "mainstream media" headlines.
Beating someone up is bad. Calling the person who beat someone up a "murderer" is inaccurate.
Robbing a liquor store is bad. Calling the robber an "arsonist" is inaccurate.
Words mean things. On the basis of the public allegations/evidence, using the word "pedophile" to describe Epstein can only be explained by either ignorance or dishonesty.
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