Are we being hypocritical about Epstein’s friends?

Some will accuse me of stirring the pot today, but I’m not.

We’re all friends here on this blog (of course we are not, but make pretend) and what follows is an intellectual exercise.

Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding, Jeffrey Epstein was a scumbag and I don’t mourn him.

But . . . 

There is a large “Epstein class” of very famous, very rich, or very powerful men who were friends with him before and after his 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, and soliciting a prostitute. He probably did worse than that, and he got a sweetheart deal, no doubt about it.

But he did his time and was released.

Right now there is a kind of moral witch hunt directed at those who were friendly with him after his release from jail.

As an aside, all the Epstein files should be released, so we can see the context in which the names appear. Some mentions might be damning, others might be inconsequential. Let’s find out, let the chips and trousers fall where they may.

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Here is the moral conundrum: Don’t we believe in second chances? After you have “paid your debt to society,” should not you be welcomed back into society?

I have done columns in support of ex-cons trying to find a job to support themselves to avoid falling back into a life of crime.

True, Epstein faced no such challenging head winds, but he had done his time.

So aren’t we being hypocritical to attack people who befriended him after he had “paid his debt to society”?

Again, I want no misunderstanding about me sympathizing with him. I am not. Not an ounce of sympathy.

Now, if you believe that his post-conviction friends knew he was still engaged in sex trafficking, then, sure, they should have shunned him.

But what if they didn’t know that, just knew him as a filthy rich connected guy who threw great parties — then what?

I’ve been around more than my share of filthy rich connected guys who threw great parties, but none were trafficking women — as far as I knew.

But what if they were?

Should I be condemned?

What about Epstein’s friends?

It’s an intellectual exercise. What do you think?