The Asbestos in the Walls: Epstein, Lolita, and the Architecture of Denial

There is a strange and unsettling symmetry between two moments in my life. The first: 2004, when I was asked to assess a proposed bill in Canada to eliminate asbestos from public buildings. The second: 2024, when the Epstein files began to come apart in the public imagination. The connection? Denial so embedded into the built environment of a culture that facing it honestly would require tearing down everything we’ve come to know and trust.

Let me explain.

Back in 2004, the issue was clear. Virtually every building in Canada built before the late 1990s contained asbestos. The health risks were known. The political will to do something about it was, briefly, present. But the cost of full remediation? It would have meant demolishing and rebuilding nearly every single Canadian landmark, office, school, and civic institution. My professional advice at the time: don’t bring it up. Not because it wasn’t important, but because the problem was so vast that the solution would destabilize the entire system. The MP who commissioned the report tabled the issue on the final day of session before an election. Nothing came of it. That was the plan.

Now fast-forward to today. The Epstein case has, for many, become the symbolic face of elite criminality and exploitation. But let’s be honest: the abuse of underage girls by powerful men was never a secret. It was our cultural wallpaper.