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Amidst the whirlwind of horrible scandals and atrocious wars that is our world today, here is a v small but troubling manifestation of our crazy times. A day ago, my attention was drawn to a photograph posted on X that showed a local bookstore in Oslo, Norway where the staff had organized a display entitled ‘Epstein Island Guest List.’ I was horrified to see that one of my books was included. I have never been to Jeffrey Epstein’s island, never flown on his planes, never visited any of his properties, and—most crucially—never even met him or communicated with him.
When alerted, the Norli Bokhandel immediately removed my book before any action was required and apologized in person and online for the libel and defamatory display.
I would have never known about this if it had not been posted on social media but because we live in a lawless arena, a wild and irresponsible digital vortex, the picture has been seen by many people. As the great Mark Twain supposedly wrote: ‘a lie travels round the world before the truth can even get its boots on’ and these days, it seems that a lie can circumnavigate the planet if not the galaxy many times before we even realize it. For a terrifying moment, I was lightly touched by the poisonous tentacles of Epstein, for a second I sensed the passing of that sinister shadow. The origin of the libel was that I was listed in Ghislaine Maxwell’s address-book she supposedly shared with Epstein because I knew her from England decades ago - though I never met or communicated with him.
Over the last few years, the fact that I was listed in this address-book has been used maliciously against me by Stalinists and other political extremists, the former being infuriated for arcane reasons by my Stalin biographies. Of course I don’t for a minute compare my storm in a teacup to the suffering of the victims and survivors. But it is still a frightening Kafka-esque experience because a certain amount of damage is done even when things are taken down. It just shows how easy it is for innocent people to have their names traduced. Even though the bookshop has asked many people to take down the libel, very few bother to correct online lies and falsehoods. There is little practical remedy - except of course one can sue for a clear and very defamatory libel. No one is immune to this: I know many of the people who retweeted this defamation were not malicious and it makes me realize that I myself and all of us need to be careful: it is a real danger for individuals and our societies and as AI delivers better, and more uncanny and diabolical deepfakery, the peril is only going to get worse.
A lesson I have drawn from the last two days is that I myself spend too much time on social media and now I should just get back to writing books – which I hope one day will appear on the shelves of a certain Oslo bookshop….
And if you are interested, here is the apology from the bookshop and its display - before and after
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