This morning I entered, “What crime did 49ers owner Jed York commit?” into Perplexity search, knowing full well what, but wanting to refresh exposition specifics. When reading over the details of York’s attempt at paying $140 for sex in an East Palestine, Ohio “mobile home community,” it occurred to me what the real crime was, at least in the eyes of the public.
It reminds me of my recent conversation with Kat Rosenfield when we discussed how there’s a social taboo against admitting a revulsion towards someone’s gross low class behavior on that basis alone, even as we’re naturally channeling that exact sentiment. As in, we’re in a strange world where a high status person can violate a taboo without high status people really conceding what the taboo actually is. On 49ers YouTube, where creators are more blunt, the question was repeatedly raised: Why didn’t York, worth at least half a billion, simply pay a high end Las Vegas call girl?