End Slavery in the US NOW!
Posted by Moonage on 21 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: National Politics
At first, this headline just struck me as another shock and awe headline about nothing:
It then goes into a tale about a raid in New York City where they “freed” 70 sex slaves in brothels. In this case, the “girls next door” were all Korean. It then goes into a little more detail provided mostly in part by an organization called Free the Slaves. They talk about how prevelant the problem has become, especially in the Northeast. And finally, they get to the big picture, there are possibly 10,000 “slaves” in the US right now. They wrap it up by stating the US needs to change its attitude and accept the fact that slavery is still a problem in the US.
This just ain’t quite right IMO. Now, 10,000 people doing something they don’t like is sort of a bad thing, but this article gives us no idea whatsoever how they got here. We don’t know that they agreed to prostitute for some time just to get on the boat. Now, that sounds bad by our cultural norms, but it’s not that big deal in many other parts of the world where prostitution isn’t regarded as lowly as it is here. The article mentions that many “victims” are reluctant to discuss their situation. I’d guess there’s some cultural reasons for that. They probably in a lot of cases came to the US with a vision of better things to come, only to find out the “career” they chose is shamed by most people in the US.
Bottom line, I’m sure it happens in the US. But, to compare it to what was happening pre-1861 in the US is not a real comparison. And, since we’re only given small pieces of the picture, I kind of question what is really going on here. In the US, when someone resorts to prostitution, it’s usually because they know it’s an easy way to make an easy buck. And, there’s plenty of consumers out there for that product. I don’t really buy the argument that someone has to be mentally broken in every way to come to the conclusion it’s an easy way to get what they want. So, bust the pimps or whatever for human trafficking, that part’s fine. But, I don’t see the logic in treating the prostitutes as victims unless there is a compelling reason to do so. The rules in the US are pretty easy to understand and just as easy to find out. And, an even more radical thought, if they REALLY want to end “slavery” in the US, legalize the world’s oldest profession.
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