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A little light reading

crimresearch said:
Dropping like a rock, I see..much like anything socially aware that hits JREF.
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Sorry - only had a chance to scan it briefly.

I suspect that people see that and figure slavery isn't much of a problem in the U.S. any more (what was it - 131 cases?) and move on.

And realistically, compared to the number of murders you get every year in just one big city, it isn't.

It's still an ugly stain on our country's history, and I think anyone who thinks slavery is a good idea should have it tried on him. But at least today, when you read about an occurence of someone being forced to work as a cleaning lady, it has a freak-show, man-bites-dog air about it. At least in this country.
 
How do you figure 10,000 cases equals 131 cases?

This survey puts the lie to the notion that slavery is just a bunch of lazy illegal immigrants who can't get high paying jobs.

It reveals the reality of children shackled and razor wired into hours of backbreaking labor, and women kept as chattel for purposes of work and of rape...and the bi-partisan complicity of every administration.

The same sort of stuff I have repeatedly brought up, as in the witness.org links, only to have it ignored and dismissed.

People don't want their comfort zone disturbed by unpleasant realities involving brown and yellow skins.
 
I wasn't able to download the file, but maybe you could give us a summary of your position. I assume there's more to it than "slavery is bad." What specific actions do you propose?

Jeremy
 
Certainly in the UK this kind of thing is widely publicised. I would suggest that the only way to prevent it is to throw open our borders and let whoever wants to come in, come in. That way there's no incentive for the people trafficers, and no inadvertent support of them by the INS (after all who's going to complain if they'll get deported).

One of the reasons it's not such a big deal is that (a few ecoweenie, eurotrash, left leaning liberals aside0 they don't have a group pf people fighting for their rights. After all, they can't vote can they ?
 
I do apologize for the huge pdf file, I'm sure it locks up some folks computers...it wouldn't have been my choice.

The problem of modern day slavery is growing by leaps and bounds, from the kidapped forced prostitutues in Prague, to the chained farmworkers a few miles from Jeb Bush's mansion in Florida...I have devoted a lot of time over the years to marching, protesting, writing and complaining about this issue, as well as trying to publicize it in any number of forums...
...and the overwhelming number of responses that I get are similar to BPSCG's...
...although some have been down right hostile, and insistent that there is NO modern slavery.
(And let me be perfectly clear, that I'm not singling out or attacking BPSCG...as far as I recall, I usually agree with many positions from BPSCG).

What to do about it? I wish I knew...

I wish I knew why millions of people aren't in the streets in outrage over this, instead of the handful I see at every action.

I wish I knew why, when people sit down at a table to discuss who they are going to support for mayor, or Congress, or President, that this isn't the first question they make every candidate give a full and specific answer to...

I wish I knew why Taco Bell was still in business...

I wish I knew why witness.org has to solicit money to keep up their work....

I wish I knew what the answer was to this problem, and the apathy towards it.
 
crimresearch said:
How do you figure 10,000 cases equals 131 cases?
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I was looking at the table on page 14.
This survey puts the lie to the notion that slavery is just a bunch of lazy illegal immigrants who can't get high paying jobs.
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Oh, yikes, anyone who thinks immigrants - illegal or otherwise - are lazy really needs to get a grip on reality. I had a busted sewer line a few months ago, and since they couldn't get a backhoe into my backyard, the plumbers hired day laborers who could barely speak English.

They dug a trench twenty-five feet long, ranging in depth from four to ten feet, before they exposed all the broken pipe. They were digging in Virginia late spring heat, through dirt that was saturated with sewage.

I couldn't help thinking, "These guys are digging ◊◊◊◊ in a trench in the heat, and they still consider this to be better than what they've got back home..." Awful to consider what they must have back home. And to consider what happens the day a laborer injures his back; he goes back home to Central America and prays to Dios that his son is old enough and healthy enough to go to America and start the cycle anew...
The same sort of stuff I have repeatedly brought up, as in the witness.org links, only to have it ignored and dismissed.
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I think you're being a little unfair. People have their own lives and problems and tragedies to deal with, and while slavery is an abomination that should be punished harshly, what is the average person supposed to do? The institution is illegal and (I assume) prosecuted under the law where it's found (unles there's something in the article that indicates people just get off with a wrist-slap - again, I haven't had time to read the whole thing). But is it a greater problem than the 50,000-odd murders and 40,000-odd highway deaths in our country every year? Is it a greater problem than the fact that 37% of all adults in Washington DC are illiterate and DC's problem is getting worse, and the fact that DC is by no means unique in having this problem?

Is the problem in the U.S. as bad as all that? I know it's worse in other countries, but what should we do?
 
crimresearch said:
Dropping like a rock, I see..much like anything socially aware that hits JREF.
Click to expand...

It's pretty poor form to start a thread with not much else other than a link, and then whine because no-one's interested in the topic. Rather than blaming the rest of the forum, think about how you might be able to stimulate conversation.
 
Anyone seen "My Pet Goat" in any bookshops?

I`ll have to get my local Waterstones to order it and them make sure I move it over to the Politics section.
 
BPSCG said:
Is the problem in the U.S. as bad as all that? I know it's worse in other countries, but what should we do?
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You and I see very little of the problem; most slavery in the US is based around the sex trade. There's the "mail order brides" industry, which imports women from Eastern Europe and Asia as sex slaves, but there's a lot of sex trafficking that goes on of *US Citizens*. Underage girls especially; runaways most often, sometimes kidnap victims, other times teenagers that get hooked on drugs (usually with the help of the would-be slaveowner/pimp).

It's really, really horrifying, and a lot of the time it's below police radar screens.
 
Cleon said:
You and I see very little of the problem; most slavery in the US is based around the sex trade. There's the "mail order brides" industry, which imports women from Eastern Europe and Asia as sex slaves, but there's a lot of sex trafficking that goes on of *US Citizens*. Underage girls especially; runaways most often, sometimes kidnap victims, other times teenagers that get hooked on drugs (usually with the help of the would-be slaveowner/pimp).

It's really, really horrifying, and a lot of the time it's below police radar screens.
Click to expand...

There's a simliar problem in Australia, but it isn't so much 'below police radar screens' as 'cops couldn't give a toss because they see "street kids" as the underclass'. Just another reason why I love the Boys in Blue soooo much.
 
The assumption that the police should take care of it overlooks the fact that those practicing such slavery do so in a manner calculated to evade police intervention...or they use excuses like 'The chains/razor wire are for their own protection', or 'diplomatic immunity'...none of that makes it right.

Meanwhile prosecutors continue to dodge questions about failure to prosecute when there is ample evidence, and the rich and powerful continue to pass the blame while pulling strings in order to profit from it...

All of which won't change as long as the average citizen doesn't want to hear about it, and remains complicit.

Is it really all that much of a problem that America is catching up slowly to the rest of the world's standard for condoning modern slavery?
... I suspect to those who are in the middle of it, it might seem so.
 
crimresearch said:
The assumption that the police should take care of it overlooks the fact that those practicing such slavery do so in a manner calculated to evade police intervention...or they use excuses like 'The chains/razor wire are for their own protection', or 'diplomatic immunity'...none of that makes it right.
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You have no problem expressing your feelings about it, and I don't think anyone denies that it deserves attention. But again, what are you going to do about it? Outrage is impotent if it doesn't lead to constructive action.

What constructive action can we take? There has to be a realistic solution.

Jeremy
 
Cleon said:
You and I see very little of the problem; most slavery in the US is based around the sex trade. There's the "mail order brides" industry, which imports women from Eastern Europe and Asia as sex slaves, but there's a lot of sex trafficking that goes on of *US Citizens*. Underage girls especially; runaways most often, sometimes kidnap victims, other times teenagers that get hooked on drugs (usually with the help of the would-be slaveowner/pimp).

It's really, really horrifying, and a lot of the time it's below police radar screens.
Click to expand...

It is also amatter of how often sweatshops and 'guestworkers' cross the line into chattel and and outright whips and chains slavery.

Can anyone here tell *which* Taco Bell item is laden with tomatos from *which* sort of farm?
Or which piece of clothing was made by the female garment worker who is locked into a room every night to to be raped by the overseers?
 
toddjh said:
You have no problem expressing your feelings about it, and I don't think anyone denies that it deserves attention. But again, what are you going to do about it? Outrage is impotent if it doesn't lead to constructive action.

What constructive action can we take? There has to be a realistic solution.

Jeremy
Click to expand...

Marching 20 miles with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to present a petition to Jeb Bush at his mansion, or picketing Taco Bells, and working with other progressive causes like boycotts and signature drives, (not to mention posting information on the problem, and links to groups like witness.org, here and on many other internet outlets) are some of the things I and others have done .

I can't tell you what *you* should be doing about it.
 
Mr Manifesto said:
It's pretty poor form to start a thread with not much else other than a link, and then whine because no-one's interested in the topic. Rather than blaming the rest of the forum, think about how you might be able to stimulate conversation.
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"Poor form" seems generous, seeing as the OP was Fri night and the whine came early Sat morning. Go figure.
 
toddjh said:
You have no problem expressing your feelings about it, and I don't think anyone denies that it deserves attention. But again, what are you going to do about it? Outrage is impotent if it doesn't lead to constructive action.

What constructive action can we take? There has to be a realistic solution.

Jeremy
Click to expand...

I guess I was mistaken in thinking that this was an invitation to discuss said solutions after I had provided so many links to information and resources in reply.
 
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