Quickies

Quickies: American hell, a complex majority, and sex slavery in the US

  • Damnation, American style: How American preachers reinvented hell – “Fire and brimstone survived the Enlightenment and prospered at the dawn of the American republic — but why?” From Criticaldragon1177.
  • A not-so-simple majority – “Before the war in the East Ramapo, New York school district, there was a truce. Local school officials made a deal with their Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbors: we’ll leave you alone to teach your children in private yeshivas as you see fit as long as you allow our public school budget to pass. But the budget is funded by local property taxes, which everyone, including the local Hasidim, have to pay — even though their kids don’t attend the schools that they’re money is paying for.” From Mark.
  • Five things I learned as a sex slave in modern America – “Human trafficking (forcing someone into labor or sex acts against their will) is a $9.5 billion industry in the USA — to pick a random comparison, that’s four times what the Burger King chain takes in. Recent stats found 83 percent of sex trafficking incidents in the U.S.”
  • Gamers use 911 prank called “swatting” to lash out at online opponents – From Michael.

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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9 Comments

  1. Between the Koch brothers story yesterday and the TAL episode today I am feeling murderous towards conservatives. Fuck. Them. All.

    And then I read the Cracked article and now I want to give up on humanity all together.

    Friday needs to get here soon.

    1. Agreed, the Kock (sorry…Koch) brothers are friggin’ saints compared to the “parents” of that poor woman. I only hope that their lives were miserable and they ended up killing each other.

      That said, don’t give up on humanity yet: :) (You sound like you could use some cheering up!)

      http://fb-troublemakers.com/21-pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity-11595/

      For every evil fucker in the world there are two decent human beings. Honest.

    1. There was a recent post about the vaccine debate on Grounded Parents. In the comments, there is an argument about whether parents should have absolute authority over their children (at least be default) versus children being human beings with all the rights appertaining to that status (and not property of their parents.) This is in the context of parents having the right to deny their children vaccines.
      (There is also a follow-up post on this topic.)

      It might be a slippery slope argument, but I think that attitude of ownership enables horrible things like what happened to the child in the Cracked article. (She was just 6 when her parents started renting her out, treating her as an income property.) She reported what was happening to teachers, relatives, counselors and police at least 4 or 5 times, but no one believed her. Many seemed to think it was none of their business, or her parents knew best.

      (She seems to be on the path to recovering her life, Hooray!)

  2. Re the Cracked article: I will say, unbelievable! – because that’s the term I use.

    But I believe it all right. Our disbelief is what enables these criminals to get away with it.

    I totally relate to those who want the names of the parents and the johns – but I would not recommend vigilante action, rather I would urge anybody who has information to contact the Federal authorities.

    This is not just an American problem either, the same thing happens in Australia.

    One note of caution, the actual statistics given are probably debateable, for reasons given in one of the comments there.

    1. I was physically ill halfway through it. (I actually read it the day it came out.)

      I think sex trafficking is all over. A Facebook friend recently shared with me a documentary about sex trafficking in Saudi Arabia.

      FWIW, Canada’s not immune either. Right now, there’s a meme going around to replace your profile on social media with a variant of the Facebook “default female” profile, shooped with feathers hanging from the hair. The reason? In Canada alone, some 1200 Indian women have vanished since 1980. It’s the government’s laissez-faire attitude about such things. There are similar issues in the States.

  3. Buzz Parsec: I agree with what you are saying out child ownership. I like to think, that I don’t think of my child as being mine, like property. (I do know that I just said the words ‘my child’ and understand how that totally disagrees with the idea of freedom from ownership. It is ingrained in our very language isn’t it?) I believe this to be different than parental guidance and living as part of a group in society and following rules. The idea of parental ownership is apparent in the style of how many approach a great number of things. For one, many people children often fall under the category status symbols. There are the do as you are told people. And all the kids that were born into this world to work a farm. Etc. If the people in the article felt the child had ownership of herself would they have responded in this way? (By that way calling the parents first rather than arranging safe environment.) Would children face the cruelty that they do today? These are interesting concepts to explore and I am glad you have brought them up. I will have to check out your articles.

    1. Buzz Parsec, I had read those articles and I had commented on them :) HAHA! They are good ones aren’t they. I think they are doing a good job at Grounded Parent bringing up these topics and issues.

      1. Yes, I was trying to figure out how to acknowledge your comments on the other posts in my comment on this post, but it seemed to be wandering off-topic, so I pared it back. I thought you made some excellent points in your comments, but they were on other aspects of the anti-vaxx issue.

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