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Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Elephant in the room is pooping all over you.


A new report claiming to be the most comprehensive look at global slavery says 30 million people are living as slaves around the world. The Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, lists India as the country with by far the most slaves, with an estimated nearly 14 million, followed by China (2.9 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).”
If those numbers don't make you feel sick to your stomach then you need serious help. Every year millions of people are forced into lives of slavery. Every year, children of all ages are forced into child prostitution to satisfy the degenerate needs of people all around the world. It happens every day in every country in alarming numbers, but it very rarely makes the headlines. People ignore the problem because News Agencies ignore the story.
Oh I can hear the people out there muttering about third world countries and how it doesn't happen here in the good old USA. Well, here is a bit of information about that. http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/29/justice/child-prostitution-arrests.
Slavery is alive and well doing a booming business centuries after it was supposedly outlawed in most civilized countries. In some cases, it is out in the open for all to see as in the case of brothels in places such as Singapore and in other cases it is hidden behind the veil of cultural tradition such as the practice of marrying extremely young girls to much older men in places such as India and the Middle East.
( As ab aside it amazes me every time I read through the comments sections of these articles where people are actually trying to justify “our” slavery versus “their” slavery as if we were any better than the people who are doing it right this moment.
So terrible they were able to have extremely large families who were extremely well fed, and were sent to the doctor when needed as much as almost anyone else was in those days. They were not the only people living in log cabins in those day either, and cutting enough firewood to survive winters in Canada, MT, MN, WI, MI, and all the other northern climates was far more difficult than it was for southern climates. There was a much wider variety of fruits and vegetables in the south than there was in the north - you can't even grow corn in the far northern portions of the US, and almost nowhere in Canada. They did their job, and they were provided for. Stop the BS as if it was the most hideous act of man the world has ever known - very few people in those days had an easy life.” Aside over on with the rant.)
Slavery exists in a myriad of forms all over the world. Migrant workers who come to certain ME countries for jobs find their passports confiscated and essentially refused the ability to leave once they are in place. Sure they get paid a certain amount of money, but when you lack the ability to leave when you wish, you are still a slave. (Second aside, some slave owners actually gave their possessions a small salary during America's Slave Period.) Children 10 years and younger are locked into hot, unsafe factories for 18 hours a day and forced to produce X amount of product for pennies an hour. People argue this isn't slavery because they are actually being paid, but being forced to work in a deathtrap (Do I really need to link all of the horrendous factory fires that have occurred?) counts as slavery to me.
Then, as I mentioned earlier, there are the “Child Brides” of India and the Middle East where girls as young as 7 or 8 are married off by their parents to some old Geezer where she is repeatedly raped and forced to bear children at far to young an age. If that isn't slavery that makes you ill, then you need a serious conscience infusion.
And of course, there is the booming Child Prostitution business here in the US. Young people with no real homes or real families run away from where they live and are lured into the life by Pimps and Sellers who get them hooked on any number of drugs. These kids grow up with no hope and no joy and become Adult Prostitutes. Go to any major city, drive through the less savory parts of town and you will see them. Kids who aren't even old enough to drive yet selling their bodies on the streets. We love to ignore it, but the Elephant in the room is still there.
As much as the “Civilized” world wants to, Modern Slavery cannot be ignored. As much as people want to pass it off as somebody else's problem, the Elephant is still sitting in your room pooping on the floor. It is high time we stopped ignoring the crap on our rugs and did something about it. We claim to be civilized so how about we start acting like it?
End of Rant

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