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C/W: human trafficking, suicide, CSA, child abuse, homophobia, transphobia
I was an Evangelical for most of my life. I saw all aspects of that culture and its rot. I am now a Buddhist of Mahāyāna tradition. I am writing this out of compassion, and also to lay in light lies.
I was an Evangelical for most of my life. I saw all aspects of that culture and its rot. I am now a Buddhist of Mahāyāna tradition. I am writing this out of compassion, and also to lay in light lies.
I don't hold a motive other than compassion. I am rather austere on the sex front for reasons of my practice, which applies only to those who follow Buddhadharma.
That said, who is lying? It is Exodus Cry.
That said, who is lying? It is Exodus Cry.
They are lies of omission, lies through statistics and appeals to emotion. Lies to get the well meaning on-board with their ultimate goal: criminalizing sex work, punishing sex workers and seeking converts. More on that later. First some background data supporting my stance.
Most human trafficking is in the agricultural industry, a pit of modern slavery.
Dr. Sarah Taber just did a great thread going over this, with sources: https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1339644522955980800?fbclid=IwAR2CvXSdYEHJ5oEkmkYi6oAP0_ZNLQFlBJdDwmrYHu_NHmUb-mDOd7GP3pI
Dr. Sarah Taber just did a great thread going over this, with sources: https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1339644522955980800?fbclid=IwAR2CvXSdYEHJ5oEkmkYi6oAP0_ZNLQFlBJdDwmrYHu_NHmUb-mDOd7GP3pI
These people are often the "Good Evangelical Christians" the "Small Farn Backbone of America", so their vast crimes that leave a wake of humans dead of abuse and despair are ignored and even co-opted (see Dr. Taber's thread for more on that topic).
But, that aside, is Exodus Cry correct about human trafficking and sexual abuse? About where it goes on, what websites and who does it? Well, no. They aren't.
A good article with more sources here: https://medium.com/@justinethalley/the-siren-song-of-exodus-cry-d507a594c05d
A good article with more sources here: https://medium.com/@justinethalley/the-siren-song-of-exodus-cry-d507a594c05d
Their data is flawed, and they hold a clear bias. This is not to defend human trafficking, the uploading of abuse material, or any such thing. Human trafficking, abuse and sex assault violate both Grave and Minor Precepts I practice each day. It is an abhorrent wrong.
But that's not what these campaigns and now, government action are about. The above article even cites many sex workers who were harmed by SESTA/FOSTA. It is not about reducing harm.
Nor is it even attacking the correct targets. The majority of CSA content for example, is hosted and shared on mainstream sites. This is one of them.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/child-sexual-abuse-images-online-exploitation-surge-during-pandemic-n1190506
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/child-sexual-abuse-images-online-exploitation-surge-during-pandemic-n1190506
So, why target sites where sex workers sell their wares themselves, on their own terms, for their own benefit, where abuse content is statistically less common?
Because all of this is not only about criminalizing sex work and pornography, but destroying sex workers.
Because all of this is not only about criminalizing sex work and pornography, but destroying sex workers.
A major part of US Evangelical culture is conversions, and the more you get, the better you are, and the best people to minister to are the "broken".
You swoop in when someone is at rock bottom and "win a soul for Heaven". And of material conditions are bad, you get more marks.
You swoop in when someone is at rock bottom and "win a soul for Heaven". And of material conditions are bad, you get more marks.
And of course sex workers are the Holy Grail so to speak. The myth that Mary Magdalene was a sex worker is big in those circles. And doing anything Jesus did, say, converting a sex worker, earns you extra points (this is also a reason they play martyr).
But there is somehow an even uglier reasoning. It is this: sex workers are "immoral", they must be punished, many are "even worse" by being queer. So obviously not only must you convert them, you must make their lives a Hell, to punish their "wicked ways"
Obviously that doesn't sell well, so they don't say it outside their world. But I grew up in the upper hierarchy of a massive megachurch in my home town. In private, punishing "sinners" is a beloved thing, and a thing they feel the state need do for them.
So they do what they are doing now. This is also why they seek not only to ban abortion (I hold the dominant Japanese Zen view on that topic, potential life is not life), but punish women for getting an abortion. Its why they attack sex ed and why they support capital punishment.
It is an ugly ideology that seeks to create their heaven on earth, by converting, crushing or killing the rest of us. And that is one of the true aims behind this current moment.
If it was about helping sex workers, why don't they listen to them?
If it was about helping sex workers, why don't they listen to them?
I cannot gather all the sources, some are in the Medium article. SESTA/FOSTA hurt them. It cut off access to selling their services themselves, sent many back to pimps and traffickers on the streets, but luckily others have been able to be their own empowered selves online.
Now, this new bill aims to destroy that. In the midst of a pandemic, to "save" people, our government, and Evangelical allies seek to send sex workers into the streets, back to in person full service work, back to pimps. Back to abuse, degredation, trafficking and death.
That is not compassion. That is evil, that is self-aggrandizement, that is lying, and a host of other trespasses against their own stated beliefs. Because ultimately, all they believe in is control, abuse, and their own way.
Compassion is working to remove abuse content, to bring those who abuse any sentient being to justice, not to remove places sex workers could be safe, secure and make a living. It isn't passing laws to limit them and cut where they can sell their services, their labor.
We must not be blinded by what feels good, or appeals to an emotion and call it compassion when those most at stake say to act in the manner we are acting will harm them.
I praise the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Avalokitesvara. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om...
I praise the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Avalokitesvara. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om...
...Mani Padme Hum.
May all Sentient Beings, no matter their path, have peace.
May all Sentient Beings, no matter their path, have peace.
This isn't a knock on Christians either. A ton of you are amazing, true allies in any struggle for justice. People I would side with over some Bhikku. But there is a segment claiming the faith that is just vile, and it just so happens that is my background.
