there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history

[Bob]

i'm told

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...02060&ft=1&f=1

With $50 and a plane ticket to Haiti, one can buy a slave. This was just one of the difficult lessons writer Benjamin Skinner learned while researching his book, A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery.

Skinner met with slaves and traffickers in 12 different countries, filling in the substance around a startling fact: there are more slaves on the planet today than at any time in human history. Skinner speaks with Anthony Brooks about his experience researching slavery.

Though now illegal throughout the world, slavery is more or less the same as it was hundreds of years ago, Skinner explains. Slaves are still "those that are forced to work under threat of violence for no pay beyond sustenance."

Something disturbing has changed however — the price of a human. After adjusting for inflation, Skinner found that, "In 1850, a slave would cost roughly $30,000 to $40,000 — in other words it was like investing in a Mercedes. Today you can go to Haiti and buy a 9-year-old girl to use as a sexual and domestic slave for $50. The devaluation of human life is incredibly pronounced."

Skinner obtained this specific figure through a very hands-on process. In the fall of 2005, he visited Haiti, which has one of the highest concentrations of slaves anywhere in the world.

"I pulled up in a car and rolled down the window," he recalls. "Someone said, 'Do you want to get a person?'"

Though the country was in a time of political chaos, the street where he met the trafficker was clean and relatively quiet. A tape of the conversation reveals a calm, concise transaction. He was initially told he could get a 9-year-old sex partner/house slave for $100, but he bargained it down to $50.

"The thing that struck me more than anything afterwards was how incredibly banal the transaction was. It was as if I was negotiating on the street for a used stereo."

In the end, he agreed on the price, but told the trader not to make any moves.

"When I was talking to traffickers, I had a principle that I wouldn't pay for human life," he says.

This principle enabled him to keep a certain distance from the system, but not giving in to the temptation to free a suffering human being was an emotionally taxing struggle, he says.

"It's one thing when you are planning an effort like this, this is a work of journalism — I'm not going to interfere with my subjects. It's another thing when you are in an underground brothel in Bucharest, who has this girl with Down Syndrome, who you know is undergoing rape several times a day. When this girl is offered to me in trade for a used car ... I walk away ... it's not an easy thing to do," he says.

At one point, he did violate his principal — helping a mother free her daughter from slavery. He says he does not regret his decision, however, and continues to track her progress through a local NGO in Haiti. She's now in school, he says, and wrote him a letter over Christmas.

Slavery consumes Skinner, he says.

"When I come back to a nice loft in Brooklyn and I have to think about writing this thing — that drove me. I knew that I had to write as compelling a book as possible. This is a life-long commitment for me."

personally, that was news to me. but now that i know about it, i'm not sure what to do. cutting back on slaves would be a good start, i guess.

[alien autopsy]

It's another thing when you are in an underground brothel in Bucharest, who has this girl with Down Syndrome, who you know is undergoing rape several times a day. When this girl is offered to me in trade for a used car ... I walk away ... it's not an easy thing to do," he says.

i dont know how this guy sleeps at night. get over your fucking journalism job buddy and do something.

[DroppinScience]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

i dont know how this guy sleeps at night. get over your fucking journalism job buddy and do something.

Well, isn't he already? The job of the journalist is to spread awareness. By definition, he's already "done something."

[Bob]

nah fuck him, he should totally abolish slavery before he starts getting all high and mighty

[Waus]

Hmmm. Would starting a fund to buy all those slaves and release them into freedom just encourage the slavers?

What do you do when people can just control other people like that? I guess slavery will always be around in some form, so long as there are haves and have nots.

All the same, I hope a charity starts soon that can free people from their oppression.

Incidentally, I knew a girl in highschool who ran away to Mexico and almost got sold away as a sex slave. We were all pretty worried about her.

[alien autopsy]

Originally Posted by DroppinScience

Well, isn't he already? The job of the journalist is to spread awareness. By definition, he's already "done something."

i bet the young girl with down syndrome being sold as a sex slave is loving life right now. sure, going and telling others about the story is good. but not saving the life of someone undergoing terrible torture, exploitation and suffering because you are a journalist is pathetic.

"It's one thing when you are planning an effort like this, this is a work of journalism — I'm not going to interfere with my subjects.

sitting there talking prices down on human beings "for the sake of the story". shit is weak. he could have paid 50 dollars for the girla nd set her free...brought her to a western country where she has a hope for the future.

[DroppinScience]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

i bet the young girl with down syndrome being sold as a sex slave is loving life right now. sure, going and telling others about the story is good. but not saving the life of someone undergoing terrible torture, exploitation and suffering because you are a journalist is pathetic.

Could he have done more to help the girl or anyone else he encountered in a similar predicament? Of course. But I think you're choosing an odd target for your wrath. How about directing it at those who run and profit off the sex trade organizations and the governments/police forces who do nothing to stop these practices? I understand the journalist was being too passive, but it's not as if he could have gone in there like Travis Bickle and shot everyone in sight in order to save the girl (a la "Taxi Driver"... actually, come to think of it, it COULD have made a good story for his article). Maybe he'd have saved that one but there's countless others out there too just like her.

[alien autopsy]

its not that im choosing a target, i am just annoyed with the guy. he'll write a story about it and tell the world, but he wouldnt risk sacraficing the story to save her life. thats why i asked, how could this guy sleep at night knowing that girl is still out there- and that he could have saved her.
other than that, kudos to him for breaking the story.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

its not that im choosing a target, i am just annoyed with the guy. he'll write a story about it and tell the world, but he wouldnt risk sacraficing the story to save her life. thats why i asked, how could this guy sleep at night knowing that girl is still out there- and that he could have saved her.
other than that, kudos to him for breaking the story.

it's not limited to this story, it's just one of things about journalism, you have to stay detached, stay neutral.

if it makes you feel any better, the guy who took this picture ended up committing suicide

[EN[i]GMA]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

i bet the young girl with down syndrome being sold as a sex slave is loving life right now. sure, going and telling others about the story is good. but not saving the life of someone undergoing terrible torture, exploitation and suffering because you are a journalist is pathetic.

How many slaves have you freed, asshole?

sitting there talking prices down on human beings "for the sake of the story". shit is weak. he could have paid 50 dollars for the girla nd set her free...brought her to a western country where she has a hope for the future.

And then what?

'Set her free'? She's not a fucking puppy, she's a disabled girl. Now what, he has to care for her? How is that fair to him? How is that even fair to her? Because he goes and studies and writes a book making this known, he becomes burdened with a responsibility that 99.999% of us would never think of taking on?

I've got an idea. He should go back, buy up all the slaves he can afford and drop them off at your house, and let your sanctimonious ass take care of them. How's that sound? Would you be willing to put up with that? Then why should he?

[pshabi]

Originally Posted by EN[i]GMA

How many slaves have you freed, asshole?



And then what?

'Set her free'? She's not a fucking puppy, she's a disabled girl. Now what, he has to care for her? How is that fair to him? How is that even fair to her? Because he goes and studies and writes a book making this known, he becomes burdened with a responsibility that 99.999% of us would never think of taking on?

I've got an idea. He should go back, buy up all the slaves he can afford and drop them off at your house, and let your sanctimonious ass take care of them. How's that sound? Would you be willing to put up with that? Then why should he?

BOOM

[alien autopsy]

boom? calm down enigma...i can picture your eyeballs popping out of your head and your tongue flapping around as you look down and berate me.

im not saying that he should go buy all the child slaves of the world. im saying the guy should have forked over the fifty bucks and brought her to his country and found her a home...that would have made a much better story. and would have given hope to people.

and for your info, there are plenty of people who would take that girl in. there are organizations who act as caretakers, group homes, at worst. with the media attention she would have recieved in the story, donatins would come flooding in, many people who have more compassion than yourself enigma.

i know that myself, personally, would not be able to sleep at night knowing that poor girl with downsyndrome is getting raped by drug addict sexaholic perverts in some shit as town...probably under the most horriffic conditions imaginable. i would have bought her and brought her back and make it a serious effort to find her a home and some proper care. im not trying to talk myself up, only responding to what you imply.

i think journalism, in its efforts to remain detatched, and the egos involved...has failed in this case because he could have helped save someones life. its a debate we could have here...and you know my side.

it's not limited to this story, it's just one of things about journalism, you have to stay detached, stay neutral.

if it makes you feel any better, the guy who took this picture ended up committing suicide

i think you are too professional when you dont allow humanity and compassion to save the life you are making a story out of. its an interesting debate- how involved or detatched should journalists be, and is saving anothers life worth the compromise. i can totally understand how seeing something so horriffic would make you unable to live with yourself. the world and all its circumstance is a terrible place for some of us, and to cover that and remain unaffected....you'd have to be in-human(e)

[alien autopsy]

grow a pair of your own pshabi

[Bob]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

i know that myself, personally, would not be able to sleep at night knowing that poor girl with downsyndrome is getting raped by drug addict sexaholic perverts in some shit as town...probably under the most horriffic conditions imaginable. i would have bought her and brought her back and make it a serious effort to find her a home and some proper care. im not trying to talk myself up, only responding to what you imply.

well my friend, all you need is $50 and a plane ticket to haiti! she's probably still for sale. if not, i'm sure there's someone else you can save.

[DroppinScience]

Originally Posted by Bob

well my friend, all you need is $50 and a plane ticket to haiti! she's probably still for sale. if not, i'm sure there's someone else you can save.

Alien Autopsy would only write a book about it. He's too pussy to actually save her.

[alien autopsy]

LOL

[alien autopsy]

are you guys part of some kind of BBMB gang that has it out for me. its like whatever i say i get yeahwho, schmeltz, droppin, bob and/or enigma tag teaming me. i bet you are all just really lonely and find solace in eachother here at the board.

[RobMoney$]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

i bet you are all just really lonely and find solace in eachother here at the board.

You have no idea.

[taquitos]

yeah, i don't know why people are ganging up on alien. he is just trying to discuss a pretty interesting issue and has been very level-headed and fair with his arguments--more so than people usually are around here.

this is a ongoing debate and there is not really an open-and-shut resolution.

[alien autopsy]

yeah, right taquitos!? i think im going to start my own rival BBMB political forum gang. we can discuss our strategies and targets through private messages and then destroy anyone who disagrees! MWWAAHHAAAHAHAAAA

[Bob]

Originally Posted by taquitos

yeah, i don't know why people are ganging up on alien. he is just trying to discuss a pretty interesting issue and has been very level-headed and fair with his arguments

that's not what i saw. what i saw was a high-falootin' "well if i were a journalist out to expose the underground slave trade in haiti, here's what i would have done, fuck that guy"

what's that do? gets people yelling, that's what's that did

[alien autopsy]

regardless of what i say, there seems to be that sort of auto-reaction. its all good though. it really doesnt bother me, its more funny to me than upsetting. you can get the dogs howling by saying pretty much anything controversial around here.

[Schmeltz]

You haven't said anything "controversial" at all. Your comments were more shortsighted and ignorant than anything, being focused only on your personal moral judgment of this journalist as opposed to the topic of the thread. And that sort of pretentious jive does tend to get people riled up - especially when your next move is to pretend that everyone is ganging up on you for being so brave. Ridiculous. If you don't like people jumping on you, try saying something substantial.

On the actual topic - there are many more people than ever before in history, so it doesn't surprise me that there are many more slaves than ever before in history. It would be interesting to know if the proportion of people classed as "slaves" or "free" has changed, although I imagine it would be almost impossible to measure such a thing. I remember, when I was still working on my Honours paper a year ago, doing research on the demographics of Republican Roman Italy and discovering theories that as many as one in four Italians was a slave during the third and second centuries BC. Nowadays I'd be surprised if even one in ten Italians was a slave.

Slavery is a feature of societies in which there is little or no value assigned to human life, and this is bound up in the quality of that life. When life is defined in large measure by poverty, inopportunity, and suffering, it becomes easier to exploit as a saleable commodity, whether you're buying or selling. This story is a function, in other words, of the inequality and desperation that continues to characterize life in wide areas of the world - not the smug self-interest of one journalist working for one paper in New York.

[alien autopsy]

I remember, when I was still working on my Honours paper a year ago, doing research on the demographics of Republican Roman Italy

oh schmeltz you're such a scholar

when you write it sounds so lifeless....too intellectual. impotent kind of.

i guess i'll just continue on with my unsubstantial banter. mayybe some day i can be as anal-retentive and sterile as yourself and be accepted for my illusury speeches on republican roman slavesmenship.

[NoFenders]

"there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history "

Yeah, they're called tax payers.

[alien autopsy]

thats more like indentured servitude

[Bob]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

oh schmeltz you're such a scholar

when you write it sounds so lifeless....too intellectual. impotent kind of.

i guess i'll just continue on with my unsubstantial banter. mayybe some day i can be as anal-retentive and sterile as yourself and be accepted for my illusury speeches on republican roman slavesmenship.

yeah schmeltz, y'alls scribblin's too book-like, could ya dumb it down a shade, make it all human soundin? maybe cut out the whole "having a point and presenting it coherently" schtick and just start typing whatever pops in your head, that'll bring a lot more to the table in this whole discussion

[Schmeltz]

If "impotent" means "discussing the topic at hand," I hate to think what sort of epithets you might apply to your own posts, alien autopsy.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by NoFenders

"there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history "

Yeah, they're called tax payers.

right on brother. american taxpayers are the most oppressed people in the universe

[EN[i]GMA]

Originally Posted by alien autopsy

oh schmeltz you're such a scholar

when you write it sounds so lifeless....too intellectual. impotent kind of.

i guess i'll just continue on with my unsubstantial banter. mayybe some day i can be as anal-retentive and sterile as yourself and be accepted for my illusury speeches on republican roman slavesmenship.

He's the impotent one, eh? You're the one who can't seem to get the first letters of his sentences to stand up.

Don't they make a pill for that?