Despite what some people would have you believe, sometimes it’s hard not to feel superior to certain other cultures.
Today, those of us who write for People You’ll See In Hell feel morally superior to…Haiti!
A recent ABC news special report illustrated exactly how easy it is for just about anyone to purchase a child to use however someone would like. The reporter takes special care to keep track of the time it takes to potentially complete a transaction.
The costs involved are remarkably low:
“So how much will it cost me to get a child?” I ask.
“The last one I gave was $300.”
Trying to test the value of human life, I push a little.
“I have a friend who got one for $50.”
“No,” he says.
“What about $100?”
“$150,” he offers.
I accept.
And there it is. It’s about 5 p.m. Roughly 10 hours after leaving my office in New York City, I have successfully negotiated to buy another human being — an 11-year-old girl, whose value is set at just $150.
Of course, special offers may expire and prices and supplies may vary, as the reporter finds out when he talks to a second child trafficker. Although the terms and conditions of your purchase can, apparently, vary with the amount of money that you can spend.
This second trafficker is asking a much steeper price for an 11-year-old girl: $10,000.
“It’s something definitive,” explains our translator. “After the sale, he doesn’t mind what happens to the kid.”
“So for $10,000, I can have the child and do anything I want to do is what he’s saying?” I ask.
“Yeah, definitely.”
Of course, if you’re discussing the buying and selling of children in a Haitian restaurant, expect to be overheard. From the article:
Two waiters sitting nearby call me over. They say they’ve heard my conversations. At first I think they’re going to yell at me or something. I’m bracing for shame. Instead, the waiters offer to sell me a child.
“So you’re saying if I want to get a child to live with me, you can help me?” I ask. “Yes,” says one of the waiters. “I give you my telephone also.”
“About what age?” asks the other watier.
“Maybe 10, 11 years old.”
“10 or 11?”
“Yeah,” I say. “A girl.”
“Ok,” says the first waiter, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Ok. I’ll help you.”
That’s great.
So basically, if you’d like to buy a few children, dress them up in gimp costumes, give them knives and have them fight to the death while you film the resulting carnage to sell online, Haiti is your vacation destination!
Yay, Haiti!
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Ugh this is so sad…… what a world we live in.
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This is nothing new, unfortunately. Throughout history, life has been cheap; people “owning” other people is not unusual - and it is not a racial thing either. It happens in Haiti, it happens in Thailand, it happens all over the place in Africa and the Middle East. The US actually has gotten good at taking care of the flesh-peddlers, but of course, we cant seem to do much about the people who just use whatever child they can find, since they can’t buy them.
The best way to combat the problem is to get rid of the people who wish to buy (or use) others. Getting rid of the potential sellers (or providers) wouldn’t hurt either. And I do mean getting rid of them. Ideally, we should send them on a faster path to hell, but if we are not willing to kill them, at least lock them up forever.
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Why can’t we simply put together a fund called “buy the children” and buy up all of the kids at a set rate. By the end of all of this, we’ll own all of the kids and Hati can deal with their population problem, and we get a lot of smiling happy children who aren’t afraid some dude is going to buy them for sex.
Human trafficking to stop human trafficking?
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Fred reply on July 9th, 2008:
Nice idea in a semi-perfect world, but in reality
1. The price would jump as demand out does supply - there will always be POS who will bid higher as to get what they want.
2. Higher prices will encourage “baby mills”. Look at welfare here in America. A ssytem designed to help those “in trouble” has become a way of life as many decide to stay in “a troubled state” because it pays to live that way!
Crueler (but more effective solution for this world) solution
1. Execute human traffickers
2. Spay & neuter the suppliers
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diana reply on July 9th, 2008:
The only solution as I see it. We are far too stingy with the death penalty.
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Fred reply on July 10th, 2008:
Agreed.
I watched this last night on ABC and I was just so sad…
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Disgusting….
Why aren’t we over there fighting for the rights of THOSE children? Instead, we’re fighting in a country that is selfish and ungrateful.
So sad…
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Mazzi reply on July 9th, 2008:
Haiti would be selfish and ungrateful if we went there to try and liberate their children from poverty and slavery. Corrupt governments have no concern for the rights of individuals. They are only concerned with staying in power, no matter how many people - or how cruelly - they have to kill.
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Sherry reply on July 9th, 2008:
That’s just horribly sad.
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People in Haiti can’t afford dirt to eat. Seriously, they eat mud cakes, but some people can’t afford them.
Anyone involved in selling a child deserves hell. But so does everyone who doesn’t do everything they can to stop it. If people weren’t so poor in Haiti, they wouldn’t have to resort to selling their kids. So let’s get off our self righteous asses, quit eating out, and send that cash to a children’s charity instead.
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Fred reply on July 10th, 2008:
Spay and neuter - don’t havet he child in the first place.
Oral sex - it does not produce children.
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Except for the fact that any money we would send over there would wind up in the wrong hands.
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Catch me on the right day and you can have my kids for free.
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Kenny reply on July 10th, 2008:
heh…or the wrong day depending on your point of veiw :D
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You don’t have to go to Haiti. You can rent a kid at any large city right here in the US. And if you really care, you can do something about it.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/422/index.html
It’s one thing to complain about it, it’s quite another to put your money where your mouth is. How about it admin, how about some free links to http://www.ecpat.net/EI/main/front/index.asp and http://www.juvenilejusticefund.org/initiatives_angelasHouse.asp
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Fuck Iraq we should be Bombing Haiti into the stone age!
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MrEthiopian
You sir are a fucking retard, and I am surprised you could even type in that bs.
To the rest…should we truly be surprised about the actions of a 3rd world country?….for christ sake…they are 3rd world for a reason, and not because the rest of the world doesnt care.
I personally applaud rich for actually thinking about americans first, in a round about way. Why is it, that americans in general, are always so willing to give to those outside of the united states, but homelessness, poverty, god damned children living on the streets, are right here at home. Please don’t bring up the argument of how americans are lazy etc etc etc…people in need are people in need. If anything common sense would say to fix the problems closer to home than traveling thousands of miles, where most of the time, we are not wanted.
So I say fuck haiti, help the people at home first.
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Max The Cat reply on July 19th, 2008:
I don’t know if I’d ignore 100% people around the world who are suffering, especially those who get persecuted for some dumb ass reason like religion or ethnicity, but you’re totally right when you say that we don’t do nearly enough for our own folks in need. There’s something wrong when so many kids can’t read at the proper level, or are so weak at math that they could work as a bank teller, or know nothing about the history of their own country. It’s been how many years since Katrina and people’s houses are STILL not rebuilt, but ‘dey shore do have a nahs football stadium’. And to think that there are children who go to bed hungry in this country is just fucking mind boggling, not only in places like Appahlacia, but places like New York City.
So yeah Animal, I can dig what you’re saying, and I know lots of other people feel the same way. But we as a country have tried the isolation thing before, and there’s always some asshole, like Hitler or the Empire of Japan, who mistake that type of foreign policy for weakness and think they can do whatever and have nothing to fear. Cuz face it, we are the last word on what countries can and can’t do to each other and their people. Not that we should be bullies and throw our weight around indescriminately. (and it does set the American people up to be conned the way the present administration did with Iraq). Anyways, it seems I’ve watched way too much of the History channel, and I’m starting to ramble…LoL. So Good stuff in your post bro.
Max
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Mazzi reply on July 19th, 2008:
Unfortunately, the problem is not fixable. The problem is with the parents.
No child in this country SHOULD be hungry. We hand out a damn lot of money to poor people to see that they have the basics. But we are unable to stop the parents from using the money they get for things other than necessities.
Really, the best thing would be to go back to our earliest efforts at government welfare. It was called “relief”. It was a program that brought food and clothing to the poor people. They would get deliveries of sacks of rice and flour and potatos and canned items, etc. There was no cash being passed around, but the children were fed. It was designed to help the truly NEEDY, and it was not designed to worry about the “self-esteem” of the recipients.
The reason “relief” evolved into “welfare” was because people were humiliated about the relief truck stopping at their door, so to give them some “dignity” it became more discreet.
Well ya know what? FUCK discreet! If you can’t get a job and feed your family - if you rely on handouts from the government to take care of your children, you have no room to be offended by the generosity of others. Dignity comes from self respect, which comes from working hard to take care of your responsibilities. If it’s humiliating, then they can get a job. In the meantime, their children have decent food in their bellies.
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TurtleMania reply on July 19th, 2008:
And then here comes the illegal drug problem that goes hand-and-hand with poverty.
I remember years ago we had public food vouchers that were given to the poor. The vouchers were like cash and some of the parents sold them at undercut cost so that they could buy illegal drugs. The children almost were never fed, as mommy and daddy preferred to get high.
So to fix one problem we have to fix another, or guess what? It won’t get done.
The drug problem is a cancer that will surely ruin almost any welfare system you construct.
Share your thoughts, please.
Max The Cat reply on July 20th, 2008:
That is the bottom line - Drugs. Having spent long stretches of my life on both sides of that issue, I can tell you that handing a junkie money and expecting him to do the right thing with it, even if it means his kids will go hungry if he doesn’t, is naive at best and really, just plain stupid. The only way to stop an addict from using who doesn’t want to stop is to a) lock him up or b) Take away his supplier. I won’t bore you all by telling you what it took for me to finally get myself straight, but I will tell you that losing my kids, my wife, my job, a few overdoses, threats of jail, a couple of heart attacks, stealing 1000’s from my parents, guns pointed at my head, beat downs, several rehabs, etc…., was enough to get me to quit.
So how does a welfare system overcome something this powerful? It doesn’t. It can’t.
There’s really no effective treatment for addiction for folks who are resistant. A good junkie, like I was, can find a way around anything to get high, basically cuz he (I) doesn’t (didn’t) give a fuck about the consequenses.
If they could stop drugs like cocaine and dope from coming into the country (which I believe is possible, if you could root out the corruption in the system first - BIG if), there wouldn’t be the huge drug problem we have today. Until that happens, I don’t thing things will ever change.
There is some hope however. I have 2 daughters. After I got clean, I never lied to them when they asked about things I did when I was caught out. They know how much of a scumbag I was, and the man I am today. Neither one of them has ever gotten high…ever. Maybe our kids are the solution, if we’re straight with them (another BIG if).
Max
Max, Mazzi,
Good points all around. Thx for a lil history surrounding the relief system, interesting stuff.
I didn’t mean to imply that the united should isolate itself. As you said max, the united states, for good or bad, has a resposibility to the world, and we should fill that role. I just believe we should clean up our own backyard first.
Everyone needs a hand from time to time, so I don’t think you nessicarily need to degrade a person. BUT when you get cases of these so called “welfairies”, the ones too lazy to get up off their asses and work, well dammit….
My turn to start rambling, not even sure my theories on this subject are clear.
at any rate, you guys have given me some food for thought.
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RAWR!! <— An1mal roar!
I am a lil tipsy this night, but you’ll just have to forgive me.
I’ll try and address my thoughts on “DRUGS” to anyone who will listen tonight.
First off, I am one of the lucky few who can drop most addictions like a turd…plop plop! Allow me to explain: During my years i have tried alot of different drugs…coke/crack, lsd, shrooms, sherm, meth, weed…never anything injected however…I suppose I was an intelligent junkie? I like to think so.
Fortunately I have been able to push all of that out like a corn-filled poopy. Unfortunately I find myself unable to beat the “LEGAL” addictions…aka cigs and booze. I smoke and drink like a mofo lol.
“The only way to stop an addict from using who doesn’t want to stop is to a) lock him up or b) Take away his supplier.”
I respectfully disagree with you sir. And here is why:
1.) Prisoners, in jail or prison, still are able to receive illegal drugs. The evidence for this is so ample that I wont even bother with it.
2.) You will NEVER be able to eliminate the supplier. Supply and Demand…..as long as there are those who wish to purchase it,
the suppliers will always be able to meet the demand. Case in point….the “War on Drugs” cough cough bs waste of taxpayer dollars cough cough…
The only drug I would actively advocate for is marijuana. The federal government still provides medical marijuana for a very small group of individuals the suppliers will always be able to meet the demand. Case in point….the “War on Drugs” cough cough bs waste of taxpayer dollars cough cough…
The only drug I would actively advocate for is marijuana. The FEDERAL government, yes the ones who run the “WAR” still provides medical marijuana for a very small group of individuals…7 at last count……until the day they die. I wont go into how hypocritical that is, it should be blantantly obvious. I encourage all to watch the penn and teller episode on it, then do your own research, then decide if a mere plant, if its lit on fire and burned, and you just happened to inhale the smoke and get fucked up, truly deserves all this effort. ~~ paraphasing a good comic….the midget guy from norbit lol
The rest of the drugs out there i personally wouldnt mind seeing them wiped off the face of the planet. Realistically tho it probably will never happen…..after all booze and cigs are still very legal.
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ack, typos abound heh
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