It is unconscionable that the far right patriarchy of American, these so-called "conservatives", with their rampant porn addiction and thousands of prominent leaders charged with sexual assault, would hi-jack the very serious issue of human trafficking pedophilia for political grist.
This post follows on from this:
Is it actually about catching evil paedophiles??
Is the pre-occupation by the far-right fundamentalists with the alleged paedophilia of the "liberals" deflection away from the sexual crimes within their own ranks?
Which follows on from this:
Fundamentalism, Patriarchy, Misogyny - not nice, but what's that got to do with vaccination or Coronavirus Denialism? The swarming tactics of the far-right agenda in USA
Because you really need to understand their "Culture War" of the last few decades to understand why they're swarming social media NOW.
We are caught up in a "censorship through noise" campaign by far-right activists in American.
This is all about creating chaos and confusion so people are so disoriented, they can't think straight, let alone vote straight, at the American elections in November.
Things to note:
1. Hashtag saveourchildren is ignoring data and intelligence from organizations doing this work for decades
2. It has links to Qanon conspiracies and Coronavirus denialism and the undermining of the BLM movememnt (because the fundamentalist right are racist as well as sexist)
3. It is undermining the real work of actual organizations combating human trafficking, sexual exploitation and pedophile networks
4. Notice how it's all about "children"? That is because this particular voter base is steeped in misogyny, and they see trafficked women as dirty "sluts and whores" who didn't obey their morality/purity preaching exhaustively enough. Victim blaming is common in this demographic. 20 million girls and women have been trafficked ... but this latest disinformation campaign only talks about CHILDREN.
These guys are not the arbiters of righteousness, morality, truth and freedom. Right wing racist, sexist, fundamentalist patriarchy is not who to turn to to "save" you from the "evil Dem pedos" and the "authoritarian" government stealing your civil liberties.
These people who preach that women must submit to male authority and that children must be spanked and that women leaders are "Jezebels" are way more authoritarian than the governments they seek to undermine, to create a power vacuum.
How ‘Save the Children’ Became a Conspiracy Grift
"Child trafficking conspiracies blur the lines between real life and fringe extremism — and the clicks continue to roll in
As it turns out, clicking on any assortment of innocuous-seeming
hashtags, whether it’s #SavetheChildren or #EndTrafficking, puts you
straight into an insane spectrum of ideologies and analyses, (such as) those who proclaim that Trump is
about to liberate the world by rounding up pedophiles. There’s a subtle
grift here, too — one in which lifestyle influencers rapidly transition
to blaring messaging about child trafficking as a cornerstone of their
brand, despite no educational background or experience."
I beg you. PLEASE do not source your anti-trafficking and anti-pornocracy information from anything to do with Qanon, hashtag pizzagate or hashtag saveourchildren.
IF YOU CARE
PLEASE do your research. This is going to take more than gasping in horror at an "influencer's" video or the latest 3-line meme going viral (with the help of Russian troll farms).
Instead:
* Read the TIP Report
* Read the Institute for Strategic Dialogue briefings - to better undersand the dynamics of extremism, polarization, conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns
* Listen to reports from law enforcement specialised units actually going after, and busting human trafficking and pedophile rings.
* Sign this petition:
Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding Trafficking
* Sign this petition:
Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding Trafficking
* And follow these reputable organizations (below) with their decades of experience and proven track record in these fields.
Kooky conspiracy theories are detracting from the very real issue of child trafficking
More commentary from (real) trafficking activists - warning of the disingenuous and misleading 'saveourchildren' campaign:
1. Meghan T. Schanz
1. Meghan T. Schanz
TW: Child Sex Trafficking
Human trafficking is very much a real thing, but #SaveOurChildren is doing more harm than good for the people who actually experience sex trafficking.
#SaveOurChildren is just another extension of Q Anon, which is a far-right conspiracy theory detailing a supposed secret plot by an alleged liberal “deep state” against Donald Trump and his supporters.
I know you’re probably thinking “What’s wrong with spreading information about child sex trafficking??” Well, nothing, but that isn’t what #SaveOurChildren is doing.
Sex trafficking help lines are being flooded with “tips” from these conspiracy theorists sharing misinformation on social media, which prevents actual victims from reaching organizations that can help them.
Make no mistake, #SaveOurChildren is just another method of getting well meaning people who care about children to join the Q Anon movement. Similarly to how the church of scientology hands out pamphlets with generally helpful information (most recently their COVID pamphlet) That has real info in it, but its purpose is to draw you into their website.
The people sharing this hashtag are being tricked into thinking they are helping children, but in reality they are spreading information for, and becoming associated with, a group that thinks Bill Gates is -literally- Satan.
“It’s not a videogame where you make your way fighting off enemies (and saving children) in underground tunnels before emerging in Bill Gates’ lair where you fight Satan, the COVID-19 vaccine and Hilary Clinton with your AR-15 with built in grenade launcher.
No, real life is much worse and grittier and more boring.” (https://webworm.substack.com/p/why-saveourchildren-is-not-about-b9b)
The spread of Q Anon has not and will not save any children. People who have actually been sexually trafficked are seeing this movement and seeing your posts and they do not support it! In fact many have taken to Twitter to try to explain to y’all why it is harmful.
With conspiracy theories, trying to convince people that it isn’t true unfortunately usually just pulls people deeper into the falsities. But, please, if you’ve shared a post like this and you are reading, re-evaluate what you are doing. Listen to the people that have been doing the research on this. Listen to the victims that are telling you that you are not helping but hurting them.
The People that are spreading Q Anon propaganda seem more interested in the sensationalization of it all and being perceived as all knowing truth tellers. Meanwhile actual survivors are being ignored when their experience doesn’t fit into the elaborate conspiracy they’ve made up.
This all comes down to the reality that these very real problems in the world are not going to be solved by posting hashtags. They require extensive work and organizing. Social media can be a good tool for rapid organization, but it unfortunately has been used time and time again to instead stifle movements and encourage people to do less. Join an organization. Fight against the sexual predators in your friend circles, in your family, in your neighborhood, etc etc.
-EDIT- The fact that “being against #saveourchildren” seems like I’m against ending human trafficking or saying it doesn’t exist at all is INTENTIONAL! That is why Q Anon is weaponizing this movement bc who wants to be against something like that? But I’m not against spreading awareness about *actual* child sex trafficking. Wayfair, Pizzagate, all of these ridiculous conspiracy theories. That is what we are talking about here. Donald Trump and the Clinton’s hung out with Epstein. This isn’t about dems or GOP. If you really want to talk about trafficking and sexual assault let’s start with the president. Let’s start with the trafficking happening in our back yards. This isn’t some action movie where you’re the superhero who is gonna save all the kids from the Clinton’s underground cave, it’s a lot more work and it’s a lot more complicated than that. It’s time to stop! You can’t name one child saved by QAnon bc they don’t save children. They use conspiracy theories to increase support for the deranged president. & if you’re with them you clearly don’t actually care about children & should feel ashamed.
-EDIT 2- I am a survivor of childhood & adolescent sexual assault. Telling me I love pedophiles is so disgusting and out of line. I have so much seething anger towards pedophiles. One caused me so much trauma that it affects me to this day. So yeah, I have a very personal connection to this situation, and I’m pissed that people are overlooking actual sexual assault in favor of whatever conspiracy makes their president look best. It’s gross and it’s selfish and I have a right to be pissed about it.
Some podcasts to look into that go into way more detail are:
Q Anon Anonymous - Counters Q Anon propaganda directly with heavily researched episodes.
TrueAnon- Discusses child sex traficking and Epstein in the light that it needs to be talked about, by pointing out the very real and very horrible things that elites of all political backgrounds have committed. They try to keep it a little light hearted, and I would highly recommend them to people who like conspiracy theories.
7. Avri Sapir:
Please take this from someone trained in serving sex trafficked children: Masks are not causing trafficking. Poverty, patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, and our lack of publicly funded trauma-informed care, mental healthcare, and a real social safety net *are*.
Many of the contributors to the vulnerability of children in trafficking can be eliminated by strong social safety nets and trauma informed services.
The young people I worked with were mostly desperate and helpless. It’s not that no one knew where they were (they were in plain sight) or that no one knew that they were being trafficked. It’s that our society refuses to fund the mental healthcare, housing, trauma informed services, and basic necessities to prevent desperation and for those currently trapped to gain the stability needed to escape permanently.
Police “rescues” only served to make their situations more tenuous because police would almost always trump up petty charges and hold them in jail to try to blackmail them into testifying against their traffickers, further endangering their lives.
Not being able to personally fund their needs to get them off the streets broke my heart every fucking time. But we, collectively, absolutely *can* do it if we care enough to fully fund the public resources needed.
I challenge every person concerned for children being trafficked to start learning about and advocating for policies and social change that will prevent trafficking and help free those in bondage, AND to vote for representatives who will actively work to eliminate systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism, and will fight for public healthcare, including mental healthcare, along with fully funded social safety nets. That is if you really want to #SaveTheChildren.
Otherwise, you are just posturing in order to virtue signal and/or to deflect from your own negligence toward your neighbors during this pandemic.
Looks like I need to talk about Qanon. [Sigh]
Back in May, I released an article about Christians and Conspiracy Theories (https://bit.ly/2XSCFoA). It quickly became one of my most-read articles and, as of today, it’s amassed more than 750,000 views. And, with all of that exposure (and a topic as divisive as conspiracy theories), comes an inbox packed with deranged and CAPS LOCK-challenged emails.
However, perhaps the most distressing and haunting private messages I received in response to my article were from people seeking advice on how to break the stranglehold a particular conspiracy theory had on a friend or loved one (often a parent or husband). And, nearly all of these heartbreaking testimonies involved QAnon (or, “Q”).
So, who (or what) is Q?
The genesis of the QAnon conspiracy theory can be found on 4chan, an image-sharing website infamous for its inflammatory and misogynistic user community. On October 28, 2017, an anonymous user (who would soon be known as “Q”) claimed he had insider knowledge that Hillary Clinton would soon be arrested and the National Guard had been activated to quell any civil unrest that would result from her capture.
Of course, none of this happened. But the post ignited a frenzy of speculation. Q later claimed to be a whistleblowing intelligence officer in the U.S. Government with a “Q-level” security clearance - which means he has unlimited and unprecedented access to our nation’s secrets. Q continued to “leak” top secret information on internet message boards - written in a fractured style filled with sentence fragments, backslashes, and acronyms - and he soon developed a cult-like following (https://bit.ly/31SESSk). After a couple of years, a grand narrative began to take shape (https://bit.ly/3401SkW).
According to those who follow QAnon, President Donald Trump is on the verge of exposing a secret network of Satan-worshipping pedophiles that controls much of Hollywood, the U.S. Government, and the major tech companies (https://bit.ly/2PQYTDe).
I’m not joking.
And, because QAnon is driven by far-right political leanings (https://bit.ly/3g8SLAS), President Donald Trump is painted as a virtuous genius whose primary justification for becoming President is to save children from ritualistic blood sacrifice and sex trafficking by an interconnected web of (Democrat, of course) politicians, businessmen, and celebrities (https://bit.ly/313caic).
Another key feature of QAnon is that this powerful cabal of child-eating pedophiles communicates to one another using a thinly-veiled code in their emails, tweets, and Instagram postings. And President Trump hides updates to QAnon followers of his “shadow war” in his (many, many) tweets - you just have to know what to look for.
This belief encourages an obsessive and paranoid “scavenger hunt” mentality as QAnon adherents jump from message board to message board “decoding” tweets and “connecting the dots” between current events, high-profile celebrities, and businesses.
“Wow, well this is batsh*t insane,” you may be thinking right now. “Who would believe this?”
Well, quite a lot of people, actually (https://nyti.ms/3avxaBD). In fact, Marjorie Greene, a Georgia Republican who has expressed support of QAnon, is on her way to a seat in Congress (https://n.pr/31M4VdO). She’s one of 19 QAnon-sympathetic politicians on the ballot in November.
QAnon may be the fastest-growing and influential religious belief system in the U.S. in recent memory (https://bit.ly/2E55jf6). QAnon has prophets (Q), saviors (Trump), sacred texts to interpret (Q postings and tweets), an apocalyptic endgame (the exposure/judgment of evil), and it encourages active participation in a shared worldview. If you're a pastor, you probably have disciples of Q in your congregation (https://bit.ly/3kVZ0vx).
QAnon is what I would call a “meta-narrative” conspiracy theory. It can be augmented to include everything and everyone - the Clintons, the Obamas, the Illuminati, Jeffrey Epstein, the Freemasons, George Soros, Bill Gates, Oprah, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, the “Deep State,” the End Times prophecies found in the Book of Revelation, and even poor ol' Tom Hanks.
As a result, the tendrils of QAnon are so far-reaching and deep that someone may not realize they’re interacting with Q-related content until it’s too late. And this has become increasingly problematic in recent weeks.
For example, you may remember that baseless claim that Wayfair - an online furniture company - was trafficking children in cabinets sold from their online storefront (https://bit.ly/3aoMpvP) that went viral a few weeks ago. This ridiculous accusation began life as a Reddit thread, and then spread across QAnon message boards and (interestingly enough) Christian lifestyle bloggers on Instagram (https://bit.ly/340YhDa).
The crusade to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking has long been a social justice initiative among young evangelical Christians (in college, I participated in several conferences and organizations devoted to this cause). However, the “success” of the Wayfair conspiracy theory among evangelical Christians opened the gates to new fertile territory for QAnon to corrupt and absorb (https://bit.ly/2DSLUhZ).
The noble and virtuous rallying cry (“Save the Children!”) has instead become co-opted into another entry point into the QAnon conspiracy theory (https://nyti.ms/3gXfdhB). After all, who wouldn’t want to Save Our Children (https://bit.ly/2Y6536L)? Why bother with "divisive" topics like racial inequality, climate change, or healthcare when children are literally being bought and sold under our noses by political and Hollywood elites?
Here’s the deal: Human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children are very real evils that occur abroad and within the borders of the United States. However, NOT A SINGLE CHILD has been rescued as a result of those seeking to expose the Pizzagate, QAnon, and Wayfair conspiracy theories. Not a single one.
Meanwhile, at the same time, real organizations (like IJM, A21, The Polaris Project, and World Vision) are doing the hard work of rescuing and rehabilitating the victims of sex traffickers and bringing their abusers to justice. However, when we latch onto and promote any heinous conspiracy theory shared on Reddit or by an Instagram lifestyle blogger without fact-checking, we muddy the issue and steer the conversation away from the real victims, public policies, law enforcement officers, and heroes making a difference in this dark corner of the world (https://bit.ly/30TLhNN).
(We also forget that it was professional journalists who exposed the Catholic sex abuse scandals (https://bit.ly/3an2h1V), Harvey Weinstein (https://bit.ly/2XSYSmH), and Jeffrey Epstein (https://nyti.ms/3am6XFr) - you know, the “mainstream media”).
Also, a child doesn’t have to be trafficked to be sexually abused. In America, a child is far more likely to be sexually exploited by a parent, youth pastor, family member, scoutmaster, teacher, or close family friend than they are to be abducted and trafficked.
For example, in 2019, the Houston Chronicle released a six-part series (https://bit.ly/3fTRhKN) that uncovered more than 700 unreported cases of sexual abuse including more than 200 instances of convicted sex offenders being allowed to work/volunteer with children within the Southern Baptist Convention - a loosely connected network of Baptist churches. Or in 2018, when the Boy Scouts of America declared bankruptcy on account of settlements related to sex abuse lawsuits (https://n.pr/31VjOuC).
Those aren't conspiracies. That's negligence combined with the willful ignorance of "It can't happen here."
It’s important to be vigilant and educated about sexual abuse and human trafficking, but it may look far more mundane than movies like “Taken” would have you believe. When we “exoticize” and sensationalize sex trafficking into something that only occurs between secret cabals of elite men and women, we’re probably more prone to missing the signs of child sex abuse when it’s occurring in our own neighborhoods.
As QAnon ropes more and more Christ-followers into it’s tangled web (https://bit.ly/2XYoZbS), Christians need to be prepared to confront and challenge those seduced by its addictive puzzle-box narrative and sinister deceit (https://bit.ly/2PODQBl).
Because I can assure you, conspiracy theories like QAnon are destroying family relationships and breaking apart close friendships. They’re distorting reality and perpetuating a toxic worldview rooted in baseless and obsessive speculation, mania, and paranoia. It's truly heartbreaking to watch people fall into this nearly inescapable pit. And, perhaps worst of all, it delegitimizes and distracts from a truly horrific issue that deserves (and requires) the utmost precision and sensitivity to expose and combat effectively.
If you really want to "save the children," stop playing armchair detective, and put your money where your mouth is and donate to one of these fully vetted anti-trafficking organizations:
Postscript: I didn't expect this post to blow up. However, if you want to read more of my content concerning the intersection of faith, culture, science, history, and politics, you can follow my blog (www.instrumentofmercy.com), on Facebook
or follow me on Medium at Joe Forrest (https://bit.ly/3fVqfml).
or follow me on Medium at Joe Forrest (https://bit.ly/3fVqfml).
Post-Postscript: Please try not to engage the Q trolls in the comment section. However, I've decided not to delete their comments as they affirm the points I've stated above.
Polaris
National Center on Sexual Exploitation
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exodus Cry
Fight the New Drug
NightLight International
Project Rescue
International Justice Mission
Invest in safe houses & restoration centers.
Reach out to local women working in the commercial sex industry.
Value family & invest in young boys & girls about their worth & create safe places.
Talk with children about their own safety & boundaries with others.
Diligently manage children/teen social media usage.
Invest time & resource into the foster care/adoption system.
Understand the very real connection between pornography and sex trafficking. STOP the demand.
Help take care of the most vulnerable around us…help safeguard them from being vulnerable to trafficking.
Set up your churches, daycares, schools and organizations to safeguard from abuse.
Create an understanding that 70% of female trafficking victims are trafficked into the commercial sex industry…Prostitution, massage parlors, pornography, stripping and escorting. Let that information change the way that we understand the issue and look at the commercial sex industry.
Set a standard in our communities that we value people… Not bodies. We don’t use people. We validate people’s experiences. We speak up for justice. We come alongside. We truly love our neighbors.
Scars & Stilletos- Harmony Dust
Girls Like Us- Rachel Lloyd
Paid For- Rachel Moran
Prostitute=prostituted person
Child Prostitute=trafficking victim
Pimp= Trafficker
John/Trick=Person buying sex
I have seen a major influx of sharing about child sex trafficking.
I have been largely quiet on this issue lately & many have reached out to me.
I have a few thoughts-
Sex trafficking isn’t new. It’s only trending.
1-I am thankful for an increase in compassion & care for the vulnerable. I want ALL people on board to help bring about the change we so desperately need.
2-However, I am deeply concerned & I’ve been talking with other advocates about this lately. They are feeling the same concern. Many of us have been speaking out against and fighting sex trafficking for years. It is all of a sudden trending due to a few reasons. Now it’s getting attention…
3- The issue with this…the “awareness” that is being spread and the fear that our children are going to be snatched off of our streets… It’s simply not true & incredibly harmful to the work of awareness that is credible.
4- I would really plead with all of my wonderful well-meaning friends…to really research sex trafficking and sign up for the long-haul of the fight. Please don’t follow sensationalized organizations/conspiracies that create a issue that has never been the true face of exploitation. I am sad to say that I believe there are some political motives in this sudden influx of awareness.
5- Be careful with hashtags. I have recently seen one trending that I have never seen in all of my years of advocacy...I’ve been doing some digging and that hashtag doesn’t link to anything that is truly helping the vulnerable. It’s actually being linked to a conspiracy theory. Please please give attention to credible source & information so we don’t “reinvent” the image of trafficking & need to spend years reframing it yet again.
6- Sex trafficking doesn’t look like children being snatched off the streets. Sex trafficking looks like children and women…& sometimes boys and men…being lured & groomed usually by someone they know and exploited for commercial sex. It doesn’t look like IKEA stalkers, Target parking lot creeps, zip ties on side mirrors, conspiracy & Wayfair cabinets. I am not saying that it never does…because evil is evil and can take many forms…but I have never heard of a story where this is the case. Nor in all of my years of research have I ever heard this to be the case.
7- It shouldn’t take trending hashtags and sensationalism for us to get on board with things like this. I understand that we all have a moment where we are awakened to true suffering…& I am deeply thankful for those moments…so if you have recently had a moment like this…please follow organizations who have been leading the way for decades and decades. Please follow sources that will give you credible information. Please continue to educate yourselves and share with others.
Please be informed on trauma and the ways we are communicating certain words here. It matters so much.
Follow-
PolarisNational Center on Sexual ExploitationNational Center for Missing & Exploited Children Exodus CryFight the New Drug NightLight InternationalProject RescueInternational Justice Mission
If we want to fight sex trafficking we need to...
Invest in safe houses & restoration centers. Reach out to local women working in the commercial sex industry.Value family & invest in young boys & girls about their worth & create safe places.Talk with children about their own safety & boundaries with others. Diligently manage children/teen social media usage.Invest time & resource into the foster care/adoption system. Understand the very real connection between pornography and sex trafficking. STOP the demand. Help take care of the most vulnerable around us…help safeguard them from being vulnerable to trafficking.Set up your churches, daycares, schools and organizations to safeguard from abuse. Create an understanding that 70% of female trafficking victims are trafficked into the commercial sex industry…Prostitution, massage parlors, pornography, stripping and escorting. Let that information change the way that we understand the issue and look at the commercial sex industry. Set a standard in our communities that we value people… Not bodies. We don’t use people. We validate people’s experiences. We speak up for justice. We come alongside. We truly love our neighbors.
Books to read-
Scars & Stilletos- Harmony Dust Girls Like Us- Rachel Lloyd Paid For- Rachel Moran
Some words to look out for-
Prostitute=prostituted person Child Prostitute=trafficking victim Pimp= Trafficker John/Trick=Person buying sex
One final note…we cannot solely focus on children here...the women being trafficked…were once children who were never helped and restored
There are woman right in your community listed online for sex every day.
There are women right in your community who are being trafficked.
They are children right in your community experiencing sexual abuse and exploitation.
We don’t need to sensationalize the issue. It’s horrific enough.
May we get behind people and organizations who have put their hand to the slow and steady work of restoration.
If we can come together, learn together, empathize and pray together…be willing to refine one another...imagine the dent we can make in this injustice. Let’s do this well.
A whole lot of folks are using #SaveOurChildren to talk about child sex trafficking, praising Trump’s (fictional) actions and saying it needs more focus than COVID.
I survived sex trafficking. Don’t pretend you care for political points. #YouDidntSaveMe
I will believe you care when you do instead of just talk.
I will believe your org gives a damn if you pass the mic to survivors. Don’t speak about us as if you speak for us. (We are not voiceless just because you talk over us.)
I will believe you care about #SaveOurChildren when you aren’t making it about Trump or COVID.
I didn’t go through hell to be treated as a trendy hashtag but not an actual person.
7. Avri Sapir:
Work to stop pedophile rings IS going on, and it IS in the public eye - it just has nothing to do with American fundamentalist political agendas and Coronavirus deflection and disinformation tactics.
And nothing to do with getting a morally corrupt, pedophile president re-elected.
Alleged online child sex abuse network busted by Federal Police, 9 arrested and 14 children rescued
Disinformation harms the cause. Stop spreading it.
No, The Government Did Not Break Up A Child Sex Trafficking Ring In Georgia
Simple headlines obscure the complex realities of abuse, sex work and the real threats to American children.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/government-did-not-break-up-child-sex-trafficking-ring-georgia_n_5f52b7a1c5b6946f3eb1c5d9?ri18n=true
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