Read the full extent of fuckery here. One thing I will say, as y’all are welcome to read the IAmA and then comment on it here, is that I am amused by how he so easily admits to the ego trip that was the infamously Tweeted brothel raid:
look, journalism and twitter can both be ego trips, so i wouldn’t deny that ego plays a role. but drama brings attention to neglected problems, and attention helps make a difference.
that brothel that i raided with Somaly Mam was run by the military and men were lining up each day to rape the 12-year-old girl we freed. She just sent me a lovely video message the other day, and it was so wonderful to see her smiling and happy.
My main concern in live-tweeting the raid was alerting the military that we were doing the raid. That’s why i didn’t send advance notice about it. But if i can do so without risking the amazing cambodians doing the heroic heavy lifting, i want to shine every light i can on the brothels. that includes my columns, my videos, my fb posts — and, yes, my live tweeting a brothel raid. i’m pretty shameless about using every weapon in my arsenal. [emphasis mine]
Journalism isn’t supposed to be an ego trip, you ass.
And again, the cognitive dissonance between supporting sweatshops as necessary but brothels as the greatest evil since Satan himself:
yes, i do. i think the critics of sweatshops are right in their criticisms, and on top of those problems some of those factories also have environmental issues (e.g. dump pollution in a river). But the big need in poor countries is jobs, jobs, jobs. And garment factories provide those jobs, often to women who don’t have a lot of other alternatives.
Yes, brothels provide many of those jobs, jobs, jobs, and alternatives for women who don’t want to work in the garment factories; and you brag about taking away THAT choice of a job the way Romney brags about Bain Capital taking away jobs other poor people needed. Oh, but you need your cheaply made t-shirts so, that overrides criticisms of sweatshops then. So problems in the factories can be brushed off (and this includes the presence of child labor) but not for the brothels.
As you read it, keep an eye out for a couple of amazing comments from sex worker rights activist, Melissa Gira Grant. If you manage to stomach the entire IAmA post, congratulations.
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