Leaving the Brothel Behind

New York Times ^ | 1/19/05 | NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[killjoy]

Now they import these people from Cambodia.

A girl making $1.50 a day in Thailand is better than a girl starving in Cambodia. I have a few friends who you would consider on the 'slave' scale when it comes to wages. They are simply happy they can make money and be alive.

[angkor]

Thailand had many similar forms of white slavery, but since it became more developed these practices stopped. Now they import these people from Cambodia.

The Thai prostitutes come mainly from Isan in northeastern Thailand, not from Cambodia.

Though I like your premise about capitalism, Cambodia also is a fairly capitalist society, but with a lot of corruption and a kleptocratic government.

The real problem is that these rural societies which are dirt, dirt poor don't provide too many chances for education or training.

[angkor]

That is because all the sex tourists were in Phuket. Don't you read FR? LOL!

Oh yes, I forgot. Every Westerner in Thailand is a sex tourist. Right.

[arasina]

One girl with a *legitimate* marketable skill and a reasonable future may not seem like much, but God values every person immeasurably, and will reward Mr. Kristof for his kindness.

Beautifully stated, Tax-chick.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I hope when I die, I'll be known as a "do-gooder".

Yep.

That old AmericanInTokyo did good on this earth.

Yep, that's how I hope I'll go out and on to the other side. "Do-gooder."

[Old Professer]

Has outrage been banished from the handbook?

What supercilious driveling, hubristic back-patting, sort of senseless jerk would write this for pay?

[Cicero]

This reminds me of stories I've read about how African blacks confiscated many stores from their Indian owners during the early years of independence. What the new store owners were unable to understand was that you couldn't immediately spend the profits from each day's sales, because you had to use some of the money to restock.

So, all the stores ran out of goods, the new owners ran out of money, and the economy collapsed.

Keeping the shelves filled seems like a simple concept, but if you've never done anything like that before, evidently the logic of it escapes you, just as it did this girl's family.

You need a little training in basic business methods, and above all you need LAW, so people can run a business without having it stolen, ripped off, or confiscated.

[MarkL]

I remember hearing about children in Christian schools helping to raise money for a human rights group to buy slaves in Sudan (I think) and then set them free.

I also remember hearing about a bunch of sanctimonious human rights groups accusing them of "supporting the slave trade."

Those scumbags are typical leftists... Recognizing a problem, and then sitting around, talking amongst themselves about what a terrible thing it is... But condemning those trying to do something about it!

Mark

[MarkL]

One girl with a *legitimate* marketable skill and a reasonable future may not seem like much, but God values every person immeasurably, and will reward Mr. Kristof for his kindness.

I recall a saying by someone far wiser than myself saying that when you save one person, it's like saving the whole world.

Mark

[John Lenin]

The author fails to mention the tragedy that communism is on country.

[BlazingArizona]

What supercilious driveling, hubristic back-patting, sort of senseless jerk would write this for pay?

Try a tall glass of Metamucil. You'll feel a whole lot better.

[expatguy]

The Europeans here don't just look for sex. They look for weird sex.

[JackelopeBreeder]

The white slavery trade isn't limited to Southeast Asia. Young girls are also smuggled into this country for the same purpose. Most are Korean, Eastern European, and Latin American.

[appeal2]

In another 5-10 years the Patpong district will go the way of the Combat Zone in Boston and Times Square in NYC. Going into one of those Thai bars and seeing the show to me was one of the most depressing sites I had ever witnessed. You could see that these people were totally exploited.

[angkor]

The author fails to mention the tragedy that communism is on country.

Cambodia has a screwy government, but it is not communist. A warlord's kleptocracy maybe, but not communist.

[ricks_place]

Kristof actual praises President Bush in a prior article

"...President Bush has done more than his predecessors in making sex trafficking an issue, and his State Department has done a first-rate job exerting pressure - but there's so much more that we could do. The Bush administration could put a real dent in sex trafficking if we were to treat it as firmly as we do, say, pirated movies, and this brazen incident in Cambodia would be a fine place to start...."

( Prior NYT Article)

[satchmodog9]

You got that right.

[John Lenin]

A warlord's kleptocracy maybe, but not communist.

Is there a differnce between the two ?

[angkor]

Is there a difference between the two ?

Yes. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were communists.

[hobbes1]

Ms. Rendall added that there was only one problem with Srey Neth: "She doesn't want to do massage. ...

What?!?!?!? No Happy Ending?