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It's called "Justifying bad behaviour by pointing at other bad behaviour." Very common!

 

heidi

Howard Bramhall <howard9732@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I haven't seen the piece Melissa is speaking of but, consider this. I'm not
sure if we know who exactly is running this supposed sex slave trade that
she's speaking of. IF we did, I do believe arrests would be made. At least
I'd like to believe this.

On the other hand, the camel jockey slave traders in UAE are known. We know
who they are. Sheihk Mohammed who sponsors quite a few of our International
endurance rides along with the other Sheihks in the UAE are DIRECTLY
responsible for this camel jockey slavery of young boys in their country.
They own the camels, they send out the men to kidnap these boys, they pay
the trainers who beat the boys and who sleep with these boys and make sure
the boys are fed only crackers and water to keep their weight down.

It's comparisons like Mellissa's that say, "Well, bad stuff is happening
over in the Sudan and bad stuff is happening in our own country so we might
as well turn a blind eye to it all."

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Look, we need to take a stand here. I plan
on taking a very serious one and I know there's a touch of irony since few
consider me to be a serious man. But this is plain hypocrisy on anyone's
part to take their money one day and the next go to church and pray for
wolrd peace, thinking we are living moral and dignified lives, when we know
this kind of crap is going on but we do NOTHING about it.

Every aspect of International Endurance Riding is touched by the Sheihks.
This is where we can make a difference. We cut that cord. WE no longer do
business with them and we make it very public.

Yes, this will take courage and it won't surprise me if those in charge fail
to show any when it comes to money, greed and the bottom line. But, watch
that show, tonite, 8 pm, HBO REal Sports with Byrant Gumble, and then tell
me this is not the road to take here.

You, also, might want to contact your Congressman on this subject. When you
see the part of the show there the fellow from the State Department talks
about it, well, it made me ill. Like Maryanne has said, we've known about
this for quite sometime. I didn't know but I know now. IF we do nothing
about these atrocious crimes against humanity, and, we not only know who the
perpretators are, but, we actually do business with them, what does that say
about us?

I used to believe take their money and run. But, I feel that way no longer.
We're talking about dealing with those whom we should not even be in
contact with and should be taking legal action against them for crimes
against humanity. Serious crimes. We can survive just fine without their
money. By continuing to take this money we turn a blind eye to a practice
that is so repugnant most of ya'll can't even talk about it.

cya,
Howard

----Original Message Follows----
From: Lynne Glazer
To: "Melissa Alexander"
CC:
Subject: Re: [RC] Sultan's Slave Trade
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 12:59:31 -0700

Illegally, IOW, without the complicity of the authorities. Not comparable,
IMO.

This thread isn't necessarily "dead". I've had trouble coming up with a
reasonable comeback to what Marianne said. Because we personally didn't
know about the slave trade, that means because we've supported the US gov't,
from what she's said, it sounds like I'm complicit. And that because we
don't understand the desperate situations in much of the world, we should
support slavery as a reasonable alternative to overpopulation, world
hunger--or that it is acceptable in certain cultures. No. Sorry. This is
directly connected to the sport I love, because the people who allegedly are
responsible for this slavery are hosting our world championships and
sponsoring events here. And the reason it's reached the radar now perhaps
is because it's all in the name of SPORT. Not wartime atrocities.
Peacetime atrocities. Now that I know, I can't keep silent--at the same
time, now that my fellow sportmen know where I stand, I'll shut up here.

Consider indentured servitude--and how it's different from slavery. Someone
agreed, somewhere to a term of service in exchange for something. And the
service includes a reasonable standard of living. Millions of us have done
that by serving in the US forces, for instance. You aren't "chattel".

I'm donating some prizes to the raffle for our local US team member's fund
raiser tomorrow night, and am deciding whether to attend. I've supported
her efforts thus far, contributing saddle fitting, etc., but boy, I wish we
had the huevos to investigate these allegations and make the right moral
choice as a National Team. We've done it before, at the Olympic level. Why
is this any different?

Lynne



On Oct 22, 2004, at 12:38 PM, Melissa Alexander wrote:

>I know this thread has died, but there was just a story on our news in
>Seattle about a human trafficking in the US. (This was motivated by a
>conference/seminar on the subject given here recently, not by the TV show
>we've been discussing.)
>
>They said in this story that they estimate between 14,000 and 17,000 people
>are brought illegally into the US each year as sex slaves.
>
>We don't need to look far for human atrocities.
>
>Melissa


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