Craigslist (craigslist.com), known for its’ shady dealers, scams, ripoffs and the occasional good deal, is officially doing away with the “Adult Services” category on the site amidst claims that it enabled and accepted prostitution.
The website’s proprietor, Craig Newmark, received open letters from the attorneys general of 17 states suggesting that he remove the feature.
You may be saying “Well, no one ever took that seriously! Prostitution is illegal!” Easy there, reader. According to the AIM Group, adult services accounts for 30 percent of Craigslist’s overall revenue.
It’s about damn time. Craigslist, to me, is nothing more than a breeding ground for shysters – of all kinds. If you could conjure up the most radical idea of a shyster in your head, Craigslist would more than likely have it.
My main question is fairly simple, and one that any logical person would share: How have they been allowed to promote prostitution for so long? Isn’t it illegal? Personally, I don’t believe prostitution should be illegal. It’s another one of those things that was outlawed based on stupid religious morals and the fear of the youth of America becoming warped. My philosophy on prostitution is directly borrowed from the late, great George Carlin: “Selling is legal. F-ing is legal. So why isn’t selling f-ing legal?”
Of all the things in this nation that get scrutinized, shut down and locked away by radical Conservative Christians and politically correct Liberals, how was Craigslist able to slip through the cracks?
Is it because they’ve tirelessly worked with law enforcement to ensure that child prostitution doesn’t occur on the site? Is it because like any other uncaring, thoughtless company they put a list of intuitive, carbon-copy safety tips on their front page?
Look, don’t be stupid. When you’re running a massively popular virtual trading post, you’re bound to have some shady criminal activity – you can’t police it all. You can’t even BEGIN to police it all. The few sinister posting titles that do get reported to authorities make no difference to the big picture. If people are motivated and sneaky enough, they can turn any public forum into their own personal stomping ground. It’s not just Craigslist – it’s the INTERNET.
Yes, my friends, the Internet. If it can’t happen anymore on Craigslist, it will just happen somewhere else. Guaranteed. Granted, Craigslist makes it easier to sell young girls for sex, but has everyone forgotten that we haven’t always had the Internet? Sex trafficking was going on long before this digital wasteland came around. It’s kind of like the computers crashing at a restaurant and having to take orders with pen and paper – when the convenient way fails, reverting to an archaic method is the only option.
Headlines regarding unsavory and illegal things occurring on Craigslist run rampant on the Internet – just like they do with Facebook, MySpace, eBay and social networking sites in general. It’s impossible to police the Internet, which is why no matter what you do, hookers will be hookers, creeps will be creeps, and idiots will be idiots. Now, do these creeps selling underage children for sex need to be locked away and/or killed? Sure. Do the prostitutes need to be locked away? No way.
Did I just change my mind within a single article? Yes, I did. Face it, there are things going on in this nation emanating from the Internet that would make you puke in your soup and eat it. Prostitution is hardly within that ranking. If a woman wants to get paid to have a bunch of sex, so be it – it’s the anuses that traffic children that need to be targeted. How do we do that? How do we get these mental midgets into jail and away from kids?
All of them?
I don’t know – but shutting down a section of Craigslist won’t do a damn thing.
Yes, I don’t know! That’s why I don’t know why we even have laws. No matter what law you pass, disgusting and despicable things contrary to that law will happen. Period. Laws are only put there to give people the illusion that they’re safe and that the government cares about them. Trust me, if the government really cared, they’d be doing more than writing a letter to Craigslist’s CEO and owner to curb sex trafficking and prostitution. And just like that – an idea floats to me!
You want to curb sex trafficking? Convince men that sex and money are worthless.
No?
Then you could always spend less time policing trivial things like pot possession, jaywalking and speeding and more on these major issues.
Just saying.
See More: Craigslist CEO, Jim Buckmaster chats with Judyth Piazza on the American Perspective Radio Program