And yet the article you site was clear that the problem is not an American problem. The hype disguises the truth that there justs is not "there" there. It is all well and good for US Christians to be upset about this problem, and demand action. The hype, however, was about the place of human trafficking in the United States. Since there doesn't seem to be much of a problem - certainly not to the extent that it was hyped by advocates and breast-beating, brow-furrowing, Congressman, it seems to me that making a blog post about this now - a blog post that is directly contradicted by the source material, is, to be generous, disingenuous.

I find this post disingenuous, to be polite. The article you site is clear that the problem of human trafficking is not nearly as awful as those who hype it pretend. Indeed, if one looks at the numbers provided in the article, it is close to .004 percent between actual cases and purported cases sited by those who insist we are in the midst of a huge epidemic of human trafficking here in the United States. It seems to me a bit more honest approach to the problem would include this rather salient fact.

Sorry for the multiple posting.

I've done it again! Augh!

Geoffrey,

Whoa, that's a pretty uncritical reading of the article and an artful reading of my post.

I agree that the article that I linked to makes the case about the unreliability of the numbers but note how the writer keeps coming back to the same huge number to prove his point. The State Department doesn't even use that number, so, as I learned in critical thinking class, beware the journalism trick which applies one group's rhetoric to everyone associated.

I agree with the premise of the article -- that the numbers cited by the journalist and used by the government and the named advocacy groups are unsubstantiated. But my post is not about the numbers, in fact, I write "the numbers are very difficult to get and confirm, experts report a sharp increase in trafficking activity in the 90s, due in part to globalization."

Let me refer you to Frontline's resource page on Estimating the Numbers.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/slaves/etc/stats.html

As you'll see, the WaPo focus on the differing numbers is actually old news.

But even as you note on your own blog, the fuzzy numbers don't obviate the fact that human trafficking exists both around the world and in America. And as I note, this is according to experts, i.e., people who study it and stake their reputation on their research. Such as USF prof. David Batstone who recently wrote Not for Sale which documents from first-hand experience the presence of labor and sex slaves in America. Does the media over hype this? Of course. Have the gov. agencies involved failed to systematize their efforts? Yes. Furthermore, as you'll note in my comment on your site, I'm wary of the hype of trafficking as the SCOURGE of the 'burbs, but the point (note the title) of my post centers on the ways that faith groups are making common cause on this real (note the lowercase) issue.

For more, see John Rowe's piece in the New Yorker.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/04/21/030421fa_fact_bowe

Alexander -
First, thank you for taking the time to actually come and read what I had written.
Second, my criticism, both of your blog piece and the issue in general, is directly linked to the fact that the numbers, as presented by "advocates" are phony, creating hysteria over a problem that does not, for the most part, exist in this country.
Third, the reality of human trafficking, as I note in a comment on the post in question, is not limited to the sex trade, but also includes the domestic-servant needs of the hyper-rich in the Middle East, and by a certain extension, the use of undocumented workers by the wealthy in America to do the same kind of work.
I believe that the issue is one best suited for international law enforcement; how ironic, then, that the Unites States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, which would be much better suited for dealing with such a transnational problem, and one that does not touch our shores nearly as much as it does other places.
I think it also important to note that, obviously, Christian churches should be out in front on this issue; again, however, my criticism is similar to that of the author of the original article - the numbers on the domestic dimension simply do not add up.