I just watched portions of a very disturbing Oprah. It was about protecting our children against sexual predators on the internet (ie. child pornography trafficking right here in the United States). If you didn't see it I won't even get into details because it literally kept me up last night, and that was with only watching about 10 minutes total with all the forwarding I had to do. I couldn't stomach it. Tom watched 10 seconds then had to leave the room. It's HORRIBLE and UNBELIEVABLE what's happening to these little kids! It makes me tear up thinking about it right now.
A huge part of the problem with not being able to catch all these predators is not that they don't have the methods to do so, but rather that they don't have enough investigators or equipment. The representative investigator on the show said how disturbing it is for him to basically have to pick and choose who to save because there are so many and also how hard it is to go home at night knowing that there are children being hurt that very night. So basically what it comes down to is that they need more funding.
I know there are so many problems in the world (as a sociology major my eyes were really opened to this), and that we can't solve them all, but I find this particular topic very important. What you can do to help is super simple. Up until this Friday you can write an email to your senator to encourage him/her to vote yes on Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act. It's so easy. Oprah's website even has a pre-written letter you can just copy and paste. There's a link that helps you find your senator which will then link you directly to the page where you can copy and paste and send the letter. It only took me 5 minutes. With all the time us bloggers spend on the internet, 5 minutes is nothing. If any of you caught the Elizabeth Smart episode, this is the same act Ed Smart (her dad) is trying to help pass.
I hope I don't sound too preachy. This was just way too disturbing for me to ignore. I would also encourage you to blog about this or to get your friends to call or write letters as well.
This is the link with all the info to write to your senator. It's been kind of spotty so keep trying if it doesn't work right away.
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators
Monday, September 22, 2008
Help Pass--The PROTECT Our Children Act
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5 comments:
Rachel, I caught the same Oprah and just sat there crying like a little helpless baby! I did not even get to the part where she told us how we could help. I couldn't stomach what I was hearing and seeing!! Truly devastating!We get so wrapped up in our daily lives that we don't even realize the horrific things that are going on around us, perhaps in our very neighborhoods. Thanks for bringing this up, hopefully these poor children, some just tiny babies, can find the justice they so deserve!!
I just sent emails to our senators. It was so easy!
I didn't see this Oprah, but just hearing about it makes me sick. I cannot believe how disgusting and evil people are. I'm glad you posted the links on your blog because it is so important to whatever we can- even if that is just sending an email.
It makes me so sad and very scared for my children to have to grow up in this crazy world.
It was good talking with you today. I am glad everything is going well for you and the fam. I will have to look into this. It's funny I just told you today that Travis's goes fishing during lunch and likes to brag about it afterwards. Well, today he caught one and brought it home with him in his backpack. He rode his bike home. I thought it was funny!
Thanks for this including this on your blog, Rachel. I don't watch Oprah, but I did follow up on this post and email my Senators.
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