Glenn Greenwald: Prostitution is a victimless crime
I didn't realize that! But here it is in his defense of Eliot Spitzer:
Hiring a prostitute is "reprehensible"? I wonder what adjective Sloan would use for a crime with an actual victim.
Hey everybody, these girls like their jobs. They're not victims!
Later in the article, Greenwald describes a "prostitution ring" (his scare-quotes) as a "small business that brokers meetings" shortly before he opines that the prostitution laws should be abolished. Viva Las Vegas.
I couldn't help but notice that it took until near the end of one of the earlier Spitzer articles for the NYT to mention that he's a Democrat. (In the current one, they manage to mention it in the third paragraph.) If he were a Republican, we all know it would be mentioned within the first sentence. We also know that Greenwald wouldn't be nearly so "open-minded" about prostitution.
ReplyDelete(This is a comment on the media and not politics, so I don't think I'm violating my Lenten pledge not to talk or write about politics.)
Also, if Greenwald thinks prostitution is a victimless crime, perhaps he should talk to Mrs. Spitzer. Or to a prostitute who has been beat up by a "client" or a pimp.
ReplyDeleteSusan, good points, but to your second one he'd probably say something like "Well then working for Wal-mart is just as bad. People get mistreated by their managers there."
ReplyDeleteTo us it seems like a moral quandary that he's digging himself into, but to him we are all being "puritanical" because we think that there is such a thing as sexual morality.
You should also mention that he transported this hooker from New York to Washington DC to stay with him at the Mayflower Hotel. This becomes a Federal crime because he crossed state lines. There is also the trafficing statute that the Feds use to bust those rings that import women from foreign countries.
ReplyDeletePauli,
ReplyDeleteYeah, God forbid that any kind of sexual behavior is considered "wrong". Unless it's (heterosexual, married) monogamy or chastity, of course. /sarcasm
I just realized something else about this Spitzer scandal that adds insult to injury for his poor wife...his "date" with the high-priced whore was on the evening of February 13 -- right before Valentine's Day. What a jerk!
The fact that this guy tried to shut down crisis pregnancy centers and carried water for the abortion industry makes so much sense in light of a scandal like this.