Today is Day Two of Week One of the Omer. That is Day Two of the Omer. The theme of the Week is Slavery.
Yesterday, in addressing this week’s
topic of slavery, I wrote about something that we all know, but try to
ignore. That is, that actual, physical
slavery every bit as dehumanizing as that endured by our ancestors in Egypt –
and perhaps even more so – still exists today in places that are distant from
where we live. But these places – and therefore
the slavery practiced there – are not entirely separate from our own, safer
parts of the world. This is because our
everyday economic choices can, and often do, feed the economies that thrive on
the exploitation of human beings that are the modern equivalent of
slavery.
My colleague from Sydney, Rabbi Dr
Raymond Apple, citing Rav Joseph B Solovietchik, referred to this as ‘juridic’ slavery. Rabbi Apple explains ‘juridic’ as caused by
the political system of a country. Of
course, attributing it to politics alone misses the interplay between politics
and various authoritarian or totalitarian philosophies. It is two of the latter – Islam and Communism
– that are at the root of much of the juridic slavery in today’s world. These systems, which deny the autonomy of human
beings, find it so easy to sanction the taking of human beings and turning them
into chattel.
But there are forms of slavery that
are not caused by politics or ideology.
And these forms are also rampant in our world today. And one needn’t travel so far afield to see
them at work.
The twin plagues of slavery of prostitution and the slavery of drug dependence, are often bedfellows that, together,
conspire to enslave people who live in our own neighbourhoods. They exist in our very communities, waiting
to snatch our children into their rapacious grip.
Some call prostitution ‘the world’s
oldest profession.’ But even referring
to it as a profession, lends it a legitimacy that it does not deserve. Likewise, the use of the phrase ‘sex workers’
instead of ‘prostitutes.’ ‘What does
your daughter do for a living?’ ‘Oh, she’s
a child care worker. How about yours?’ ‘She’s a sex worker.’ No parent can imagine having such a
matter-of-fact conversation regarding a child of theirs caught in the snare of
prostitution. The phrase ‘sex worker’
seems like an attempt to sugarcoat something in which there is not a shred of
good.
The ugly truth is that most of the ‘workers’
in the ‘sex industry’ are there against their will. They might be captives of pimps who keep them
in their stables with violence or at least, credible threats of violence. Or they might do what they do to feed a drug
habit, in many cases created by a pimp getting them hooked on drugs to begin
with, as a way of adding to his stable.
Or they might be runaways with no other skills to support them. However the individual prostitute might have gotten
into, or stays in the ‘business,’ it is pure evil.
Prostitution and drugs are often
tied together in a Gordian knot. But
even drugs absent prostitution are a form of slavery. The drug addict gets caught in the prison of
addiction, which ultimately comes to rule his or her life. At its worst, drug addiction becomes the very
focus of one’s life. At the very least,
it provides an escape that prevents the addict or abuser from standing and
dealing with his or her problems. Losing
oneself in the bliss of a high, is much easier and more immediate.
Some refer to prostitution and drugs
as ‘victimless crimes,’ but believe me the victims of both litter our
landscape. So when someone ‘innocently’
makes use of a prostitute or buys illicit drugs, they are surely feeding a
terrible business that causes incredible social rot. And they are therefore guilty, as guilty as
any other lawbreaker.
Even where and when prostitution and
drugs are legal, they are not victimless vices. Prostitution, where it submits to the regulation of the state, is legal here in Australia. I believe that this should be a source of shame to Australians.
No young woman, asked what she’d like to do in life, answers, ‘I’d like
to be a prostitute.’ Illegal or legal,
it is a trap that will ultimately bring her unhappiness. And even the clients or ‘Johns,’ who think
they’re making a simple transaction of a sum of money for a brief interlude of
pure pleasure, are potentially destroying their marriages or, if not married,
their ability to relate to women as whole human beings rather than as objects
for their gratification. For many lonely
men, going to a prostitute can bring temporary relief. (Yes, there are male prostitutes who service
lonely women, but that is probably a statistically irrelevant proportion of all
prostitution.) But that does not mean
that it is not destructive.
And nobody grows up thinking how cool it would be to abuse, and become
addicted to, illicit drugs. They often
serve as a balm for one’s failures and disappointments. They provide a handy escape from ‘real life.’ But there’s no escape from drugs,
except for the long, twisted, and difficult road to sobriety.
For this reason, we should resist
the temptation to use illicit drugs, or to hire – or be – a prostitute. The trap we would be setting for ourselves is
not worth the short-lived gratification that either provides. And in the greater scheme of things, both are
the root causes of an incredible amount of social rot that undermines our
societies. Drugs and prostitution,
either together or individually, represent a slavery no less dehumanizing as
that, which the ancient Egyptians imposed upon the Israelites.
No comments:
Post a Comment