Two days ago, I wrote a diary titled
'woman' raped in Iraq 15 years old'.
The story, buried on page A15 of the Washington Post, (and subsequently carried by Editor and Publisher), revealed that Abeer Qasim Hamza - who was apparently raped and killed by members of OUR military serving in Iraq - was only 15 years old.
That diary was recommended AND received 437 comments!
fold
Just over two weeks earlier, I had written my previous diary-entry, this one called
'Help Me Change The World Today'.
That diary told the story of Chen Deping, 19, who was sitting in a hospital in Guangdong, China, in need of an operation that would determine whether or not she would become a paraplegic.
(Miss Chen sustained her injury by jumping from a fifth-floor window while trying to "escape" from human traffickers.)
THAT DIARY received....................TWO, count 'em TWO comments.
FORTUNATELY, the people of Hong Kong responded to the same article the I had read, and came up with the money this girl needed.
On top of that, OperationUSA, which raises funds while assuring that those funds ACTUALLY go to the victim, and not administrative costs, helped by IMMEDIATELY opening their first-ever (I believe) effort in China. All for ONE GIRL. (Most of what they do is raise funds for victims of 'massive-scale' catasrophes. Perhaps they realized that the girl I wrote about REPRESENTS a 'massive-scale catasrophe' that only occurs ONE GIRL AT A TIME.)
But I digress.
How a diary about a LIVING girl in need garnered a paltry 2 comments, yet a diary about a DEAD girl merited 437 is beyond me.
How ALL BUT TWO PEOPLE clicked past "Help Me Change The World Today", while 437 took the time to comment on a story that shines a bad light on the military makes me think about - YES - values!
Everybody here, to my mind, anyway, apparently wants to change the world.
But, based on the choices they/we make, I'm starting to think it's more about .....(pardon my German) 'schaedenfruede'....I probably spelled it wrong, but it means 'taking pleasure in the failure of others'.
That said, even though Chen Deping received her surgery and apparently WILL walk again, I talked to the reporter many times over the course of the last few weeks, and he has told me that there are MANY young girls in China lying in hospitals due to the same circumstances.
With the help of OperationUSA, as well as Mr. Kevin Huang of the South China Morning Post, I am currently trying to establish the FIRST 'NGO' in China devoted ENTIRELY to helping the surviving victims of human trafficking.
For all the ravings I have read here and on other blogs about the MSN's focus on 'dead white girls', it appears to me that the same 'formula' is at work here, as well.
Prove me wrong.
Go to the "OperationUSA" link above, or investigate them on your own first, and donate like 5 dollars even to help these girls in China. (You must enter CHINA in the appropriate box if you intend your donations to go there.)
This is TOTALLY LEGIT.
Thanks,
Quinn