Thread by @soychicka

Unfortunately, we have been in a civil war of sorts for the past few years.
And once again, the root of the issue is human slavery.

But this time, it's not just those of African descent... it's black, white, hispanic, asian.
It's boys & girls.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1098978644725284865

& It's just not for domestic or field labor.

It's sex.

It's sex with children.
It's the sale and trafficking of children and women.

It's those who are poor, and those who had hope for a better life.

And those who profit enjoy the highest statuses in society - positions of power and wealth, built on profits from the suffering and abuse of others.

And yachts. And drugs. And guns.
It's all a perverse interplay of predation for profit.

They prey on the hopes and dreams and desperation of children and their families, promising happiness and prosperity...

but they deliver only coersion and misery, and sentence their victims to lives of pain, shame, and undeserved regret.

And they use the knowledge of who partakes of their wares to undermine our democracy.

No more.

There is nothing more un-American than overlooking the suffering of children; "all men created equal" doesn't end at birth.

Those of us who have been embroiled in this fight for years know, and have known - this is a fight for the soul of America... nay - it's a fight for the soul of humanity.

This is a question of what it means to be human.

Being human is more than just being bipedal with opposable thumbs.

Humanity is a collective, and predators don't make for good neighbors.

So, go ahead, Fox News, you can call this a civil war ( though it's seditious AF, yo. )

But I'm going to make it perfectly clear what we're fighting for, and what we're fighting against.

We're fighting for giving everyone a chance, for not subjecting children to "cruel and unusual punishment" for the sole crime of being born.

We're fighting for justice, and fighting against injustice and the unjust.

We're fighting for opportunity for everyone, and fighting against those who limit others' opportunity for their own profit and self-gratification and sexual pleasure.

At the expense of children, FFS.

So, it's up to each American for themselves. If this is a civil war, pick a side, and let us know which side you're on.

Are you on the side of those who traffic in human suffering, or do you believe in returning to the core American values - opportunity and freedom for all?

Because there's one thing the otherwise wise fathers of this nation forgot to write down - with every inalienable right comes inalienable responsibilities.

Every right defines an implicit set of responsibilities we have to each other, which place reasonable limits on the our rights -

IOW, our rights end where they begin to impinge on the rights of others.

The Bill of Responsibilities would say
- our freedom to express our religious beliefs end when it impinges on others' freedom to do the same
- our freedom to possess and choose how we control arms is limited when those arms put others right to life at risk

- our freedom of speech is limited when a speech act harms or threatens others' quiet pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness

And these should be the easy problems. There are more we will agree upon, and others we won't...

but those of us who can commit to working together to maximize the rights of everyone - really, we're not divided. We're on the same side.

It's those pushing the very notion of a divide amongst Americans who are on the other side.

The ones who seek to profit at our expense.
The ones who, if you were a 12 year old Hispanic girl, would have no qualms renting you out for a night, a week, or selling you for $8000.

The ones who prey on others because they do not have the most important attribute it takes to be human:

They lack empathy.
They're devoid of compassion.

They're the human equivalent of Honey badger don't care.

Because that's what it takes to prey on children. A lack of empathy.

And their selection of victims isn't determined by who you are - it's based on how likely it is that they can keep you quiet.

They'd use your children if they thought they could get away with it.

Never forget that.

So. Civil war?

No.

It's a fight for the soul, the humanity of our nation.

It can be fought without arms, but not without two weapons they'd do anything to keep from you:

1) knowledge about what they're doing
2) your heart

The first you can get your hands on too... but the latter is something they can never understand.

And that's our strongest weapon. Our humanity.

And when we wield that weapon, there's no battle they can fight where together we'd be unable to put these predators where they belong...

either back on the island they came from, or in a cage.
We'll let them choose.