Feds cobbled criminal cases together in missing children operation, creating false perception
Public announcements about the operation, vague on details but full of loaded terms, led to weeks of social media misinformation about the breakup of a massive child sex trafficking ring in Georgia. “39 kids were just recovered from traffickers in Georgia,” went a common Twitter trope.
Shareef faces two misdemeanor charges related to the raid, neither of them sex-related. But his jail booking photo spread around the world under headlines such as “U.S. Marshals Find 39 Missing Children During Massive Sex Trafficking Bust In Georgia — 9 Suspects Arrested.” He and his mother told the AJC that angry people have been pulling up to their house, accusing him of sex trafficking or sexually abusing a 3-year-old. One group brandished guns and challenged Shareef to step outside and fight, he said.
“They’re calling me a sex offender,” Shareef said. “They’re calling me a child molester. It just hurts.”
This story reads in circles. How the police/media misrepresented the arrests made, how it damaged one specific family, how a 17 yo homeless girl was being “saved by the police” but was thrown around and received cuts and bruises, how the story has a presidential political swing, how a large number of those arrested had gang affiliations, how….. You get the idea. They had so much information to share and did a scattered thought process story. Not even sure what the police were trying to do besides sensationalize their efforts. Am I alone in my thoughts?
I just have 3 words for Shareef. Sue! Sue! Sue!
I read this earlier, don’t recall if it was from an earlier link provided from another posting on this site.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5f52b7a1c5b6946f3eb1c5d9?guccounter=1
Basically, our governments are fundraising through misinformation and fear , nothing new to many of us, in order to keep Federal funds incoming.
“Jumping the Shark” indeed.
I think it would be wise to include links such as these in the comments for the upcoming AG proposal. I know I will.
The federal government is spectacular at deceiving the general public with propaganda.
And deceiving the world with its false propaganda as well. America, the land of opportunities, second chances, land of the free, you can be anything you want. etc. etc… Few foreigners I’ve known have come here and within 2 years have fled back to their native country. When I asked them why?, some have told me: ” beautiful country, but your government is insane! ” …. all in different wording, but all the same.
100% on-point! Beautifully said
I’ve noticed that this is the general concensus as well amongst our intelligent foreigner friends.
Just a thought;
Maybe Shareef can make known on national TV his fear of reprisal concerning his label.
I’ve heard it before where concerns are raised for the safety of one falsely accused of a sex offence and then completely dismissed for those of us who were correctly accused.
The sex offence registry is either inherently dangerous or it is not. The consortium of they shouldn’t be allowed to report a thing as dangerous only when it affects those falsely accused unless we as a society agree that the inherent dangerousness of the registry is acceptable. And if we do, shouldn’t we then agree that an inherently dangerous policy should then be considered a punishment as punishments often harbor acceptably dangerous consequences to an offender?
Just a thought 🤔
I doubt the media cares about the truth, either; sensationalism and outrage are their modus operandi, and it wouldn’t benefit them to air concerns and reasoning.
welll..how does that feel? how many times did you do the same to others? ironic how loud every one screams when they get treated the same as they have treated others.
I scanned the article quickly just to see if I could get a feel if the person thinks Registries are acceptable or not. I couldn’t really tell. But I didn’t try that hard.
This runaway that big government “rescued” is 17 years old. She said she was living with that family and doing just fine. She said that she was surprised that anyone was looking for her even or cared. She says she is now homeless. That is how big government “helps”.
And this operation cost how much? I bet a hell of a lot more than anyone would guess. Surely over a million dollars. At least it kept some people in jobs during these tough times. Maybe those employed people should do some useful work though, instead of just harassing people. Our interstates and other roads look like a trashy third world country. I’d rather these people be employed picking up garbage there.
The news should be doing a story on her sent to homelessness because of this operation. But, I doubt the news would cover it.
I read the huffpost article, which was on the cited story, and must say that it is one of the best articles that sheds any light on the reality of the situation and how screwed up and misinformed the public is. These new sensational terms like “trafficked” and “missing” are used to instill fear in society. Trafficked can include illegal labor as well as some other categories and not just sex work. Missing is not the same as abducted but the gen population knows no different. But the article did actually say that last year 115 kids were abducted in the US. That is far different than one every 40 seconds.
What i take from the whole ordeal is that child sexual abuse is a complex topic that most people can’t discuss without wanting a witch hunt. Infact i think some just want to seek revenge on anyone as long as society doesn’t disapprove. Only a fraction of the people actually care enough to ask the difficult questions about the real problem at hand. And the answers/solutions to the problems are not what most want to hear. I think something like only 7 girls ever got out of the cycle in Atlanta and that was over 15 years.
Its sad that our government has made such a mess of itself.