Craigslist Censored

Craigslist has voluntarily censored itself after receiving numerous legal threats from various states around the country.

In the usual 'slippery slope' argument various lawmakers from around the country claimed that the adult services section contains ads which pertain to prostitution, which in turn leads to human trafficking, assault, murder, child slavery, and the destruction of the fabric of space and time.

So after being hounded for some time, Craigslist gave up, probably unwilling to waste millions of dollars on a big legal fight, and they replaced the link to the section with the word 'censored.'

Of course they only did this in the land of the free, in other markets, including Canada, the adult section remains open and unchanged.

I find the whole situation pretty sad.  It's a well known fact that prostitution has been going on for thousands of years.  It's also pretty obvious that much of the negatives associated with prostitution stem from the fact that in most parts of America, prostitution is illegal.  This in turn leads to pimps, organized crime, human trafficking, underage prostitutes, drugs, disease, and many other negatives that generally conspire to make women less safe, and more likely to be victims in one form or other.

I think the fact that lawmakers believe this to be a victory of sorts highlights the fundamental stupidity of their position.  By bullying and threatening this popular web site, they have simply forced both legal and illegal adult services to advertise elsewhere.  The 'crime' of prostitution that they are so worried about is still taking place up and down this country 24/7.  So there is no victory here at all.  A bunch of people will have to rethink their marketing a little bit, but this is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Which leads me to this question:  What was the point?  Why are our lawmakers squandering tax dollars attacking some web site?  Have they solved a problem?  No.  Have they stopped prostitution?  Of course not.  Have they managed to prevent some of the evils of prostitution such as slavery, organized crime, child sex crimes etc?  No.

So really all we see is a typical Republican solution to the problem.  Go after the wrong guys, achieve little, and then claim some kind of victory for 'family values.'  But let's call it out for what it is:  This is censorship, an affront to freedom of speech, and a waste of our tax dollars that does nothing to address any of the real issues relating to prostitution.  Thanks for nothing assholes.