Career opportunities?!
In Portugal the image of a pig riding a bicycle used to be a symbol of something impossible, a metaphor of things that would never happen.
Some years ago however people started saying "desde que vi um porco a andar de bicicleta acredito em tudo". This translates into "ever since I saw a pig riding a bicycle I believe in everything".
Well, the next time a biker pig crosses my path I'll ask him if this piece of news is real.
Don't get me wrong, I am in favor of denying social aid to people who refuse to work. But this is way beyond reasonable. This is a government forcing women into prostitution. True enough it is not the first time it happens, true enough there are precedents in German history, while Germany was ruled by the monster with the funny moustache.
Some say legalized prostitution has its benefits, it does help control the spread of AIDS and other STDs, it does generate more taxes and keeps a better control on a business otherwise usually controlled by criminals.
I can go as far as to admit that since there is no way prostitution will ever end it is a dangerous form of hypocrisy to turn a blind eye to it instead of making it legal.
But the least that should be assured was that anyone who goes into the sex business does it out of free will.
Human rights?
Basic human dignity?
Is this the so called "first world"?
Some years ago however people started saying "desde que vi um porco a andar de bicicleta acredito em tudo". This translates into "ever since I saw a pig riding a bicycle I believe in everything".
Well, the next time a biker pig crosses my path I'll ask him if this piece of news is real.
Don't get me wrong, I am in favor of denying social aid to people who refuse to work. But this is way beyond reasonable. This is a government forcing women into prostitution. True enough it is not the first time it happens, true enough there are precedents in German history, while Germany was ruled by the monster with the funny moustache.
Some say legalized prostitution has its benefits, it does help control the spread of AIDS and other STDs, it does generate more taxes and keeps a better control on a business otherwise usually controlled by criminals.
I can go as far as to admit that since there is no way prostitution will ever end it is a dangerous form of hypocrisy to turn a blind eye to it instead of making it legal.
But the least that should be assured was that anyone who goes into the sex business does it out of free will.
Human rights?
Basic human dignity?
Is this the so called "first world"?
posted by DCveR at 7:31 AM
15 Comments:
I had no idea prostitution had been legalised in Germany. I've always thought it would be a good idea to sort of "clean" it up but this is beyond the joke!
The woman should take it further because people should not tread on people's dignity or beliefs!
How horrible!
Its totally insane...
I disagree with you on the point that everybody should be forced to work, I think that should be each persons choice. Here we have some voices calling for "borger lønn"(means something like citizen sallary). The idea is that every citizen, no exclusion, should get a monthly taxfree paycheck from the government that is slightly above the "poor level". That way everybody is guaranteed not to starv and to have a place to live. If people decides not to work, its their decision, but if one decides to work you get the chance to earn more money, but then you also have to pay taxes. Most people, I think, would want to work, and at the same time many would be able to realise their dreams, and have time to use their abilities in a higher degree. I think this would create a more healthy society where you could drop offical welfare offices, like the unemployment office, social office, and all those other unefficient beuraucratic paper-mills...
Un-freaking-believable. Germany's system is in dire need of reform! The potential - and likelihood - of exploitation of women outstrips any possible benefit. Brothel owners are in a position of power whereby they could make offers to waitresses and the like with the assurance that the woman risks her livelihood by declining. Why wouldn't Germany give them the option to decline these jobs without penalty? The amount of money the gov't would lose is paltry in comparison to the demoralising effect on the women put in that position. This is an absolute outrage!
Wait, did you say it generates taxes? Do they charge a sales tax on prostitution? Haha...
cream: Making it legal is a positive thing in some ways, but the legal ramifications are tricky because now it seems to be pushing unemployed women into it.
Isis: Do whatever they want sounds fair enough, as long as they really want it.
isa, isae: Well, maybe that works for a rich country. But while there are people that are willing to work and who are not getting enough social support I don’t like the idea of having our tax money spent with those who’d rather linger around and do nothing. Mind you that if some guy is willing to do community work or something along those lines it would be ok for me. We don’t live in a rich country and yet there are people who apply for social benefits here although they don’t even need it, in the meantime others are struggling just to have enough money to pay for food and health needs.
bunny jo: The weird bit is that their social system has just been reformed.
viking: Prostitutes and brothel owners must pay income taxes like any other working person, so it does generate more tax funds.
Thats not contraticions, when I went on social support I worked almost full time for no fee, but also no reward. The issue with people on welfare, in most cases, is that they get the feeling that they are useless in the community. This uselessness brings other problems like drugs, gangs as security instead if community, lazyness etc. I think these problems are all linked up to boredom and economy, or in other words; the lack of forfilling your dreams and abilities. If you give people the security economically, and thereby the ability to live out themselves they become a resource and not a queuenumber sucking the society for a living. Neither would you have disappointed wellfareworkers, wanting to do good to the society, being bitter and feeling suffocated by low budgets and pushing people around instead of helping them. This may work in any society. Share whats common estate and use each others fortunes and talents for the common good. This may seem wrong in a short term, but I guess that was the thing that altered europe thruogh the rennaisance. People with money invested in freethinkers and artists wich resulted in a golden age for europe, and we are still earning from that period. The issue I think, is to get rid of the compeeting societys scarecrows of bad examples, as in; if you dont go to school and get good degrees you'll end up as the garbageman or a junkie. If we all can live our dreams people of riches have the possibility to pursuit money and estate, but then perhaps seekers of wisdom, and artists may have a possibility to pursuit their dreams as well. Todays society is black and white; work or starv is the mantra, but we ought to have come a long way from that darwinistic view of the world. Cultural capital, inheratiged capital and financial capital should not be opposites, or decisive as they are today...
how many men are conscripted into prositution, that's what i want to know.
i do not envy policymakers.
OMG, DC. Now I've heard everything. Like most of the people who have commented before me, I believe in legalizing many things that are now illegal... like pot and prostitution. But NO ONE should be forced to sell their bodies for money if they don't want to. YUCK!
Last Girl On Earth
tall glass: But creating an exception will cause the brothel owners to sue because the laws also say they have the same rights as any other merchant. This is really a tricky situation.
isa, isae: I someone is a painter or a dancer , writer or any other kind of artist, that can be seen as work. If their work doesn't 'sell' or if they don't make enough for a living, ok, let societyhelp them. But I've seen enough human parasites to believe everybody should have the same rights. I know of plenty of cases of people living on public welfare without having ever worked or planning to. Why should my work feed them?
cadiz: Maybe we'd be in for a surprise if they showed us those numbers... from what we see here, with he-males and she-males walking some streets... Germany probably has those too.
last girl: My point exactly.
ISA, ISE, your comments on citizen salary are interesting. I think that DCvR has a point about people taking advantage of a system like you propose, but what interests me is the idea of changing the social mindset that higher education is the only path to fulfillment and adding value to society. You were right to remind us that in the age of Europe's Renaisance, wealthy people subsidized the artists and freethinkers of the time. In today's society, artists and freethinkers (such as myself) are forced to fit into the 40-hour plus work week mold, sucking the creative life-blood out ofyou, leaving little energy for developing whatever talent is latent. I agree with you 100% - the whole mindset must change to encompass the idea that a person can contribute BEST to society by pursuing what talent is intrinsic to his or her soul, not in mindlessly following the working drone in front of them, a long line of ants putting every dream on hold until the golden age of retirement.
Under what rock have I been living?! I had no idea. Even so, it should be a matter of choice.
That's simply outrageous.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
That thing in Germany has to be an early April Fool's joke. And Germany is the biggest joke.
To add to So Angry, At Ease's discussion: I agree with Dcver, there will always be those who want to suck off those who work.
And don't even bother to think that that system will 'free people to be the best they can be'. We'll end up with scores of people who just sit and pick their teeth all day.
I'm horrified. Legalize prostitution to protect prostitutes from criminal organizations, not to force women into prostitution. This is a travesty.
(Here we say "when pigs can fly" to mean 'impossible.' I have picked a wonderful flying pig windvane to perch on my roof if I ever get around to getting it remodeled, LOL).
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