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A. Kutcher fighting child prostitution & being criticized for not having right #'s...

Home ▸ Archive ▸ Serious Business ▸ A. Kutcher fighting child prostitution & being criticized for not having right #'s...
Z

Zen

Member

94 posts
Jun 30, 2011 11:41 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/ashton-kutcher-village-voice-engage-twitter-war-over-163714442.html

Apparently his online campaign mention's "100,000-300,000" child prostitutes in America. The Village Voice wrote an article calling that number into question, as well as the research behind it.

IMO, it doesn't matter the number. If it is 1 or 1 million, it's way too much.
I wonder how much Charlie Sheen paid The Village to write that article...
Saw this in the comment section and it made me laugh..
Jun 30, 2011 11:41pm
M

Manhattan Buckeye

Senior Member

7,566 posts
Jul 1, 2011 12:15 AM
I agree with the VV, Kutcher just comes off sounding like a self-important actor - I agree that any child prostitution is horrible, but you can't just make up statistics or regurgitate stats with no basis in order to further what cause du jour you are supporting. 100,000-300,000 is a crazy number, it doesn't make any logical sense. It is similar to the rape victim advocates that make up stats about rape on college campuses that are so unbelievable they lose credibility.
Jul 1, 2011 12:15am
hoops23's avatar

hoops23

Senior Member

15,696 posts
Jul 1, 2011 12:25 AM
Saw Ashton going off on the VV last night on Twitter for having adds in their classifieds where women are being sold?

Or some shit like that.
Jul 1, 2011 12:25am
Little Danny's avatar

Little Danny

Senior Member

4,288 posts
Jul 1, 2011 4:37 AM
I wonder what qualifies as a "child prostitute". When I think of child prostitution, I think of young girls 13 and under. I am sure they are also calculating 16-17 year olds in this figure. Not that it makes it right, but a 17 year old runaway, drug addict who is turning tricks on the streets does not equate to sex slave in my book.
Jul 1, 2011 4:37am
OneBuckeye's avatar

OneBuckeye

Senior Member

5,888 posts
Jul 1, 2011 7:59 AM
Being rich and famous must be boring.
Jul 1, 2011 7:59am
thePITman's avatar

thePITman

Senior Member

3,867 posts
Jul 1, 2011 9:29 AM
The discrepancy that the complainers are citing is that the figure includes children "at risk" while the actual number of child prostitutes is much lower, they estimate. Either way, further down in the article it says that many sources including CNN have been citing the same number, but the complainers only targeted Kutcher. It was really funny to read about the complainers' connection with Backpage advertising.
Jul 1, 2011 9:29am
Mohican00's avatar

Mohican00

Dirty White Boy

3,394 posts
Jul 1, 2011 10:23 AM
OneBuckeye;819346 wrote:Being rich and famous must be boring.

QFT
Jul 1, 2011 10:23am
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
Jul 1, 2011 10:37 AM
OneBuckeye;819346 wrote:Being rich and famous must be boring.

At least in this case he is trying to do something with his fame. I hate when rich fuckers ask me for money (or they put some poor kid in an add to try to get me to use my heart instead of my head to give money) but I have no problem with someone using their celebrity to try to help people who are less fortunate.
Jul 1, 2011 10:37am
M

Manhattan Buckeye

Senior Member

7,566 posts
Jul 1, 2011 10:52 AM
FatHobbit;819480 wrote:At least in this case he is trying to do something with his fame. I hate when rich ****ers ask me for money (or they put some poor kid in an add to try to get me to use my heart instead of my head to give money) but I have no problem with someone using their celebrity to try to help people who are less fortunate.

Well that raises a question, if AK was actually trying to do something with the less fortunate why pick a cause that practically doesn't exist?
Jul 1, 2011 10:52am
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
Jul 1, 2011 11:27 AM
Manhattan Buckeye;819491 wrote:Well that raises a question, if AK was actually trying to do something with the less fortunate why pick a cause that practically doesn't exist?

I don't know. But it seems to me that child prostitution and human trafficking have been getting a lot of publicity lately so maybe he was just jumping on the bandwagon. (I would say if whatever he does saves one person then it was a good thing.)
Jul 1, 2011 11:27am
Writerbuckeye's avatar

Writerbuckeye

Senior Member

4,745 posts
Jul 3, 2011 11:35 AM
I have no axe to grind with Kutcher -- but if you're going to use your fame to try and raise money for a cause, you should damn well have your facts in order. Hell, from what I read, he wasn't even in the ballpark.

Celebs who take up causes typically have fairly unlimited resources at their disposal...so there really is no good reason for messing up like this.

Now, having said all that, I also wonder if perhaps the attacks on Kutcher weren't at least motivated, in part, because he has that "male bimbo" reputation; almost like a dumb blonde.
Jul 3, 2011 11:35am
Little Danny's avatar

Little Danny

Senior Member

4,288 posts
Jul 3, 2011 3:37 PM
In defense of Kutcher, I wonder how much this is his baby. I saw he and Demi on Larry King/Piers Morgan about a month or two ago discussing this issue. Demi was the one who did all the talking and you could tell she was very passionate about the issue. Kutcher sat there and nodded along while Moore incensed about the issue (I don't know for sure but I am guessing Moore claims to have been raped/molested as a teen; afterall, doesn't it seem like all celebrity women claim this).
Jul 3, 2011 3:37pm
Hb31187's avatar

Hb31187

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8,534 posts
Jul 4, 2011 5:01 AM
MSNBC just had a report on tonight (it was at like 3am so i doubt it was a recent piece) about this very subject and at the very end said a rough estimate of the # of them is 100,000 in america. So it doesnt look like Kutcher was 100% wrong
Jul 4, 2011 5:01am
T

Tiernan

Senior Member

13,021 posts
Jul 5, 2011 7:13 AM
Didn't Demi Moore rape Kutcher when he was like 15?
Jul 5, 2011 7:13am
M

Manhattan Buckeye

Senior Member

7,566 posts
Jul 5, 2011 7:59 AM
Hb31187;820793 wrote:MSNBC just had a report on tonight (it was at like 3am so i doubt it was a recent piece) about this very subject and at the very end said a rough estimate of the # of them is 100,000 in america. So it doesnt look like Kutcher was 100% wrong

It is if they are using the same lousy stats.

BTW Valentine's Day is playing on our hotel's HBO, has Kutcher been in a decent film in his life? Its one chick flick or dumb film after the other.
Jul 5, 2011 7:59am