A Kick in the Smugness

The world has come a long way since the days when people could be simply abducted from their homes and sold into slavery...
Oh, wait... no it hasn't.  The abduction of 234 Nigerian girls is a stark reminder of that fact, it has inspired lots of impotent internet outrage, and an equally impotent visit from John Kerry.  I am praying that every one of those girls gets home, but I know that even if they do, they are just a drop in the bucket of the global human trafficking problem.  There are millions of people who are victims of various sorts of human trafficking operations, there are men, women and children, and it's not just something that happens in Africa or Asia, it is rampant in the United States and Europe as well.
Despite the scope of the problem, which is probably actually even worse than some of the alarming statistics indicate because of the secretive nature of the business, it's not news, except in those few cases that catch the public attention.  The Nigerian girls, the three young women in Cleveland, in other words the most egregious and sensational examples of human beings being captured and enslaved, these get our attention.  But the problem is perpetual and enormous, and it should make every decent human being absolutely fighting mad, but it doesn't.  In fact, there's abundant proof that people are fairly willing and able to turn a blind eye, and that far too many "good citizens" actually become complicit in the buying and selling of human beings.
What allows this monstrosity to continue?
The most obvious answer is poverty.  Most of the trafficked humans are poor, and because of this they have few advocates.  Sometimes the victims own families sell them out of desperation, but others simply have their children ripped away from them and condemned to a life of slavery, and there is very little they can do about it, because they're poor, and powerless, and because, in their world, this is simply the way things are.
But things shouldn't be like this.
I know, I'm speaking from a position of radical privilege.  I know I'm a white, middle class man, and it might seem like I'm passing judgment on all those people who just don't do enough to stop the massive and repugnant injustice of trafficking in human beings.  Even given the voice and resources that I have, I am aware that there is very little I can do to make a dent in this problem.  Therefore, I certainly don't expect people who are being crushed by poverty and injustice to somehow make a stand against such an evil.
That would be foolish.
What I'm doing here, and what I try to do whenever I get a chance is remind folks that this is a real thing that's out there, and if you want to vent your outrage about something or other, here's a great target: the enslavement of human beings and the massive systemic injustice of poverty that courses through the veins of the monster.
Want to be mad at something?
Want to really try and change the world for the better?
Want to slay a dragon?
Don't waste your outrage on tax policies, healthcare plans or gay marriage, here is an affront to our common humanity which is bathing in the blood of our children on a massive scale, right in front of us, and we only occasionally even notice it's there.