Hypocrisy or Idiotic Reaction

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      I was taken aback by the righteous reactions by some lawmakers and "moral crusaders" to a recent statement of the U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas to the effect that 40% of male tourists (Americans included, obviously) come to the country for sex. Apart from the consideration that it was, perhaps, diplomatically or politically incorrect for Amb. Thomas to have to say such a thing, I think the outcry over it was unnecessary and should have been better ignored. But the fact that it seems to have become a national concern with no less than some lawmakers mixing in only suggests to me that this again is some manifestation of a national moral hypocrisy, this time to deny that sex can be commercialized wholesale here in this Christian and catholic country and we have to be on guard and extra sensitive against claims to the contrary. (I am told  none of the male protestors ever had any experience in professional sex , if you can believe that!)

      There are also demands for Amb. Thomas to produce proofs to back his statement. What proofs do these moral pretenders or crusaders need to be persuaded that the situation exists as pictured?  Copies of tour bookings with sex explicitly included in the itinerary and schedule?  Sworn statements of male tourists?  Receipts from whorehouses or prostitutes?  So be it.  Ambassador Thomas will never be able to produce those proofs and the protestors , if they can be honest to themselves, do not really need proofs to realize and admit that such a reality exists, among others that are largely spawned by poverty, and continues to encourage illegal and immoral enterprises.  Since the Philippines (it is obvious all these years) never had the capacity and leadership to eradicate or effectively limit the feeding grounds of its social ills, we may not still accept them but let us not be hypocritically and dishonestly prone to deny those realities.

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