The Hanover Collaboration

If you knew thousands of poor children were being kindnapped every year and essentialy forced into slavery for the amusement of the rich, you’d want to stop it, right? Why, you’d probably be the first to march out to the town square with a big banner saying “Save the [insert group name for opressed children here]”, right? Well, would you still feel the same way if these children were (lowering voice, looking around furtively)...camel jockeys?

No, not these camel jockeys! These camel jockeys – literally, children who race around a track on the back of a camel. If this slanted-but-well-cited Wikipedia article is correct, child camel jockies live some of the most wretched lives imaginable, and the very existence of such a sickening institution is a blight against humanity. Clearly, the lack of widespread awareness is the only reason the child camel jockey system continues to exist, but how can the media possibly get the word out?

Imagine the reaction if the New York Times ran a “The Plight of Camel Jockies” headline. Half the country would would be outraged at the paper’s cultural insensitivity, while the other half would decry the Times’ sympathy for terrorist killers. The few Americans who actually read the article would only further incense their friends by trying to explain. It’s the sort situation where continued struggle only leads to further entanglement – a situation that we used to have a word for, but that slips my mind just now.