Simon Faulkner: Mum's bid to sell her kids on Facebook
I HAVE frequently commented in this column on the "evils" of social networking.
But never have I used the term in the true sense of the word – until now.
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I refer of course to the shocking tale of the mum who allegedly tried to sell her children on Facebook.
Misty VanHorn, 22, allegedly contacted a potential buyer via the social networking site, asking for $1,000 for her 10-month-old and $4,000 for her two-year-old.
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Police say the mum-of-two, from Oklahoma, wanted the cash to pay bail for her boyfriend who was in jail.
Perhaps it would be stretching it to argue that Facebook encourages such irresponsible and immoral behaviour – but it surely makes it easier.
After all, you wouldn't get mothers trying to trade their children if they had to open a stall on their local market in order to do it.
But before I start pointing the finger at Facebook, it is worth making it clear that the would-be buyer had the good sense to notify the authorities of this abhorrent attempt at human trafficking.
Aside from my shock that anyone in a supposedly developed country would want to sell their children, I found the woman's choice of Facebook as the platform for such a transaction as extremely puzzling.
As a colleague of mine said, has she never heard of Ebay?
Read more from Simon Faulkner in today's Grimsby Telegraph.
3 Comments
by Leveret2
Wednesday, March 20 2013, 7:44AM
“Perhaps those politicians in favour of the "free market" should state exactly how free they would like it to be ?”
by calypso
Monday, March 18 2013, 4:10PM
“I'm sorry DerAngriff, but I thought the last sentence was hilarious and I won't pretend I didn't.
But you're right, it's not funny really. I think FB should be closed down.”
by DerAngriff1
Monday, March 18 2013, 9:05AM
“Is it Facebook's fault? Is it the fault of the Internet? Is it the invention of computers that's to blame?
No.
Firstly, it's not human trafficking. Secondly, should Simon Faulkner be making a joke about the plight of two children who have been taken into care? A criminal father and a desperate mother?
Shameful 'journalism'.”