'Praying is not enough'
September 19, 2016 11:34 AM   Subscribe

 
Everybody is kung-fu biking?
posted by octobersurprise at 11:39 AM on September 19, 2016 [54 favorites]


Amazing humans.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:41 AM on September 19, 2016


Do they use nun-chucks?

Seriously, though, these ladies are amazing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:43 AM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


In the Himalayas, nuns chuck you
posted by infini at 11:45 AM on September 19, 2016 [20 favorites]


Everybody is kung-fu biking?

Those cats are fast at cycling
posted by LegallyBread at 11:50 AM on September 19, 2016 [45 favorites]


I completely get how delicious a setup for one-liners this is and I don't hold it against people who can't resist.

But we are talking about women going on risky missions to fight human slavery. But then, if the combo of nuns+bikes+kung fu weren't so irresistible, they might not be able to raise awareness like they are.
Experts say post-disaster trafficking has become common in South Asia as an increase in extreme events caused by global warming, as well as earthquakes, leave the poor more vulnerable. The breakdown of social institutions in devastated areas creates difficulties securing food and supplies, leaving women and children at risk of kidnapping, sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Seeing a natural disaster as your chance to make money selling human beings into bondage? That's some bottom-feeding villainy right there. Criminy.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:57 AM on September 19, 2016 [25 favorites]


In all seriousness though, it sounds like great work they are doing. Some very hands-on work to help folks and set a good example.
posted by LegallyBread at 11:57 AM on September 19, 2016


Somebody get Stephen Chow on the phone, right now!
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:02 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


If this was going to be a film, I'd want to see it as a Takashi Miike film. Something along the lines of 13 Assassins, with human traffickers getting their brutal comeuppance in epic battles.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:05 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


Everybody is kung-fu biking?
Those cats are fast at cycling


Not even a little car driving
posted by Leon at 12:24 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


I was curious what the hell kung fu had to do with anything, and I found this tidbit interesting:

"Among other things, [The Gyalwang Drukpa] gave them leadership roles and even introduced Kung Fu classes for the nuns after they faced harassment and violence from monks who were disturbed by the growing shift of power dynamics," she said.

For some reason, I'd generally given Buddism credit for not being as terrible as other organized religions but apparently that was misguided.

The nuns of this particular order are doing a good thing.

Bicycle races are coming your way
So for get all your duties, oh yeah!
Those kung fu nuns they'll be riding today
So just stop human slavery, oh yeah....

posted by sparklemotion at 12:31 PM on September 19, 2016


it always jars me to read articles like this, especially lines like this: Gangs dupe impoverished villagers into bonded labor or rent them to work as slaves in urban homes, restaurants, shops and hotels. Many girls and women are sold into brothels.

And then I happen to glance at the sponsored-link content: The best features of Bentley's $229,000 SUV - See why millions are upgrading to this underwear - Lady Gaga's Mansion will take you breath away, ad vomitum...

And I'm thinking to myself: people are being duped into slavery thinking that they are getting a job. Families are having to make a gut-wrenching decision of having their children "work" somewhere else, not realizing that they will never see their loved ones again. And you're asking me to read about underwear ?

I mean, I know that life goes on and we can't stop the world to save the world and all that, but goddamn, you know?
posted by bitteroldman at 12:46 PM on September 19, 2016 [10 favorites]


Hundreds of Buddhist nuns trained in Kung Fu...

Tarantino just splooged himself.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:54 PM on September 19, 2016 [6 favorites]


The 36 chambers of the Shaolin is actually a bike room.
posted by dr_dank at 1:05 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


For some reason, I'd generally given Buddism credit for not being as terrible as other organized religions but apparently that was misguided.

Like all things, it depends. But traditional Asian Buddhism tends towards traditional patriarchal hierarchies. In my experience Western Zen Buddhism is changing many of those dynamics.
posted by kokaku at 1:12 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


Hundreds of Buddhist nuns trained in Kung Fu...

Tarantino just splooged himself.


Only if their feet are visible.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:36 PM on September 19, 2016 [5 favorites]


Bravo to these women defying tradition, defending themselves and fighting evil. They are all kinds of awesome. Human trafficking is a level of evil that is so despicable I can barely comprehend how it happens at all, much less how it thrives. I can understand people living in desperate circumstances willing to do desperate things to survive. What I cannot comprehend are the people who think it is ok to purchase a young girl solely for the purpose of fucking and throwing them away like a used tissue. Or turning them into a personal slave. Why do we never, ever read about these men who buy these girls? Why aren't our jails full of these vile, loathsome, disgusting assholes?

I was in Thailand last year with a tour group. We had an audience with a friendly young monk who was currently getting his Ph.D. In Seattle. He told us of his desperately poor family and how the monks visited his village when he was 8 and offered to take him and his brothers to the monastery where they would be fed and educated. He and one brother chose the monastery, two others became Hindus. A fellow in the group asked if the monks were doing anything to help the girls who are sold into prostitution from the poorer villages. Yes, the monk said, they frequently talk to the girls in Bangkok explaining to them that prostitution is a sin and that selling their bodies is evil.

JFC I almost busted a blood vessel in my brain the rage hit me so fast. I raised my hand and said -- "And are you educating the men about NOT BUYING SEX FROM LITTLE GIRLS? Cause that would probably fix a lot of the problem." Dead silence. He stared at me as if he had heard something so strange, so bizarre, so revolutionary that he could not wrap his mind around it. He was flummoxed. He stammered. He coughed. I kept going, "I doubt there are any little girls in your 'poor villages' who want to be prostitutes and sex slaves. Maybe the monks could teach the fathers and brothers to not sell the girls, and the rich men, not to buy them. Maybe you could not put the blame on the girls who are the victims, you could blame the men who are the sinners."

And then our host announced we were out of time and shuffled us out the door. I may have mumbled namaste motherfucker as I left.......
posted by pjsky at 4:05 PM on September 19, 2016 [31 favorites]


Trying to understand how the Drukpa lineage fits in with Tibetan Buddhist sectarianism is a little confusing. Tibetan Buddhist sectarianism is a little hard to understand, anyway.
posted by kozad at 4:48 PM on September 19, 2016


And then I happen to glance at the sponsored-link content:

Was it sponsored by Taboola? Because it's a profile-based aggregation of your potential interests and demographic information as gleaned by algorithm(s). An eerie reflection of corporate perceptions attached to a unique identifier. What appears on a second page loading is noisier than a first.

My first reference for this was New York's Guardian Angels in the 1970s, but this is much less complex and responding to a distinct injustice and extortion more dire and inexcusable than racial relations on urban subways-- though I shouldn't compare suffering. Yet I strive to suss qualitative and quantitative measures of "human slavery". I believe it's a poor nominalization of a range of exploitations and behaviors and am wary of intervention and advocacy. I'll cite TED Talks as a source, and Toni Mac's in particular.

I fear I'm risking a de-rail by addressing this topic as a range of behaviors and their regulation versus praising the nuns as super-heros, but I hope not.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 5:10 PM on September 19, 2016


Everybody is kung-fu biking?
Those cats are fast at cycling
Not even a little car driving


Bodhisattvas are so enlightning
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:40 PM on September 19, 2016 [8 favorites]


Hundreds of Buddhist nuns trained in Kung Fu are...

I was really kinda hoping for "... beating the shit out of human traffickers." to end that sentence.
posted by prepmonkey at 7:23 AM on September 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


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