TLDR: Wake Up Placer recommends Sound of Freedom as a great and worthwhile movie experience.
A quick review of our staff (50% + have seen it) yielded agreement that it is a solid movie, with good acting and a solid storyline. The team also felt that it covers a topic that is avoided in polite conversation: Child trafficking for sexual abuse. We all felt that this issue needs more public conversation.
Many folks are sharing data that suggests that human/child trafficking is either the largest – or close to the largest – worldwide criminal enterprise as of 2023. The total revenue from human trafficking is suggested to be as high as $150,000,000,000 (that’s 150 billion dollars- which is a lot of money).
Our staff was flummoxed when they learned about the purported size of the trafficking market- so some of us collected the following data to help our team understand what a $150 billion dollar enterprise would look like.
What entities make $150 billion a year?
United Airlines generates $45 billion a year and employs roughly 95,000 people. In 2021 they operated 800 planes in 50 countries and moved 104 million people to their destination (note: pre-pandemic average was 140 million).
The state of California’s 2022 budget is $303 billion and it employs roughly 210,000 people. It is ranked as the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world- only the US, China, Japan and Germany are larger.
What are folks saying about the movie?
Song of Freedom reviews come in two flavors- either its great or the movie is pushing a conspiracy theory. We share links to some of the reviews we checked below.
Our staff thought it was weird that given the data that the US State Department (and other groups shared) about the size and growth of child trafficking that any newspaper or magazine would call a movie about this subject a conspiracy theory.
Most reviews we checked out suggested that the movie was great- and worth the $20 you would spend to get a ticket. Our staff buys sodas and popcorn so our cost for attendance was higher. Your costs will vary.
If cost is an issue, a staff member learned that the studio has a path to give you free tickets to see the move via the studio’s website: Sound of Freedom Tickets & Showtimes | Angel Studios
Parting thoughts:
Given all of the media coverage around this movie AND the lack media coverage concerning folks like Jeffery Epstein, etc. – and the clients he provided with kids– we at Wake up Placer think its time for Americans to start looking at the complex and emotional issue of child trafficking and discussing it openly. At home, school, church and amongst your friend groups.
One of our staffers pointed out that in 2015 (the last year they could locate US national data) the FBI/National Crime Information Centers reported 438,000 juveniles went ‘missing’. Our staff went further and checked the State of California’s data, and the State reported that ~450 Placer County children went missing in 2022. 419 are listed as runaways while 20+ are listed as ‘other’ which as best our staff could define means they were victims of abduction, suspicious or unknown circumstances.
That is a lot of kids to go missing from a county with only 400,000 residents.
We at Wake up Placer thinks its time to talk about these missing kids. If you believe that at most 5 or 6 folks separate you from everyone on the planet, 30 missing kids in our county guarantees they are kids of someone you know.
We at WUP are just starting out on this journey of microblogging. As we create articles – a goal of ours is to seek feedback from our readers. We welcome your comments – send us an email at: wakeupplacer@gmail.com
(don’t be jerky about it – it’s not cool)
Note:
On potentially contentious issues, like this movie, Wake up Placer, always shares where we collect our data. Links below.
We also include a link to our email- and would encourage you to share this issue- and our write up- as makes sense. You can contact our team here: wakeupplacer@gmail.com
Research Links:
11 Facts About Human Trafficking | DoSomething.org
2022 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States Department of State
Economy of California – Wikipedia
The 50 largest economies in the world (worlddata.info)
FBI data: 2015 NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics — FBI
Missing children: State of California: 2022 Children Status by County (ca.gov)
Movie Reviews:
Sound of Freedom – Rotten Tomatoes
‘Sound of Freedom’ is Actually A More Than Decent Film [Review] — World of Reel
The Independent Critic – Movie Review: Sound of Freedom
‘Sound of Freedom’: Box Office Triumph for QAnon Believers – Rolling Stone
By Thomas Hogan
Read Original Article on WakeUpPacer.com
