Who’s the Pimp?
In regard to Tara Servatius’ article “Pimpin’ in the Queen City” (cover story, May 10), I wanted to make a few points. Creative Loafing has some 32 ads in this week’s issue for escort services and a back page ad for a company seeking women for employment that sell videos of “Hardcore Violent Encounters,” a quote from the Web site www.carolinacatfights.com.
In some ways, Creative Loafing is similar to the pimp Tracy Howard. They collect money from companies — if you can call them companies (I doubt “Daddy’s Little Girl” is traded on the NASDAQ) — that make money on degradation of women and allude to having very young girls for your entertainment. One ad in the escort section called “adult” only makes the statement, “CHELSEY a treat for the company man. Don’t waste your time with visiting providers I’m local.” What does that mean? Maybe Tracy Howard knows.
There is even a Latina Connection (“one on one with Charlotte’s hottest Latin women”). I wonder if the current immigration problem has hurt their business? I guess we will have to wait for the next issue of Creative Loafing.
I think the article sheds light on the prostitution in Charlotte, and is desperately needed, but being printed in a weekly newspaper like Creative Loafing makes it less of an investigative piece and more like incriminating evidence!
–Jonathan Jones, Charlotte
CL replies: We received lots of mail and online comments about the Tracy Howard story, many readers questioning Creative Loafing’s advertising policy. This is an area we consistently struggle with. As an alternative newsweekly, CL offers an outlet for businesses that don’t have many other options. Our most controversial ads are for adult content, firearms and alcohol/tobacco. CL’s position with regard to those businesses is that, whether or not we agree with certain products, we believe adults should be free to do whatever they choose to do, as long as they are not hurting anyone else or breaking the law. To this end, we monitor ads for illegal content and cooperate with police when notified that an advertiser is in violation of the law. (In the Howard case, we provided court testimony.) However, some advertisers give false information and slip through the cracks, and we regret this. As a result of the Howard case, we plan to monitor our ad submissions more closely.
Citizen Guevara
I want my Servatius back! She has obviously been replaced by Che Guevara in drag, and her article on businesses hiring illegal immigrants (Citizen Servatius, May 3) is the final proof.
In her article, she reveals that businesses avoid taxes on the hiring of new employees by hiring illegals off the books. That strikes me as a completely rational reaction to the government policy. If faced with a choice between gasoline priced with the gas tax and gasoline priced without the gas tax, wouldn’t we all choose the latter?
Here is how I would approach the story: Government taxes create a disincentive to hire Americans for low-skill jobs, forcing competitive businesses to turn to the black market in labor. Government policy punishes businesses for being above board, then Ms. Servatius advocates punishing the victims again. That’s just not kosher.
–Christopher Cole, Huntersville
Tara, regarding your article on our immigration problem: You have missed the boat by seven-eighths of a mile. The fence is a good idea and I applaud you for suggesting it. The immigrant problem, however, is not the current administration’s fault. It’s taken many presidents for more than 11 million illegal immigrants to get here. If we legalize all of those immigrants and put up the fence, we will soon be paying $10 for a head of lettuce, $40 per pound for tomatoes, and who knows how high construction costs will skyrocket. So it’s not big business that has fostered the problem, it is all of us.
I am sick and tired of “finger pointing.” It’s just so easy to blame someone or some group. Why don’t we put our heads together and come up with a solution?
–Jim Esposito, Mooresville
This article appears in May 17-23, 2006.
