I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not I should take down my review of Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom, the thriller about child sex trafficking starring Jim Caviezel. Well, an article by Vice has convinced me otherwise. Someone on my Twitter feed posted it. As of right now, I made the review private, so only I can view it. Everybody else is out of luck, until I decide what to actually do with it. The article mentioned that actual survivors of trafficking are being harassed by fans of Sound of Freedom for hating the movie. It doesn’t surprise me, as most of the fans are a bunch of right-wing, single digit IQ morons who bought intot the bullshit that the grifter Tim Ballard was selling. It also doesn’t help that actor Jim Caviezel willfully jumped down the QAnon rabbit-hole and started spouting bullshit conspiracy theories of his own. This movie has done more to harm victims of trafficking than help. Ballard is not a “holy warrior” out to fight human trafficking, especially since one of the funders of the film has been charged with felony child kidnapping. That’s the kind of people that are behind this movie. I didn’t want to think that Angel Studios knew about this guy, but what other conclusions can I draw?
If you’re a fan of Sound of Freedom, great. Enjoy it. But don’t think for one fucking minute that it’s honest about its message, because it’s not. It’s trashy exploitation that throws a metric fuckton of misinformation at the audience, who again, are mostly made up of highly conservative and religious fucktards who can’t think for themselves and believe they are helping these kids by supporting this fucking movie. Also, Operation Underground Railroad has been accused by many anti-trafficking organizations as inept, inadequate, and constantly getting in the way of actual progress. Not only that, they don’t provide any sort of aftercare for the victims of human trafficking. I am directly accusing Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel and Angel Studios of fostering this kind of hostility towards actual survivors. To these assholes, I say this: You would do well to listen to real victims instead of making broad assumptions which is what you do and what your fucking movie does. It’s an outrage movie with a political agenda designed to target the left by manipulating the right and willfully ignorant. To the people harassing survivors: Get yourselves educated on the subject matter before you accuse these people of being pedophiles and groomers. All you are doing is projecting. For those that are interested, I’m posting links to various resources and charitable foundations about human trafficking and how you can actually help.
Department of Justice: Special Programs and Initiatives
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
National Human Trafficking Hotline
If you want to be part of the solution, then be a part of the solution, not the problem. Operation Underground Railroad is part of the problem. There are a lot more resources out there if you just look, and most of them are genuine about their mission and willing to provide details and information on how to participate if you choose. There are real people stuck in this vile industry that need real help. Attacking victims is extremely counter-productive and only keeps victims from actually getting help. Don’t be an asshole.