Red Channels in Hookerville

Law enforcement has hit the bottom in Grand Junction, Colorado.  After busting the madam of the local rub-n-tub, police there issued a press release threatening the arrest of 1,000 Fiji Oriental Massage patrons unless they voluntarily turned themselves in.   In an epic display of paranoia, fifty-seven customers did just that via the police department’s “confidential hot line” with the hope of staving off imminent arrest.    In a thinly-veiled attempt at not looking like complete assholes, Detective Ricky Valdez said the hot line was designed to let investigators do their work without having to confront ex-patrons publicly. “If our intent was to ruin lives, we’d just start calling people or showing up at homes,” Valdez told the Sentinel.  Really?   Now, I would have thought that tricking johns into turning themselves in would be a pretty good start at ruining someone’s life, what with the possibility of arrest, loss of reputation, and family lives torn apart.   Fuckers.

In Phoenix, it’s been ugly and it’s getting uglier.  In August, 2008, seventy five arrests were made in the Desert Divas bust with charges stemming from serious conspiracy charges for the owners, who all pled guilty and are facing a minimum of two years in prison, to prostitution busts for the girls.   On May 8th, the Phoenix Police Department announced an additional 112 count indictment with 43 more arrests.   Included were two phone operators, 23 and 19 years old respectively, and the organization’s 45 year old photographer.   Way to go, Phoenix P.D.    You’re really cleaning up the streets.

It gets worse.  In January, in a frenzy of shock-and-awe journalism, local Phoenix new outlets published the Desert Divas client list – all 6,000 names. Oh, they were kind enough to redact private phone numbers and addresses, but made sure to leave all the other juicy details in:  the names of escorts each client saw, the number of times, like and dislikes.  I’m not linking the list here for obvious reasons.

Not so very long ago, blacklists in the public forum were all the rage.  Senator McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities and the FBI launched a paranoia-ravaged  “investigation” against anyone who wore red sweaters, ate red food, had red blood cells and read books, which they termed the “Red Scare” or “Communism.”   One of the results of this asshats-gone-bad effort was to produce the mighty tome, Red Channels, a salacious blacklist of Hollywood actors, producers and other perverts.

The only difference between Red Channels and today’s law enforcement mashups is, well, nothing.   It was un-American then, and it’s un-American now.   The Pink Scare is upon us.