‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’

‘Why every parent should worry about human trafficking’

Lauren Book at Newsweek

Human trafficking is “not relegated to Epstein’s island or infamous parties hosted by disgraced rap stars,” says Lauren Book. It “happens in every ZIP code in the United States — in homes, schools, malls, and increasingly, on phones and laptops — hidden in plain sight.” It’s “important that every parent in America hear this message: If we keep looking for trafficking only in extreme or sensational cases, we will keep missing what may be happening right in front of us.”

Read more

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

‘To reimagine Holocaust education, look to Elie Wiesel’

Mike Igel at the Miami Herald

The “lessons of the Holocaust are often distorted, universalized into vague morality tales or, worse, inverted to attack the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” says Mike Igel. Holocaust “museums, educators and Holocaust survivors and their descendants have inspired and informed millions to fight antisemitism.” But Holocaust education “isn’t the self-executing strategy we thought it would be. The current antisemitism crisis should drive us to examine how Holocaust education can best achieve its goals today.”

Read more

‘Gaza is not a real estate fantasy’

Sultan Barakat at Al Jazeera

Gaza’s “devastation demands urgent and serious reconstruction. Homes, hospitals, schools, farms, cultural heritage, and basic infrastructure lie in ruins,” says Sultan Barakat. But “urgency should never become an excuse for illusion, spectacle, or political shortcuts.” The contrast between rhetoric and reality could not be sharper.” While Trump and a “group of world leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to sign the charter of the so-called Board of Peace and unveil glossy reconstruction plans, the killing in Gaza continued.”

Read more

‘No, AI isn’t inevitable. We should stop it while we can.’

David Krueger at USA Today

Americans “believe that the rise of artificial intelligence is inevitable, and that we all just have to bear the consequences,” says David Krueger. Do we “need to let AI sweep through society?” AI “acolytes are building ever more powerful systems without knowing how to control them.” We “can stop the reckless race to replace humanity – if we have the political will. AI development is not a law of nature, but rather an immense project that only proceeds through deliberate effort.”

Read more