US actor and tech investor Ashton Kutcher has made headlines for his emotional testimony.
“I am here today to defend the right to pursue happiness. It’s a simple notion — the right to pursue happiness.”
“But the right to pursue happiness, for so many, is stripped away. It’s raped. It’s abused. It’s taken by force, fraud, or coercion. It is sold for the momentary happiness of another. This is about the time that I start talking about politics and the Internet trolls tell me to stick to my day job.”
Opening up about his work in anti-trafficking he said, “So I’d like to talk about my day job. My day job is as the Chairman and co-founder of ‘Thorn’. We build software to fight human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children. That’s our core mission.”
He further said, I’ve been on FBI raids where I’ve seen things that no person should ever see. I’ve seen video content of a child that’s the same age as mine being raped by an American man that was a sex tourist in Cambodia. And this child was so conditioned by her environment that she thought she was engaging in play.”
He concluded his speech on this note: “Happiness can be given to no man, it must be earned. It must be earned through generosity, and through purpose. But the right to pursue it is every man’s right. And I beg of you that if you give people the right to pursue it, what you may find in return is happiness for yourself.”
