What the Fogle Scandal Is Really About

The news cycle moves so quickly, sometimes stories get lost in the momentum. With the stock market having one of its wild mood swings, it might be tempting to forget the enormity of the Jared Fogle story of last week. That would be wrong to the victims, of which there are many.

A famous former fast-food face is now the most famous “john” ever. Since he’s pleading guilty, there is no mincing words: Jared Fogle is a child rapist. Aside from mass-murderer, a more despicable, contemptible classification cannot be applied to a person. The acts detailed by the charges are much worse than anyone ever thought. Under. The. Jail.

Though we may not see it in our everyday lives, Human Trafficking is real. A lot of folks don’t even know what the term means. Quite simply, anyone forced to do something against their will is a victim of it, be it forced labor and/or prostitution.

There are organizations fighting this insidious crime. One of the most visible is The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC). They explain it very succinctly on their website:

Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that occurs in every state, including Texas. The NHTRC works closely with service providers, law enforcement, and other professionals in Texas to serve victims and survivors of trafficking, respond to human trafficking cases, and share information and resources.

Find out more at traffickingresourcecenter.org. If you’re not familiar with this subject be prepared.

Although not nearly as tragic as victims of human trafficking, I also feel badly for the thousands of independent Subway® franchise owners, managers and employees who make that company run. They don’t deserve this stain, they’re just trying to make it in our capitalist economy. Fogle was the public face of their corporation for fifteen years, an entire generation of sandwich eaters. To many, “Jared, the Subway® Guy” and the company itself are one entity. It’s a sad situation because Subway® was going great before Jared; there was then and still is today a place in the fast-food free market for their healthier eating options. (I’m not being paid to say that, btw.) A lot of so-called healthy options simply aren’t healthy at all, filled with salt and preservatives. Believe me, I know: excessive fast food helped make me the man I am today.

The same goes for the charities who have done many "get healthy" events with Jared. I met him a few times in conjunction with these events. Makes me want to swim in Purell just thinking about it.

More constructively, I encourage you to frequent Subway® and do what you can to help the fight against human trafficking, while trying to forget you ever saw this licentious dork on your tv.