#serious

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

First, what is a Hantavirus?

Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that is spread by rodents that cause severe respiratory disease or kidney disease. They can spread to people through urine, saliva, or droppings from an infected rat. Spread from person to person is not super common and usually involves prolonged close contact.

What is the situation?

A cruise ship left the port in Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1, 2026. The vessel carried a total of 147 individuals, including 88 passengers and 59 crew members. On April 6, a passenger reported fever, headache, and mild diarrhea. By April 11, the passenger developed severe respiratory problems and died the same day on board. On April 24, the body was transported to Saint Helena (a British overseas territory).

On April 24, another passenger, who was in close contact with the first case, went ashore at Saint Helena on with gastrointestinal symptoms. She subsequently deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 25. This passenger later died upon arrival at the emergency department on April 26. On May 4, the case was subsequently confirmed by PCR with hantavirus infection.

Another passenger presented to the ship's doctor on 24 April 2026 with febrile illness, shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia. On 26 April, their condition worsened. He was medically evacuated from Ascension to South Africa on 27 April, where they are currently hospitalised in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Laboratory testing on an extensive respiratory pathogen panel was negative; however, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing confirmed hantavirus infection on 2 May 2026.

So far there have been three deaths and seven cases (two confirmed, five suspected) have been reported.

Is this going to be the next pandemic?

Most likely, no. Even with this specific variant spreading from person to person, this disease is not well suited to cause a pandemic level outbreak due to the low level of transmission. This is a terrible outbreak, and people in affected areas should listen to their local health authorities for specific instructions to stay safe, but there is a very low chance of this going global.

If you have any specific questions, I will try to answer new asks in my inbox regarding the situation but please check with WHO for more information.

Edit: People have validly pointed out that I didn’t cite my sources so I am linking them below

Does this not highlight his mentality? After engaging in this behaviour with Ren, he only then thought to ask him about his age. This is unacceptable. Doesn't matter that Ren was an adult anyway, this is STILL unacceptable behaviour.

Do not fucking follow me if you support Zeal, Zerum, Kat, or any other guilty parties.