10,000 E. African albinos in hiding after killings

[babsbunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091128/ap_on_re_af/af_africa_albino_killings

By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer Tom Odula, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 19 mins ago

NAIROBI, Kenya – The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.

Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives color to skin, eyes and hair, says she is only comfortable when at work or at home with her husband and children.

"Wherever I go people start talking about me, saying that my legs and hands can fetch a fortune in Tanzania," said Owido, 36, a mother of six. "This kind of talk scares me. I am afraid of going out alone."

Since 2007, 44 albinos have been killed in Tanzania and 14 others have been slain in Burundi, sparking widespread fear among albinos in East Africa.

[JonQ]

1. Believing superstition is worth killing over

one of humanities most common and terrible habits.

It must have had some evolutionary advantage to be this common. Maybe the humans who didn't feel this way were killed off long ago by their wild-eyed fanatical relatives.

[AllentownJake]

5. I'm pretty sure the guys organizing the Human Sacrifices

got the pick of the pretty ladies...and I emphasize the plural.

[JonQ]

7. Could be

also irrational violence and absolute confidence in victory and moral superiority can work out to a populations advantage. Especially when competition for resources if fierce.

Like the genocide in rwanda; completely irrational, brutal and indefensible. But it's done, and now the murderous bastards who carried it out will be spreading their genes, and the tutsis will not.

Natural selection is a bitch sometimes.

[AllentownJake]

8. Yep

The Human Race has battling it's tribal instincts of cooperation and protecting the herd for survival with the desire to acquire resources and pass along to your heirs since we stopped hunting and gathering. In the modern era we have developed a new twist of consuming as much as you possibly can before you become a bloated corpse.

[imdjh]

14. DO you think we could convince them that priest/imam parts are the true mojo?

[AllentownJake]

15. Yeah but you'd have to be a priest to do it

Maybe if I get terminal cancer I can make that kind of sacrifice.

[htuttle]

20. It does have an evolutionary advantage

Here's an excellent article about that:

Superstitions evolved to help us survive
...

The tendency to falsely link cause to effect - a superstition - is occasionally beneficial, says Kevin Foster, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University.

For instance, a prehistoric human might associate rustling grass with the approach of a predator and hide. Most of the time, the wind will have caused the sound, but "if a group of lions is coming there's a huge benefit to not being around," Foster says

...

The pair modelled the situations in which superstition is adaptive. As long as the cost of believing a superstition is less than the cost of missing a real association, superstitious beliefs will be favoured.

...

"Our brains are pattern-recognition machines, connecting the dots and creating meaning out of the patterns that we think we see in nature. Sometimes A really is connected to B, and sometimes it is not," he says. "When it isn't, we err in thinking that it is, but for the most part this process isn't likely to remove us from the gene pool, and thus magical thinking will always be a part of the human condition."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14694-superstitions-evolved-to-help-us-survive.html

It's not a flaw, as much as something humans are (very slowly) growing out of. At least that's what we tell ourselves, right?

[Christa]

2. I am so grateful

I don't live in that barbaric continent any more.

[JonQ]

3. Careful

you'll be labeled a racist for that.

Calling a culture/region/belief system other than ours "barbaric" is RW codeword for "I hate dark people"

[imdjh]

9. By George, you're right. It's just another religion/culture, no better nor worse than any other...

... because after all, if you go back to the cave, most culture had human sacrifice.

[AllentownJake]

10. Human sacrifice really didn't evolve till some asshole invented Gods

that could be appeased to give them resources they needed. I think that happened when we started planting and herding shit and needed rain.

[Thothmes]

17. Remember the Donner party?

[AllentownJake]

18. That is eating someone for food

Not eating an albino because they contain magic that will give you a bigger Penis.

[JonQ]

19. Survival not magic

also I'm pretty sure they were already dead when butchered, they weren't killed for the purpose.

[Thothmes]

21. ever read about the survivors of the whale shiip Essesx.

they actually shot one crew member to be the next meal.

[JonQ]

31. Again,

killing to survive is not the same as killing for magic charms.

[JonQ]

11. The usual argument is that

we have slavery, or didn't give women the right to vote, or use cluster bombs, or have hate crimes, and so on. So essentially A) we can't criticize them, B) to do so is racist and suggests a desire to invade and kill them and C) we are in fact worse than they are in every way.

[AllentownJake]

13. Silly argument

Prosperity brings better human behavior on a micro level and worse human behavior on a macro level.

[Ellen Forradalom]

26. Now you get to live on this one.

With any luck, you won't be slipped a roofie and raped.

[JonQ]

30. I know right

america is so much worse than africa in literally every category.

[Number23]

27. The people of Africa are probably equally as glad.

[imdjh]

4. I may have to rethink my position on the death penalty.

[Jamastiene]

6. I saw that earlier when I was reading the news on Yahoo.

Sad. :(

[Withywindle]

12. Horrifying.

Think of how many endangered species of animals hover on the brink of extinction for the same reason.

I guess it was inevitable it would lead to people too.

[inna]

16. jesus christ.

The report says the market for albino parts exists mainly in Tanzania, where a complete set of body parts — including all limbs, genitals, ears, tongue and nose — can sell for $75,000. Wealthy buyers use the parts as talismans to bring them wealth and good fortune.

[shanti]

22. there was something on teevee about this

a couple of weeks ago (nat geo?). wish i could remember the title :( it was about this group that started a boarding school in an african nation (uganda? can't remember exactly, dang!) specifically for albino children. apparently, they are often abducted/killed for the reasons stated in the yahoo story. the show discussed their physical problems (skin, eyes, etc.) too. very interesting story about a niche group that is discussed very little.

[Orsino]

23. That's silly.

Every corporation knows that dismembering Muslims is the way to make real money. :shrug:

[JVS]

24. I would stock up on burqas in that situation

:scared:

[Solly Mack]

25. K&R

:(

[Number23]

28. It's fascinating that the pale skinned, "blonde" albinos are discriminated against in Africa

in ways that blacks and other minorities are discriminated against in Western culture.

Due to a lack of education, many albinos are illiterate and are forced into menial jobs, exposing them to the sun and skin cancer, he said. Those who manage to finish school face discrimination in the work place and are never considered for promotions.

The myriad ways that human beings come up with to discriminate against each other is simply amazing.

[cowcommander]

29. Sad, sad situation

Africa is just...*sigh*