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BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times
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Subject: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Amos Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:27 AM Every now and then a news blip comes along which is bizarre enough to make our whole century stand out in sharp contrast. Consider, as a first example, the poor Ghanian in today's story; all he wanted was to be bulletproof! Anyone can relate to that! And look what happened to the poor sod! There oughta be a law. Actually, come to think of it, there are some -- Newton's Third, for example! :>) Man Shot Dead As Bulletproof Magic Fails ACCRA (Reuters) - A Ghanaian man was shot dead by a fellow villager while testing a magic spell designed to make him bulletproof, the official Ghana News Agency reported.
Aleobiga Aberima, 23, and around 15 other men from Lambu village, northeast Ghana, had asked a jujuman, or witchdoctor, to make them invincible to bullets.
After smearing his body with a concoction of herbs every day for two weeks, Aberima volunteered to be shot to check if the spell had worked.
One of the others fetched a rifle and shot Aberima who died instantly from a single bullet.
Angry Lambu residents seized the jujuman and beat him severely until a village elder rescued him, the Wednesday report added. Feel free to add your own examples. I am sure there are many such tales. Regards, A
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Kim C Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:32 AM I thought jujuman was a kind of candies. Oh no wait.... that's jujuBEEs... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Matt_R Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:32 AM Everyday, every hour I wish I was Bulletproof... Anyone remember "Spectre of The Gun" from Star Trek (TOS)? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Matt_R Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:37 AM A juju is the word for an West African charm or fetish object, usually a precious stone of some sort, adorned, usually, and used in rituals by the medicine man (witch doctor). Jujubean candy are called so because they resemble these special gems and stones. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: mousethief Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:41 AM The headline sounds like something from The Onion. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Mrrzy Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:50 AM MattR, I just saw that one again the other day! One of the few that takes me more than the teaser (o, hell, more than the first shot) to figure out which one it is (I had to hide my eyes from the title)... what an interesting episode from the Vulcan point of view! (End thread creep) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Matt_R Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:54 AM I know Mrrz, I saw it on SciFi Channel on Wednesday! Great episode. We musta been watching it at the same time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Mrrzy Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:56 AM (music from The Twilight Zone) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bert Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:01 PM Exploding tin covers shopper in dog food Tesco
A SHOPPER was left covered from head to toe in dog food after a tin exploded on a supermarket shelf. Julie Tyers, 29, was buying cat food at Tesco's in west London when the freak accident occurred. She said yesterday: "I was late leaving the office and needed to go shopping and so I popped into Kensington Tesco on my way home. "I just put some cat food in my basket when I heard a loud bang and thought it was a bomb going off.After I screamed, I opened my eyes to discover a big tin of Winalot dog meat had exploded and had quite literally coated me in the stuff. It was awful. My boots, leather skirt, tights, coat, hair, eyelashes and jewellery - everything - were covered in it." Ms Tyers said: "The management sent me home on Tuesday with a free bottle of good Merlot and a big bottle of champagne. My clothes are going to a specialist dry cleaner today and Tesco are covering the bill. My boots are ruined and so they are replacing them for me." A Tesco's spokesman said: "We helped to clean her up and offered to pay for dry cleaning. She received a full apology plus a bottle of champagne." The spokesman said that the tin's airtight container must have been pierced at some point, causing the contents to go off. "Over time the pressure would have built up as the product went off until it finally exploded." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Kim C Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:01 PM I remember that now about the juju. It was on an episode of the X-Files once. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: katlaughing Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:04 PM These kinds of stores make me a bit uncomfortable as it seems we are mocking someone else's beliefs however primitive they may appear. Reminds me of the mocking etc. when Native Americans practised their Ghost Dance religion and believed their special shirts would make them bullet-proof. I don't find it funny as much as tragic. Of course laughing at the seeming stupidity dehumanises the whole thing and can make one feel superior in intelligence, so I guess it's only natural to do so. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bert Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:10 PM You're right Kat, I seem to remember a year or so ago, a museum in Scotland returned one of those shirts to it's owner's tribe. Of course CRS robs me of the details. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Wolfgang Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:20 PM Steve Allen (in: 'Dumbth'): we are not very intelligent if we simply accept everything our personal religion...delivers to us. To call some opinion a belief shouldn't make one immune to criticism. Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: katlaughing Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:47 PM Who called what opinion a belief? I will probably regret asking, but please clarify, Wolfgang. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Peter T. Date: 16 Mar 01 - 01:08 PM George Bush believing that a missile shield will help protect America and build world peace is a lot weirder than assuming that bullets will bounce off you (and a shirt and a spell are a lot cheaper). yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Wolfgang Date: 16 Mar 01 - 01:09 PM kat, yes, I love to clarify. I've done it before in one of the old threads, but I think it is easier to reformulate than to refind. Here you go:
Religions and (other) belief systems make a lot of statements about the world and out of world things. I don't criticise the majority of these statements for they are not refutable or testable in any meaningful sense. So I could only say 'I don't believe that' or 'I too believe that'. However, I have often observed that adherents to a belief system fail to make that distinction (refutable or not) and try to immunise their opinions against criticism by referring to them as beliefs. Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Kim C Date: 16 Mar 01 - 01:13 PM Grandfather! We're invisible! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Wolfgang Date: 16 Mar 01 - 01:14 PM My use of the word 'opinion' for testable statements in belief systems, however, might be bad English. Wolfgang (off for the weekend) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: SINSULL Date: 16 Mar 01 - 01:35 PM "Aberima volunteered to be shot to check if the spell had worked." If he had truly believed that the spell had worked, it might have. Given that they all had some doubt (why test it otherwise) why didn't they shoot him in the toe? Although I admit to disbelief when hearing a story like this, I don't find it funny. Any more than I am amused when some child in the U.S. dies of pneumonia because his parents refused medical attention insisted he could be healed by prayers. kat - I have always been fascinated by the "ghost dance". While ridiculing the indians for their "stupidity", local authorities banned the dance. It frightened them. The power of a tribe believing in its ability to survive frightened them. "Stupidity" frightened them. I wonder who believed in the power of the dance more - the indian or the white man. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: katlaughing Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:13 PM Good question, Sins. I did a paper on it in a college history class and was absolutely fascinated. Living in Wyoming at the time I was able to access first-hand accounts in some of the libraries, by Indian agents, and others. Got an A on it, too!*bg* Wolfgang, I understand you may be gone and not see this. I am aware of your position as stated. What I wanted to know was if you were talking specifically about the incident cited in this thread or the statements of one of us, following the intitial post. While it may be true that we humans can manifest something if we have utter faith in being able to, I doubt that there are many capable of such absolute belief as would stop a bullet. Likewise if we strive to believe in something we desire yet ask for that or something better for the highest good of all concerned there is a good possiibility we will get something altogether different. Of course, this is all predicated on a belief in some Higher Being and letting Its will be done, rather than our. Unity Church calls it the Big me and Little Me, i.e. God-consciousness and race (mass) consciousness. Still it's hard to see what good can come of something so tragic and that, I guess, is where humankind's free will comes in and mucks things up. Or, who knows? Maybe this guy was saved from something worse and is going to have a great life next time with a bit more smarts to boot! Done musing....kat Thanks, kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Matt_R Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:20 PM Big Me, talk about it Never saw it through And it's you I fell into... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Lonesome EJ Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:52 PM "Sure Aberima, I'll help you test the spell! Let me get my rifle!" In my opinion, the shooter has some questions he needs to answer. I've always been fascinated by the "Cargo Cult" phenomenon. You may know about them: When the US invaded various Pacific Islands during World War 2, it was the first encounter between many aboriginal tribes and 20th Century man. The US forces would construct landing or drop zones, erect landing lights, and quonset huts. They would radio for resupply from the air, and often these supplies landed in the hands of the native tribes. To the tribesmen, these unbelievable collections of bizarre items that fell from the sky were some sort of boon from the gods. When the US forces suddenly abandoned the islands and moved on, the boons disappeared. Anthropologists who returned many years later found the natives had fashioned facsimilies of radios, landing strips, and quonset huts, and that the priests had affected similar garb to the soldiers', and were conducting rituals designed to summon the planes and their dropped boons. Not exactly laughable, but a phenomenon that puts many of our own more "enlightened " rituals in a unique perspective. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Wavestar Date: 16 Mar 01 - 06:35 PM I am afraid your use of opinion certainly falls outside of any dictionary definition, Wolfgang, but it does make it easier to understand you once you've clarified your use of terms. While I would find harsh words regarding a dead man uncharitible, and in this case, certainly not funn,t I can see what you're saying. -J |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bill D Date: 16 Mar 01 - 09:10 PM the human species is hundreds of thousands of years old..(or millions, depending on when YOU feel we changerd from animal to human)...during most of that time, we had little idea how or why things happened, and the growth of 'creative speculation' was perfectly understandable. Now, we have had only a few hundred years of science, testing, and technology (or a few decades, depending on when YOU think it really made a difference) to sort out the 'truth' from 'creative speculation'...and we are not finished yet! There are parts of the world where there are TV sets and internet connections that one or two generations ago were almost totally isolated, and other parts in which 'civilization' is only a thin veneer. ....thus, there are two issues (1)...what IS true, sane, logical, reasonable, testable and proveable?.. and (2)...how do we act toward those who disagree with us and don't seem to be current on the latest theories? This guy let himself be shot to 'test' a belief in magic....here in the U.S., we have churches who handle poisonous snakes to 'test' a belief in religion. Is one worse than the other? I suspect that the jujuman was beaten because they thought he did the spell wrong rather than because they now didn't believe in spells. It takes a LONG time for superstition to be weeded out of a culture...In my opinion, superstitions must be 'mostly' tolerated, even as we try very hard to expose them for what they are...*superstitions*..(yes, religious superstitions as well as stuff about ladders, black cats & leprechans).....as sad as it may be, deaths like the above are one of the ways in which 'opinion' gradually gets changed. Perhaps they will NOT buy any more spells and will advocate being careful, instead....and perhaps their children will NOT feel obligated to believe that the jujuman can do bulletproofing......and maybe Lourdes will only be a tourist attraction...*shrug* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: SINSULL Date: 16 Mar 01 - 11:03 PM Matt, I am assuming you have seen the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy". An entire tribe is turned upside down by the appearance of an empty Coke bottle discarded from an airplane. Very funny and very wise. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: guest(intruder-inactive) Date: 17 Mar 01 - 09:44 PM (slapping labels onto EVERYTHING so he doesn't have to think ANY more) further deponent sayeth not |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bill D Date: 17 Mar 01 - 09:52 PM ? who? huh? *shrug* (if deponents are gonna sayeth, not, they oughta not say a bit less obliquely) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Wolfgang Date: 19 Mar 01 - 06:56 AM Steve Allen, once more: some religions are rationally superior to others. That means the others are dumber. Kat, I meant no post in particular, but this thread, especially the first post, reminded me of a general tendency to do extremely silly things if only they are supported by a faith. And the word 'faith' doesn't deter me from criticising sillyness.
Another example, this time from the USA, true to the spirit of this thread: Then there was the old lady with crutches who could only walk very slowly. Nevertheless, the organiser let her walk and as could be safely expected she got severely burnt when collapsing in the middle of the walk. To add insult to the injury the organisers told her that her faith was not strong enough. These persons were either extremely stupid (and dangerous for others) or extremely cynical. I'd love to see the organisers walk as slowly as the old lady could. I'd love to see whether their own faith is strong enough. There are no doubts in my mind that it won't be. Wolfgang
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bill D Date: 19 Mar 01 - 12:00 PM when they made documenteries about firewalking, they usually DON'T show the ones who have problems...doesn't attract many new ones that way. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Naemanson Date: 19 Mar 01 - 02:45 PM Am I alone in seeing no difference between what the jujuman was doing and what anyone else involved in any religion is doing? He was practicing within his belief system and has the same validity and should be treated with the same respect as any priest/minister/preacher/church elder/coven leader/etc. Bill, your hope that others might learn from the mistakes of those involved is not likely to happen. When it comes to spirituality and religion people tend to ignore proof that disturbs their belief system. This has been shown repeatedly by such work as The Amazing Randi. Maybe the question should be what the recipient of the bulletproofing was planning to do that he thought he needed the treatment. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bill D Date: 19 Mar 01 - 03:31 PM yes Naemanson, I see very well the connection between the jujuman and other religions..but the growing out of such things is like evolution..it is SLOW...most of us no longer believe in flat earth or dipping suspected witches to test for truthfulness, but we still do other things that are just as bizarre...it is hard to wrap your mind around the LONG view and realize just how recently truly decent research and writings have been done,,(or even allowed, in many cases) Copernicus and Giordano Bruno were just yesterday in the history of mankind. Young children are not able to discriminate between a good story and reality, and many people resent and resist being told that Santa Claus is a nice myth, and in my opinion, some of them hold to other myths simply because it is not easy to prove otherwise....and it is often hard for me to grit my teeth and FIGHT for their right to believe any silliness they wish to, but I do sincerely fight for such rights...(but I also defend MY right and need to limit certain expressions of those rights when they intrude and threaten my peace and public rights..) [yep...a lot packed into that last sentence, hmmm?..*grin8] |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: wysiwyg Date: 19 Mar 01 - 03:52 PM I prefer exploring to defending. Can't seem to do both at once, though I can multitask nearly every other thing I can think of. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: mousethief Date: 19 Mar 01 - 04:04 PM Actually Naem, just living in hunter/gatherer societies is dangerous enough to need protection. The chief cause of death in pre-agricultural societies is murder. The jujuman wasn't beaten because he was practicing his religion. He was beaten because he failed. He made a claim that wasn't met. These people were, in fact, being very scientific. Jujumen whose charms don't work are false jujumen, and posing as a jujuman when you aren't is a danger to the whole tribe, and thus a capital crime. Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: GUEST Date: 19 Mar 01 - 04:27 PM Curious how religion is a belief System , But , some folks think science is not? I think looking for a Gene that causes one to steal or be Immoral is right up there with being bullet proof, yet there are scientists doing it. There are also scientists who discuss theories they picked up from Star Trek. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Naemanson Date: 19 Mar 01 - 04:48 PM But the difference, Guest, is the WAY they consider these things. In a religious/spiritual context a person with authority only has to say something is and the people believe him/her. And there is little that can be done to shake them from that believe. In science the person of authority has to PROVE his or her hypothesis before he/she has any authority. And the proof has to come from an experiment that can be repeated by others. Failing that there is little that can be done to support the hypothesis. Generally people who do not understand the scientific process don't understand the difference between religion and science at all. I place the fault at the door of the education system in a culture that accepts pseudo-science as being an acceptable body of knowledge. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: mousethief Date: 19 Mar 01 - 04:55 PM Naem, this is starting to get into areas we may not want to go. As we both no, nobody has ever PROVED evolution with repeatable experiments. And yet its proponents yell "It's Science dammit!" with the fervor of True Believers (a la Eric Hoffer). Science is a sacred cow. Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: mousethief Date: 19 Mar 01 - 06:14 PM Sorry; as we both "know." I tend to type by sound not meaning. It makes for some strange (and un-spell-checkable) typo's. Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: GUEST,Pseudolus Date: 19 Mar 01 - 06:41 PM I agree with Wolfgang, if we heard a story about some guy that convinced his buddy that he had magic powers and could make himself bulletproof and then tested it and he died, a lot of people would be saying, "What an idiot!!". but because it is packaged in the light of "culture" and "belief systems", some of those same people would say, "Well, that's their belief and I have to respect that". He's either an idiot or he's not..... Frank
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Bill D Date: 19 Mar 01 - 08:29 PM "nobody has ever PROVED evolution with repeatable experiments." hmmmm....they have done much with things like fruit flies.....experiments with mammals take a few years .... In the meantime, new evidence mounts every day as anthropoligists and geneticists get more data. (And some folks are STILL squawking that no one has proved that tobacco causes cancer) .......(other musings edited out by my own hand before posting) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: catspaw49 Date: 19 Mar 01 - 09:04 PM There are obviously two (or more) sides to this situation and you may be a schizophrenic if you are be able to see both. Its like the guy who at times would play the temptress in a Bizet opera and at other times would don the uniform of a WWII Luftwaffe General..............Didn't know if he was Carmen or Goerring. Sorry...........go on with your discussion......... Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Dave Wynn Date: 19 Mar 01 - 09:37 PM Lets see.....We have a society where some members believe that magic in the form of herbs and incantations will prevent a speeding object from harming them....we laugh. We also have a society where some members believe that the earth , sky , sun , moon , stars and people and all the insects , fauna and flora were created by one person in 6 days....they laugh. Life is wonderous and while I know there are many wrongs..I also believe that there are many rights...Some bloke spoke once about having a big house in the sky with lots of rooms....didn't He..."in my house there are many....." Spot
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Lonesome EJ Date: 19 Mar 01 - 10:14 PM Many windows, indeed spot. Just stay away from that particular one...there's a guy outside with a gun. :>}LEJ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: katlaughing Date: 19 Mar 01 - 10:38 PM Well said, Spot, although I always heard She had the many-roomed mansion....:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: GUEST,Bedridden Barry Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:06 PM I remember it not being to long ago (I read it in a history book somewhere) that a large percentage of one of the most advanced societies on earth thought it was enough to just "say no" to drug abuse & that the problem would somehow magically disappear & that the practicing of no sex would completely make the aids virvus also disappear. These beliefs will probably be laughed at some day in the far off distant future by some of the more primitive societies but until then we should maybe all take the holy words of those that tell us these things we take as self evident are truthfull & beyond reproach. Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Amos Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:18 PM Interesting collection of views. Let me add that I meant no lack of respect to anyone who was either in the story above, or who felt far removed and superior to it, or anywhere in between. I think all viewpoints have some truth. The point of the initial thread was to point out the dramatic contrast between views, bounded by the same fine little planet out here on the rim of some galaxy somewhere. It is certainly the most interesting spot for parsecs around! I am reminded of the wonderful story of Flatland, in which the two-dimensional figures were absolutely confounded when they ran into a three-dinmesnional pole, and went half mad trying to figure out what it was. They bounced off it and circled all around it, but they were one dimension short from being able to have an idea what it was. Who knows? Maybe we are bouncing off such a pole even as we speak!! :>) Regards, A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Ebbie Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:22 PM Thread sliiiiiiide: I was reading some esoteric thing- have totally blanked it- where it gave the word 'mansion' hooked on to a word that meant 'oasis'. It was not a discussion of the word. This was several years ago and I didn't make a note of it. Somehow the assurance that 'where you are going' is to a land of abundant oases seems very appealing in a water-starved land. Much more appropriate than to a 'mansion with many rooms'- I don't recall reading that desert areas are or ever have been particularly known for the structures that we call mansions. Any thoughts on this? Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: catspaw49 Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:39 PM Nah Ebbie, not me. Deep thought ain't my thing. I'm still trying to go from 1-D to 2-D so I can understand Amos' last post. So your query is beyond me. Hell, I'm the kind of guy who has trouble writing two coherent sentences on "My Day At The Zoo." I mean, like I thought the original post was just a story about some guy who realized too late that Kevlar might have worked better for his New York vest. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: Amos Date: 20 Mar 01 - 12:10 AM Well, Spaw, it's hard when you're bouncing off a pole, as I said, and you can't understand the damn thing... Especially if its your very own private personal pole!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: katlaughing Date: 20 Mar 01 - 12:19 AM Ebbie, maybe not, but what about the great palaces filled with the many wives of sheik whoseit?*BG* When Rog was working in Abu Daubi he got to tour the lesser of about 10 palaces owned by the seventh prince of the ruler at the time. It looked like a compound, surrounded by cinder block walls, mostly to keep the sand out. They wouldn't let him take pictures inside, but he said just the entryway was the size of our house at the time, about 2000 square feet, and the walls were covered with 24k gold leaf, every inch. Certainly not the stereotypical striped tent of Rudy Valentino, eh? *smile* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times From: catspaw49 Date: 20 Mar 01 - 12:36 AM Say Amos, wouldn't your "personal pole" have to stick out the side in 2-D? Spaw |