I just watched a video of humanity going haywire.
It was on people in Africa that have been convinced by missionaries that Satan has possessed young children there. They’re regularly tortured, beaten and killed for being witches. Or if they want to keep their possessed child alive, they can take the children to one of the local “witch expert Bishops,” and they can pay to have the spell removed.
This one “Bishop” in the film talked about how he’s killed 110 people that were witches, and that he estimates that the number of witches and wizards in his area to be exactly 2.3 million. He’s a dead eyed, evil looking motherfucker dressed in a wacky outfit that looks like something Michael Jackson would wear in a music video, and grown adults in his area take him very seriously.
He does these retarded ceremonies on these children, and charges the poor parents what amounts to a year’s income for the service. If they can’t pay him, he holds the children captive until they can. How totally Jesus-like.
The video is absolutely stomach wrenching. Many of these children are horribly scarred from their own parents who have tried to kill them for being possessed. One of the girls was burned with acid and buried alive by her mother.
It’s a fucking human catastrophe, and I don’t remember ever hearing a peep about it in the evening news.
We’re all over here worried about the economy, and keeping up our precious lifestyles, and meanwhile there are thousands and thousands of innocent children in Africa that are being labeled as possessed and tortured. It’s fucking completely crazy, and the lack of focus on it is really disturbing.
The lack of attention on this shit just seems really odd to me, and I can’t help but think that if this was taking place on such a large scale in another, predominantly white country like Finland for example – I think it would be a much more talked about story. For whatever reason we as human beings are ok with fucked up shit happening to people that we don’t know who already live in a fucked up place, but when it happens to people that we don’t know who live in a nice place we get very upset.
If there were thousands of people being beaten and killed in Sweden or England for being witches it would be all over the news, but since it takes place in Africa it’s just in a video that someone linked on a messageboard on the internet.
It’s weird how some things freak us out and other things we’re really casual about.
I had a conversation with some friends the other day about the escalating violence in Mexico. One of them had absolutely no idea what was going on over there, and was completely unaware that the drug wars over there have gotten so bad that 5,000 troops have been deployed to Juarez to attempt to control the area. My friend is just a regular dude that’s busy with work and his family, and he hadn’t heard about the problems. He’s not ignorant, he’s just busy, and he had no idea that thousands of people have been murdered over there in the last few years, and that they estimate the size of the army of heavily armed drug dealers to be over 100,000 strong and growing. Now, if that was happening in Houston, it would be serious, front-page news, and I’m sure my friend would have been aware of it, but because it’s taking place in Mexico the story is significantly less popular than the latest video of Brittney Spears’ pussy hanging out.
“Sucks for Mexico” is the attitude, but “Mexico” is just a fucking name and an idea.
We live on a round, connected planet, and the whole notion of countries is just some shit we made up.
What’s very real though, is that on this planet we live on the exact same patch of dirt that Mexico is on.
It’s right there connected to us.
You can call it two different things, and pretend all you want, but once you get past the fake line separating the two you realize that just a few hours drive from some Major US cities lays complete and total chaos on a scale rarely ever seen anywhere else in the world. Humanity gone completely haywire; mass murders, beheadings, 2 hour long gun fights in the middle of the streets – it’s all going on every day over there, and folks in America don’t seems concerned at all.
The violence is starting to bleed over the border too, especially in Phoenix, where they’ve had an average of a kidnapping a day over the last year. We feel safe because of our “borders” but at this point the United States is like a gated community just outside of a warzone.
I think we as human beings are in a very strange stage in our evolution, especially in regards to how we’re altering our perceptions of reality through the use of technology. We’re connected together by the internet in a way that no humans have ever experienced in the history of the species, and it’s only been going on for the last 15 years or so.
It’s started slow, and snuck up on us, but now that it’s here to stay it’s moving at an incredible pace.
We’re more aware of each other and have more access to information than any generation by far, yet we still live under the same flawed and ill-conceived structures that were set up in our disconnected past. They just don’t make any sense anymore, and that’s why they’re falling apart. The economy never made any sense to me, but I always thought it’s probably best to not get obsessed by this shit, and to just leave it up to the experts. Turns out, the economy is so fucking wacky that even the experts don’t understand it. Now with the internet, we get the reports on this shit instantly, and the information is flowing much, much faster. More people know more than ever how fucking crazy the whole system is, and because of that knowledge people have completely lost faith in the system and accelerated it’s demise.
Corruption gets exposed much quicker, and much deeper now. That whole Enron scandal was probably some shit that those shady fucks could have pulled off much easier 20 years ago. It’s not like stuff like this wasn’t going on in the past, it just wasn’t getting exposed in the manner that it is today. When you have to wait for the news on TV, or get up for the morning paper you feel so much further from the information than if you can just grab it from the internet. With the internet, when some shit is happening it’s getting reported on RIGHT NOW. Instantly, and it’s easy to find.
You could just type ENRON into a search engine and a whirlwind of corruption and corporate crime will come piling on to your desktop, including stories of a whistle blower that committed suicide by shooting himself in the head… twice. All this information is available to you anytime you would like to look at it.
20 years ago you would have had to wait for a book to come out exposing all the information, and the poor guy writing that book would have to fear for his life every day of the week before it comes out. Today – a story like that breaks and within 30 minutes hundreds of websites have reported on it. I can find it on my phone in 30 seconds.
Halliburton would have operated under the radar in Vietnam, and Blackwater would have quietly changed its name in the 60’s and no one would be the wiser.
Not any more, because things are clearly changing. All these guys look horribly corrupt because they are, but they’ve always been this way. We’re just getting a closer look at the world we live in than ever before, and we can spot this shit much easier now. All these corrupt people are operating the same way people like them have always operated; it’s just a model that doesn’t really work anymore. We have more access to everything now – companies, people, news, ideas – if it keeps moving in this direction the next few years are going to be very strange indeed.
Here’s the video of the kids in Africa. Don’t watch it if you don’t want to feel like shit, though. It’s pretty rough.
All I can come up with is “Oh My God!!! What the Fuck is Wrong with People?!!!!” I am a single Mom and every ounce of joy I receive in life is from him. And, no matter Satan or who the hell I believed lived within my child, there is NO WAY and I mean NO FUCKING WAY anyone could convince me to harm my own child or allow them to either. Now I am under the full understanding that rituals and rights are very important and ingrained within these cultures but at what point does it just go back to the primal instinct of protecting your child until your own death. I mean those instincts have to be within them, Right? And all us selfish, self-involved Americans just turn a blind eye. I mean most of the time if I bring something like this up in my office the women are like, Oh my Gosh and start talking about American Fucking Idol immediately after. I do not get it. I want to leave some sort of Legacy for my son. Food drives, Charities, helping other children. I do not have a lot of money to give or hell even time anymore but I do what I can between being an Office Manager at a Home Health facility and making sure my son is safe and sound, I do what I can. I have been a total jerk for many years of my life, but I do not want to give that to my son. I want to pass on giving back. Now with that being said…. I am not perfect or any measure of that word. But simply put, I TRY to do what I can where I can to help. And if all the other Americans gave a little we would start seeing some payoff. Who gives a flip flying fuck about diamond teeth and Bentley’s in front of a broken down trailer ppl. Have an ok car an ok home and do something that matters. Because you know all this “Keeping up with the Jones” stuff is not going make you smile in the end. Not going cover up any insecurities or make you any cooler. It only makes them more prevalent. Just do something anything be a voice, be a friend, help a child, help a parent. Just put humanity back into your everyday life… Sorry for going on and on. This video and blog just set me on fire! On a lighter note Joe, I would love, love to see you in Nashville. My favorite bit is the stripper bit and toe rings. I played it once, back in the day when I myself was a stripper in the dressing room and pissed the whole club of strippers off. I thought I was going pee myself. What’s the fastest way to clear out a strip club? Throw a dollar in the parking lot!!!!!! You rock Joe!
Nikki
I can’t watch the video because I know I would be a basket case for the next 2 weeks if I did. However, you’re the man with the power here, you’re the voice. Let’s do something collectively. Write the media and ask them why this isn’t be reported on? Write your government officicials and ask “why aren’t there troops in this place fighting for the basic human rights of these people?” Do they not have oil or anything to offer us in return? hmmm…Surely the mighty Americans don’t just help those with something to give in return. Are there any other ideas? I mean, getting the word out and blogging on it is a start but, as a group, your fans could really do something to help these kids out. Whatcha think?
whos gonna start the facebook group?
Mindless people that give into rash instinct… it’s disgusting!
and
In related news, as to validating your “we are “this close” to chimps” ramblings (which I agree with, btw)
Study: Belligerent chimp proves animals make plans
Joe, I’ve been reading your blog recently and enjoy your opinion. Just as a disclaimer, I will say that I am happy to see your view on any subject.
But to comment on ‘humanity gone haywire,’ I don’t see it the same way. This video proves that humanity is not a divine presence in the world, but one that is derived of the world. We are not a rare occurence in an unjust world, we are the product of such given a long enough period of time to develop. Given the circumstances of this video, an American would assume that this is some backwards act of ignorance, but it is the contrary. This IS humanity. Humans are not perfect, they do not exhibit advanced behavior besides the understanding of cause and effect. A man is not able to contemplate his effects on the world in a divine understanding, but in an existential way. We can say that witchcraft is wrong because our ancestors, our country, has been down this path before. To be honest this is not a critique of the African community in question, but of the human community in general. We, as a people in America, are capable of such atrocities on our own scale at any point when we do not use logic and reason. It is why a ridiculous proportion of our population fall for single viewpoints of mainstream media, be it a solely CNN or FOX news viewpoint. We all are susceptible to the downfalls, the weakness, of humanity. It is why at a time that science has been progressing at exponential rates with respect to the understanding our world, yet the majority still believes in a benevolent man deciding the entire outcome of the universe. And even with the logical alarms sounding in the congregation, they still GIVE MONEY to the organizations, regardless of their intuition. We are inept at realizing that our assumption that all of the wonder of the universe is derived of a being in the image much like us. We cannot contemplate that a world that is as cyclical as ours cannot be a product of intervention. We, as a people, are the precursor to the truly intelligent beings on our planet. There will be a time when we as a species realize that superstition is just that, superstition. The influence of man will be understood as it is meant to be, as it is.; A man making a claim that is compiled of ridiculous opinion, will be treated as such, rather than as a prophet. There is no religion in our world, there is only superstition. We believe because we are inept at the level of understanding that is necessary for true advance. We have yet and will not see what the cause of the fall of man is, but future species will flourish because they will realize that a world of mysticism is one that is bound by mysticism. It will fall to the same advantages that made it possible. We became aware and as a result created religion, and we will fall because of the same.
This video isn’t of a sick degenerate low of man, but what man is at its primitive level. What man will be the moment before it is removed from the record.
I may be wrong with the accusation of you being different from what I have stated.
Give me a day to reconcile.
thank you for sharing this video. I have tried to understand religion but every time i look into it i see stuff like this. These guys are making big bucks but exploiting trust and the invisible man in the sky is backing that dollar. really if these kid were satan, witches or wizidoos why the hell don’t whip out a wicked spell or two and bring the wrath down on those assholes. oh yeah thats right they aren’t evil. -Q
Desteny, watch it. It does suck and its lame to feel shity, but how else are you able to let something change how you think about the crap that goes on in the world. what if everyone didnt watch the bad stuff, and avoided it. nothing would be learned and nothing would ever get better.for example those kids in the clip, if that british guy just did nothing and walked away because it was going to make him a basket case those kids would have nothing. there is a lot of hurt in the world, for some the pain is their reality, they are living it, they are those kids, you are only watching. you have the courage to watch it give it a try.
-Q
I’m in the military, throughout the documentary the question of why I’m not there bothered the shit out of me. This is bullshit they are just kids man.
I never cease to be astounded at the inhumanity some people are capable of subjecting others to.
Joe, this was a really thought ful post. I think people who only know you from “Fear Factor” or from watching UFC would be surprised at how deep you can be. Your blog is one of my favourites.
-Tyler
Your post reminded me of something the late, great Terence McKenna once said:
“The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it’s only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse. If you go to Bosnia or Somalia or Peru or much of the third-world then it appears that the apocalypse has already arrived.”
Great post, Garrett. McKenna was dead on the money.
As an atheist; I feel for those people in Africa (and around the world).
They are subjected to needless torture and death.
the world has always been a shithole, we (and other civilized nations) have risen above that.
I don’t feel the “apocalypse” has came and just not reached us yet.. ‘we’ve simply made a better life for ourselves, as have other nations.
and then some have not.
This got me thinking of an essay I read some time ago written by a South African immigrant to the US. He talks about how much cheaper life is there. I found
Sorry, That href tag didn’t work.
The link: http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/essays/36/
First of all – I’ve got to say I completely agree. It’s absolutely disgusting.
One thing I think you failed to bring up though, Joe:
Since when has it been America’s job to save everyone? I know we’ve pretended to be heroes of the universe many times before, but why the fuck can’t another country decide to try and stop it? We’ve stood up for people so many times that we’re starting to stand up for the wrong reasons these days – I’d say give another major country their turn to “save” Africa. You seem to make it look like America is being lazy pieces of shit – while you might be true, we’re talking about Africa. It’s fair game for any country to step in if they want to.
Alternatively, just let them all kill each other – Africa will fade out eventually, just like the Mayans. Sad.
@jitsue You’re right. I should and will watch it. I read this story http://jimwillis0.tripod.com/tiergarten/id21.html once and cried for almost 2 days and it’s fiction. I’m just so sensitive to suffering and feel hopeless to do anything about it. I’ve read all of quotes about little people doing big things and 1 person can change the world….etc… but really, I have kids and a full time job. When do I save the world? Joe got so many hits on this blog that it shut his site down and I think that’s awesome (the attention it got, not the shutting down
). I will watch it though. Thanks for the reply!
If it were up to me, I’d easily give my tax dollars to the Africans and Mexicans instead of bailing out corporations and banks. The best thing we can do is just keep promoting these stories and hope that people wake up.
@desteny you are only one but you are a social being. when you watch you will share what you saw with others and the will watch it and they will tell others what they saw…do you see where this is going. we have the mind to save the world and jump on opportunities to act whenever possible. if you are mindful of the condition of the world you are better able to identify what is wrong with it. that is the first step to finding a solution. you seem like a pretty mindful person so you are doing fine.
-Q
Great comments from all. I get some really thoughtful and interesting people commenting on my blogs. I just wanted you guys to know I really appreciate it.
Looks like this SICK fuck learned a lot from western religion.I loved that they were passing a bottle of Jaeger at ~ 5:10 s in.
LOOK JOE, if you can do anything for Nigel6, answer me this: should I or should I not consider performing stand up comedy? I feel like my family and friends would be disappointed/think I’m psychotic…I am very attracted to the lifestyle and realize there is a lot of work involved to become successful, but I fear once I try I will become hooked and never look back. What do you think?
“He’s not ignorant, he’s just busy, and he had no idea that thousands of people have been murdered over there in the last few years, and that they estimate the size of the army of heavily armed drug dealers to be over 100,000 strong and growing. Now, if that was happening in Houston, it would be serious, front-page news, and I’m sure my friend would have been aware of it, but because it’s taking place in Mexico the story is significantly less popular than the latest video of Brittney Spears’ pussy hanging out.”
So how do YOU feel about your contribution to that country’s problems? YOU…the one who advocates the taking of an illegal drug that is PROVIDED by those very drug cartels. Smoke another and forget about it….IDIOT
look forward to seeing you show on 4/4 in SD.
*your show
-Q
,
Have you seen “what the bleep do we know?” (dvd)
“the global brain/ the white hole in time” I thought the last on was a trip. I heard your “rant” on youtube and thought you may have see the later because in it, humans expansion on the earth is compared to cancer.
-Q
Ok, I watched the film and have some ideas:
If you haven’t watched the movie, here is some info…
For those of you with money to give, you can donate at: http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org. This charity takes in children that are abused/abandoned and attempts to inform the public about these churches that are branding children as “witches” and advocating horrific child abuse all for economic gain and personal recognition.
For those of you with no money to give, sign their petition, donate an old phone or laptop, or ask what other ways you can help. Maybe have a fundraiser?
There are 2 facebooks for them…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lancaster-United-Kingdom/Stepping-Stones-Nigeria/3 5304227074?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9476440119&ref=ts
Also, write to this lady: http://helen-ukpabio.com/ .
She is a preacher of sorts that has written a book and made movies about children being witches. In one of her books it states that if your child runs a fever and cries through the night they may be a witch. There has been a dramatic increase in these child abuse incidents since her movies/books have been released yet she takes no responsibility nor does she try to discourage the activity.
It’s about time someone saw sense on this subject. Also, a big shout to another comment poster BCook10, with an excellent assay of superstition and its completely mythical status. Please read some of my scribblings at my web site because I also feel that humans have become conditioned to be evil (anti-nature) to a massive extent. Also, they are completely blind to their bad natures, and what they believe is “moral” is quite often anti-pleasure crap. Keep up the great work here and keep on philosophising – that’s what we’re here for. BCook10 may consider Olaf Stapeldon on my books page for speculation on the species of man that succeeds us.
Wow. I’m not quite sure what to say about that video. It’s horrible & yet understandable in how these atrocities occur given that their sole source of information comes from an unintelligent (& seemingly currupt) religious sect. It really points out the need for education around the world.
For those of you who say that this isn’t America’s issue you may be missing the point a little. While I personally believe that we are part of a world collective, Nationalists have cause to care too. America is so tied to the rest of the world that we really can’t exist in a bubble. We are tied economically and environmentally to every other nation on the planet to some degree, including Nigeria. If we choose the isolationist path we’re going to shortly find ourselves in a decaying country club while the world burns around us. Soon after that, we too will likely perish. The only way to make our lives and the future lives of our family better is to work on making the whole world better (the sooner the better).
Thanks for posting that JR. It really has helped push me to try to do more to help where I can. As far as helping goes, I don’t want people to get phased by the enormity of the issues. It is a big deal, but we are a big bunch of people. You are not alone & because of this a bunch of people each doing a little really will add up. Just spreading a caring and concerned word is helping. So…everyone who was moved by this & isn’t sure how to help, do your part to get the word out (& I don’t mean in a cheesy b. Gates is gonna give you $ chain email
). Spreading a concerned word will hopefully catch the ear of someone in the position to effect these particular people with this particular problem.
Anyways, thanks again Joe!
Let’s call it for what it is. These are people who already held the belief that witches are the cause of all misery on the earth. This religious cult seized upon it as a way to manipulate these people, but also these people were attracted to it because they share many of the same core beliefs.
But the big missing fact here is that this is SARAH PALIN’s religion that sends missionaries aboad to teach about witches and demons. They have bragged about praying for the death of Mother Teresa, of praying for the death of a “witch” in Alaska, “causing” her cancer, then driving her out of the state. Hello? She only pretends to be mainstream, in a culture that accepts all religious beliefs as good.
Gut wrenching and disturbing. A father driving a nail into the skull of his young daughter is beyond sick and what is being done to these kids is evil. Africa is synonymous with political instability, corruption and chaos. I understand there are cultural differences throughout the world and especially Africa. But anytime people go there to stop insane acts like this, they are called racists. I went on the web site and donated money, I encourage anyone who is able to do the same. http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org
Joe, thanks for using your stature to bring this to our attention.
Thanks for the link KevinJ, just donated! L25 to educate a child in need for a term sounds like the least I could do.
Ah it sucks to (not to pass judgement) that so many of these things are simply made aware with hardly any real work being attributed to solve the problem. Walmart probably has a bigger executive level supply chain staff than the number of people who actively seek to stop shit like that. It reminds me of the bit, “I always want to boycott but its just a lot of work.” Oh well, it seems like the next step is saturated awareness that forces actions. Thanks for the enlightenment.
-Ck
fuckkk just starting watching the vid, just goes to show you how monetized religion (especially western religion) really is
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I don’t think I can bring myself to watch the video because I know how angry I would get. I’ve had my fair share of horrific things when I was a kid and to hear things like this gets me angry but also inspires me to maybe pitch a story to someone in hopes that we can make this known to all. We’re always protecting animals so fiercly, I hope that we can do the same for our children.