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The Tale of the Penis Thief
Posted: 2003-10-10 11:45pm
by beyond hope
Found
here.
Suspected genital thief beaten to death in Gambia
Thursday, October 9, 2003 Posted: 7:26 PM EDT (2326 GMT)
BANJUL, Gambia (Reuters) -- A 28-year-old man accused of stealing a man's penis through sorcery was beaten to death in the West African country of Gambia on Thursday, police said.
A police spokesman told Reuters that Baba Jallow was lynched by about 10 people in the town of Serekunda, some 15 km (nine miles) from the capital Banjul.
Reports of penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, with purported victims claiming that alleged sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear in order to extort cash in the promise of a cure.
The police spokesman said many men in Serekunda were now afraid to shake hands, and he urged people not to believe reports of "vanishing" genitals. Belief in sorcery is widespread in West Africa.
Seven alleged penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs in Ghana in 1997.
Posted: 2003-10-10 11:52pm
by SyntaxVorlon
Quite the security problem.
Re: The Tale of the Penis Thief
Posted: 2003-10-11 01:57am
by Metrion Cascade
Dammit, I was hoping this was from the Onion. Wow. People really do believe this shit.
Posted: 2003-10-11 03:46am
by Raven
This may be the funniest thing I've ever read.
I cannot stop laughing.
But West Africa has a ways to go before catching up with India, don't they?
Re: The Tale of the Penis Thief
Posted: 2003-10-11 04:06am
by The Duchess of Zeon
Metrion Cascade wrote:Dammit, I was hoping this was from the Onion. Wow. People really do believe this shit.
You didn't read that "Interview with Saddam's Witchdoctor" article I posted in N&P?
*shakes head* Well, really--a lot of the world is still agrarian, and agrarian for many practical purposes can = all but medieval in thought processes, particularly of commoners.
Science is no more or less real to these people than
djinni or demons and angels and good water spirits and bad water spirits and tribal ancestor spirits and saints and gods and whatever. Literal belief in "Thunder is God moving his furniture around", that sort of thing. The real and the intangible are insensibly mingled, and with it comes some of the most ludicrously horrific attitudes in the whole world.
Posted: 2003-10-11 09:00am
by beyond hope
IIRC this is the same part of the world where men will deliberately expose their testicles to parasites in the sadly mistaken belief that elephantiasis increases male potency.
Posted: 2003-10-11 09:53am
by Demiurge
But agrarian societies are all about good moral ethical stuff.
They would never steal penises.
Posted: 2003-10-12 07:59pm
by Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi
What do people do with stolen penises anyway? Put them in hot dogs?
Posted: 2003-10-12 08:09pm
by Soontir C'boath
Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:What do people do with stolen penises anyway? Put them in hot dogs?
OH YEA, thanks a lot!
Hmmmm, they could artificially inflate the penis. Pick out the good sizes and then comes the new line of dildoes!
Cyaround,
Jason
Posted: 2003-10-12 08:18pm
by The Duchess of Zeon
Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:What do people do with stolen penises anyway? Put them in hot dogs?
I assume it is believed that the sorcerer eats them to increase his own sexual potency.
Posted: 2003-10-12 10:49pm
by The Cleric
Where have all the penises gone?!?!?
Posted: 2003-10-12 10:57pm
by beyond hope
Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:What do people do with stolen penises anyway? Put them in hot dogs?
Apparently in at least some of the cases, the "sorceror" blackmails the victim. Kind of a "pay me off and your dick will work again" deal.