The horrors of unbridled capitalism...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/......f=slogin

It could also be the basis for a lot of stories.

It says they were making a list of all albinos to help protect them. I am sorry but if I am being hunted, on a list of who and where is not where I want to be. But maybe I am just too paranoid.

No, I don't think you are paranoid. What a horrible situation to be in for those poor people. Unbridled capitalism and rampant superstition: that sounds like what some religious nuts are trying to give us here. It is not too different from the stuff Rev. Fred Phelps teaches.

Fred and many others.

This also sounds like an idea-mill for our Doug. Albino toes?

WOW!

Bad taste alert

SERIOUS!!!

Whats next Holocaust victim skin tattoo's and gold teeth...

Someone should delete this thread its horrible...

That's why I love my fellow man. Are we not a wonderful bunch?

Yes. The depths of abomination are beyond comprehension.

Who needs made-up demons, when such people exist?

They are comprehendable it just seems it is easier to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to this type of horror.

Storys of demons, werewolves, vampires and the sort are pleasant fairy tales when you see what is happening on a daily basis to real living beings in America.

The prisons are full of demons and many more are still running ammuck right now...

They are our next door neighbours, our brothers, our co workers, our childrens classmates, our own sons...

Its a mad world...

Well that didn't take long. . .

Silvertongue, I want you to know that this about the fifth re-write of my response to you. At first I was really tempted to ream you out a new one, if you know what I mean. But, I know you meant well with your comment. It's just so wrong.

I have to tell you, these comparisons (not by you, necessarily, but they do pop up an awful lot around here) are insulting. Trust me, it's not a PC thing. I'm the least PC person I know (yeah I know, that's not saying much).

Unless you have family that with the scars, tattoos or some other memento, I just wouldn't go there.

I do, and even I wouldn't go there.

I know you're just trying to make a point. . . that you thought Harley's suggestion was in bad taste. But really. . . don't go there. Really. It's not fair to the survivor's of either the Holocaust or what's going on in the article Harley linked to even compare the two. It belittles the torture and murder that was committed against some of my family and the families of my friends.

I'm not discounting what's going on in the article. It sounds horrible. But it's not the Holocaust. It's not a genocide. They are not the same. Don't pretend that they are.

I'm not saying that the Holocaust shouldn't be discussed, or the events in the article shouldn't be discussed. They should, but in the context of what they are. Two separate and very different things. Let's not compare every action by some deranged lunatic to the murders of six million people. In other words, the actions of a serial killer or killers (which is what this looks like if you dig a little further into this story) do not a genocide make.

I hope you take this in the spirit it is intended. I am not reaming you out a new one or anything like that. Just laying it out on the line for you to think about.

Mark

Sorry I didn't mean to offend anyone with my comments.

It's arguable that anyone who murders is deranged, though most murderers find ways to justify it.

"My country/religion/politics/village/school/business, right or wrong" is probably the most popular justification for mass murder in the history of our species. I can't think of any war in history, that was initiated for another reason.

Both the albinos and the holocaust are murder. These acts define evil. Both situations are genocidal, in that persons with perceived "genetic abnormalities" are specific targets. To talk of numbers is absurd.

The suffering of one person is no less, because millions of others have suffered. To the dead, the numbers don't matter. If you're being hacked to pieces, I doubt you're thinking about the color of your skin, or take comfort in the fact that 1,000 other people are being hacked to death at the same time.

The desire for power is a dangerous thing. If it's state power, it's dangerous. Religious or corporate power, dangerous. Personal power (of the sort that's used to justify bad behavior toward others), dangerous. That variety of power is based in fear, and the exploitation of fear. It's used to define a group, and to exclude the perceived renegades. It both justifies and encourages the members of a particular group to commit physical, emotional, or intellectual acts of atrocity on non-members.

This a good example of why people who claim powers, or who suggest they "might or might not, and you can make up your own mind" have them, are acting unethically. Claims of power uphold an ethos that says "I can exploit your fears, in the name of what profits me."

The witch doctors in the news story make such claims. They albino stories uphold their claims.

Some here, might say "Well, what does this have to do with magic?" Everything, at least for the folks who post here.

We tell stories also. We, too, make choices in how we tell them. Would a story about a toe be in bad taste? It depends on how it's told. We can expose this type of fraud, recount the actual horror, and teach audiences to throw the bums out. We can't directly help the victims, but we can give humanity to their memory.

If these stories don't get told, we do nothing but uphold a corrupt status quo. That upholding, makes us part of the problem.

Many of the stories that come out of this particular series of threads, are disturbing. Good. They make people think.

Oh yeah I agree Harley. To the individual, a terrible murder is a terrible murder.

Through art we can teach, and what better things to teach than ethics, respect for humanity and finding connections with those we find strange.

I once wrote in a poem -

"Underneath it all, we are all skulls."

Aaaah! We have similar bones to pick.