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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

International African Zero

Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 9:25 AM

A court in north-western Tanzania has sentenced three men to death by hanging for killing a 14-year-old albino boy.

They were found guilty of attacking Matatizo Dunia and severing his legs in Bukombe district in Shinyanga province.

In the past two years there has been a huge rise in murders of albino people. Witchdoctors use their body parts in potions they claim bring prosperity.

Dozens of people have been arrested, but the justice system is notoriously slow and this is the first conviction.

How I hate witchdoctors. The whole bunch of them disgust me like nothing else. The world of science and universal culture can salvage nothing from their beliefs and practices. They are a cultural zero.

Comments (17) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Me too. *Shakes fist at witchdoctors*

Posted by slaggy

on September 23, 2009 at 9:32 AM

do you hate them more than you love concrete?

Posted by Max Solomon on September 23, 2009 at 9:35 AM

faith healers, witch doctors, same diff.

Posted by guy on September 23, 2009 at 9:41 AM

@3, don't forget homeopathy.

Posted by Kris on September 23, 2009 at 9:53 AM

Even Billywitchdoctor .com?

Posted by j.lee on September 23, 2009 at 9:56 AM

Can't relate to witchdoctor hate

Posted by I'm 85 Years Old on September 23, 2009 at 10:03 AM

3 & 4 bring up good points. The term witch doctor is an offensive title but killing people for prosperity is also craziness.

Posted by sall on September 23, 2009 at 10:07 AM

Besides witchdoctors there is a new age equivalent of (usually guys) declaring themselves to be "shamans." They have goten to be a dime a dozen these days.
They usually utter such nonsense as "the germ theory of disease has beem disproven," or "there is no such thing as a coincidence." Actaully there is some truth to what they say about coincidence because in the dictionary the word shaman appears right next to the word sham.

Posted by Heather on September 23, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Ew Ee Ew Ah Ah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang!

Posted by Urgutha Forka on September 23, 2009 at 11:11 AM

7, I believe the accepted term today is "Magical Physicians".

Posted by Rob in Baltimore

on September 23, 2009 at 12:10 PM

10, thanks for the laugh!
It sounds way funnier if you switch witch doctor out for magical physician in this sentence:

"Magical Physicians use their body parts in potions they claim bring prosperity."

Posted by sall on September 23, 2009 at 2:00 PM

@8

Gee, that's really clever. Zzzzzz. Sounds you don't really don't know what the hell you're talking about though. Not sure I believe in you, Heather.

Posted by Confluence on September 23, 2009 at 2:46 PM

Well #12 you don't have to believe me. "Shamans" rely on people believing that the "shaman" has healing abilities. My intent is to undermine the "shaman" by planting seeds of doubt in their would-be customers.
One "shaman" told me of an ancient practice where the ersatz shaman would place a bug in his mouth while his patient was not looking and then pretend to suck the bug out of the patient's arm. This deception was for the purpose of convincing the patient of the "shaman's" non-existent power.
I have actually attended some "healing arts" fairs with some fellow skeptics for the purpose of exposing the shamanistic charlatans. All sorts of new age woo woo on dsplay there.

Article fro the Skeptic's Dictionary about shamans.

http://www.skepdic.com/shamanism.html

Posted by Heather on September 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM

p.s. Shamanism has nothing to do with Native American traditions.

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/cathbod…

Those who practice newege (rhymes with sewage) shamanism are once again being deceptive.

Posted by Heather on September 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM