f13.net

*sigh* read this on PWoT and thought it warranted a repost:

African shenanigans. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/406067.stm)

Actually, just saw the date on the article, making this old, old news, but still...

Good god.

I can't stop laughing. I think I am a horrible person.

Well, it's not like they can get high on life over there.  Good for them for being industrious.

I'm going to start shitting in Gatorade bottles and leaving it out in the sun.  I tell you, Jenkem is the trendy club drug of the future.

I'd try it in LA first. Scientology took off pretty well there, so the market is obviously open for selling shit to people.

Love that scabies taste.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

It's constantly amazing to me how good we have it.  And we complain about shit like traffic?

Traffic is a nuisance.

Homeless kids huffing human shit is a PROBLEM.

You can't really compare the two.

Nah, I think the 1 in 4 adults having AIDS is much more of a problem than kids sniffing shit to get high.  Heck, it may even save their lives, if others won't have sex with them if they smell like astronaut diaper.

Man, I was gonna go the AIDS route. Nice to see it's been covered so quickly though. An astronaut diaper is a pretty good angle too.

That's the good stuff there.

Umm...wow. We should import that and put all the drug dealers out of business.

When I lived in Turkey glue sniffing was a problem amongst the homeless children; it was pretty sad seeing some wretch in dirty clothing breathing into a bag.   :|

I think we make plenty right here.  No need to import other peoples shit.

It's like a sick South Park episode come to life.  People put shit in their bodies IRL to get high; so here are people literally putting shit in their bodies to get high.  Except here, I don't think anyone's learned anything today.

 :-(

It's yet another symptom of a larger (MUCH larger) problem.  Tragic really.

Tragic is the right word for this.  Is anyone capable of saving these children from such a wretched existence?  Where does one even begin?

If only there was oil in Africa.

They have gold, platinum, and diamonds.  Doesn't seem to help anyone that isn't in government.

Obviously we need to carpetbomb Africa with Febreze.

Clearly, they are doing something wrong, and the developed nations of the world are doing something right.  What exactly those things are is up for debate, submerged in political stew, ambiguous and situational.

So in other words:  HARD.

Short answer, no. Imperialization screwed these people over horribly when the European nations basically pulled out. The only way to fix it would be so economically unappealing that no nations are going to want to pay the bill.

My wife bought the first product I have ever seen that was stamped "Made in South Africa" a few days ago...

http://www.bumbobabyseat.com/ (http://www.bumbobabyseat.com/)

We've got one of those.  My four month old absolutely loves it.

But back on topic:

That's just about one of the saddest things I've ever read.

This is not PC in any way. So be careful.

What's hard about it? The Big Man at the top rules over his serfs. The Big Man gets his choice of resources (minerals, oil, foreign aid, wtf-ever) until the next Big Man kills his ass and takes over. The serfs get ahead though corruption or nepotism. Failing that, they get high to cloak the horror of their miserable existence.

You could take this system and plop it into 3000 BC Mesopotamia and no one would know the difference.

Did Imperialism fuck up Africa? Maybe. Then explain India. Did the random borders drawn throughout the middle east and Africa help this? Definitely not. Are they the cause? I'm not certain. But again, they most certainly did not help either.

More support for the 'Big Man' hypothesis: Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was actually an African 'bright spot' until Mugabe declared himself god emperor and tossed out the Rule of Law. And now? Mugabe is the Big Man, and the serfs are fucked.

How do we 'help'? We either send in the Marines, ignore it, or hope for some local version of the Enlightenment and development of the Rule of Law takes hold. Otherwise? No freaking clue.

India emphasized education as a means of getting out of trouble and also had a long history of excellent civilzation and cultural movements. They could fall back on old civilized traditions and the strength of family to endure. Also, they weren't exporting a heavy slave trade out of India, they were keeping them at home.

My guess is that the tribal nature of Africa being bombarded with what could be considered 500 years of technology and city-centered civilization at once was too much to handle when the powers weren't their own people.

Read Uhuru and Something Of Value - It will make you appreciate Robert Ruark.

And to add onto what Paelos mentioned about Imperialism in India, the British carried out Colonialism much differently than, say, the French. To explain a bit...

The British integrated themselves much more into the local societies of their colonies, even going as far as to permanently relocating their families to India and marrying the locals. It certainly helped that Gandhi went with a method of nonviolence to resist the Brits and basically guilt-tripped them into withdrawing.

Contrast this with the French in Vietnam or Algeria. They did not integrate with the locals, at all. They interacted with them as little as possible, took no interest in the people or countries themselves, and simply raped the countries for as much as they could. In urban settings, shutting the locals up into segregated ghettos certainly did not help. Neither did responding to resistance with maximum force. Algiers is a great example of this - to this day, the city, and the country of Algeria, is still a huge political and economical mess.

I have been meaning to read those since I was a kid- I read Ruark's Old Man and The Boy and The Old Man's Boy Grows Older (both absolutely FANTASTIC, btw). My dad had a copy of Something of Value and I expressed interest in it. He said I could read it, but that I wouldn't really be able to appreciate it until I was older. Hopefully I am old enough now  :-D

Sounds to me like Africa could use a great big dose of Venezualan Socialism. Chavez is at least raising the education and living standards for the people living around the oil fields.

I think I threw up a bit in my mouth.

Stop huffing fermented sewage.

Yes but our shit doesn't stink! I should have been more clear. I meant import the idea. Think about how much shit we waste, literally.

Diamonds are overrated.

But gimme some of that sweet, sweet Platinum.

Humor makes the pain go away.


Every time I think I have a grip on how fucked up the world is, something new comes along.

(Warning!  Link has demonstration pics and amusing slang terms)

Leave it to Florida to import this trend to the U.S. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1105072jenkem1.html)

Seriously, WTF Florida? 

Cant....Stop..Laughing.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/socwise/jenkems.jpg)

I wonder if they're going to add this to the war on drugs.  I can see it on the news now, porta-potty owners being jailed on suspicion of running drug cartels, selling all that lucrative butthash to white suburban teenagers.

Butthash!  :uhrr:

LLLLEEEEERRRROOOOYYYY JJJJEEEEENNNNKKKKUUUUUMMMMSSSSSS!!!1!!


 :nda:

Just say no

Hey, at least pot is illegal!

:awesome_for_real:

Shit sucker?

(http://www.ecrans.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L450xH304/arton251-e0730.jpg)