http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL2290323220080422?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews


Words cannot describe how funny that is...

There are no words...

Im speachless.

Penis panics are more common than you imagine. People hear stories that some witch doctor has cursed everyone and is stealing penes and the next thing y'know every guy is checking his pants frequently and the slightest reason to believe it's got any smaller is vindication of his fears. After that it's witch lynching time!

Africa wins again!

I thought it was common knowledge witches do this

Awesome.

I like how they report on this but they don't report about how women in the Congo are brutally raped and violently abused on a regular basis.

Vinnie that's part of everyday business and happens on an individual scale. It'd be like getting reports from every murder in Iraq or Johannesburg or Rio de Janeiro. That said, it's certainly something that should be reported on more often but a bunch of brown people in the dark heart of Africa are rarely noteworthy until they do a Rwanda. This story is noteworthy to the press because it has in following order:

[INDENT][INDENT]A)Penises
B)lol-Africa-is-backwards
C)Attempted murder of several people[/INDENT][/INDENT]

The DRC has lots of problems on amazing scales. The civil war it had and is (supposedly) over. The cannibalising of the pygmies in the forests. The attempts at an election that required all voters to have an address or home in order to assign polling booths; the result of which was that various factions would visit opposition supporting villages and burn everyone out. The govt. forces using UN troops as protection while they brutalised rebel supporters. The increased spread of HIV from the rapes that happened during the civil war, the night migrations, the malnutrition that most of the people there suffer. The various militias and gangs that survive by stealing from and raping, mutilating and killing entire communities by night.

Africa just has no society on which to build a nation. It's even worse than the ultra-fundamentalist Middle East.

I kind of want to watch Congo actually.

Am I missing some sarcasm or is that the most comment I've ever seen on Massassi?

No, seriously Africa is a mess.

It's the hurr one.

I didn't feel like taking the time properly convey what I was trying to say, so you'll just have to get the gist of it- Africa's really screwed up on a level that will be very difficult to fix. It's more than just bad governments and AIDS, ect. Those are just the result of a more insidious problem.

I know I say this a lot, but I think Africa is a writeoff.

Seriously.

There's no amount of education and humanitarian aid that will make Africa... you know. Good. I blame DeBeers.

Some of it still has a chance. Botswana for example is considered a jewel of African democracy, South Africa kinda hangs in the balance lately (especially with Zuma and the Scorpions) but is still a long way off from the Great Lakes situation. Namibia will probably be fine while it still has diamonds, its only concern being the Caprivi strip. Moz is sorting itself out. Ghana and Senegal are meant to doing quite well too. Some of those nations, the day that they finally get some peace and do something about corruption (a la Botswana), will find they're sitting on some fairly impressive oil and mineral deposits with which to dig themselves out of some of their problems.

I blame slicing up nations by drawing straight lines on a map rather than natural divisions like mountain ranges, rivers, deserts, demographic distribution etc.

Yea, just like by "black magic" having sex with a virgin will cure aids.

or by "black magic" will the one laptop per child be a miracle cure for the continent

I think the statement of "what Africa needs is sweatshops" holds true to a certain degree. Even though it has its negative connotations, if the countries of Africa came together, shared resources, established stronger industry and produced a backbone of expertise and enterprise, maybe the continent as a whole would be better off. Too bad "ethnic cleansing" isn't a tangible product.

I heard Ghana is quite nice. One of my professors goes there on occasions.

You answered your own protest. The words Regular Basis means that it isn't news (read: sensationalist enough to sell anything). Besides, as a gay man you should know that penises going missing is a travesty!

no really, baby, it's not my fault. a wizard did it.