Human zoos (1500s- ), also known as ethnological exhibits, Negro villages or people shows (Völkerschau), showed non-Western people at zoos and fairs. They have been common in the West since the time of Columbus, but reached their height from the 1870s to the 1930s – back in the days of Joseph Conrad, Gauguin, minstrel shows and the birth of National Geographic.
They showed people from:
- the Middle East,
- Africa,
- Sri Lanka,
- the Philippines,
- Java,
- New Guinea,
- the Pacific,
- the Americas and
- the Arctic.
Never white people.
They were especially common in
- Germany (huge),
- France,
- Britain and
- America.
Tens of millions saw them.
Examples:
- 1896: the Cincinnati Zoo showed Sioux Indians.
- 1899: “Savage South Africa” in Britain showed Zulus, complete with spears, shields and staged battles.
- 1904: the St Louis world’s fair showed a “parade of evolutionary progress” with Filipinos and American Indians ranked below whites and with Pygmies just above apes.
- 1906: the Bronx Zoo showed a Pygmy, Ota Benga, in the same cage as an orangutan.
Ever since Columbus sailors brought non-Westerners back to Europe to be shown to the public, especially at fairs. Few ever made it back home and many did not last long in disease-ridden Europe. A well-known example is Sarah Baartman of South Africa, who was shown in a cage in Britain and part of an animal show in Paris.
“Native villages” were built so white people could see how they lived. Montaigne reported one in Rouen, France in 1533 of Tupinambas from Brazil. Such villages became especially common at zoos and world fairs starting in the 1870s.
To succeed at a zoo:
- Play to stereotype;
- Fit Western ideas of beauty – or go completely against them;
- Be at ease with audiences;
- Have a special skill, like ivory carving.
This favoured those who were artists or entertainers in their own land.
Far from being “educational”, the whole thing was staged and played to Western stereotypes:
- Arabs were like in “Thousand and One Nights” from the 1300s.
- American Indians were like in the cowboy-and-Indian books of the time.
- South Sea Islanders were bare breasted and carefree – even though, as Gauguin discovered, that world was long gone if it ever was (but he painted it anyway).
- Black Africans were shown as savage hunters, spears and all, just a step above wild animals – even though most Africans of the time were herders and farmers. One show was called “Gorilla Negroes”.
The Pygmies at the St Louis fair, on the other hand, liked to smoke cigars and wear top hats, which screwed up the show’s racist evolutionary ranking.
Some feared for the safety of white women. In both Victorian England and Nazi Germany, some opposed the shows out of fear of race mixing between black men and white women.
At least as late as 2005 you could still see “African tribesmen” in grass skirts at a Western zoo (in Augsburg, Germany). But since the 1930s such things have become uncommon: film, and later television and cheap air travel, were able to give Westerners a much richer-seeming (but not always truer) “experience”.
See also:
- Sarah Baartman
- Ota Benga
- minstrel show
- BET Fallacy – the fallacy that people of colour are somehow in control of their image in the West, that white money does not call the tune.
- The Sioux today
- Iroquois
- stereotypes about Africa
- Notes on how not to write about Native Americans
- Golden Book Encyclopedia
- Darkest Austria
- black people according to the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
Great post. This type of thing needs to be known by the masses. It shows how sick these “people” are. They want to make others believe they’re the superior race. Yet look how they treat people who look different than them. They love to call people of color barbaric yet they ignore their own savagery.
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This just breaks my heart. But it is real . I read the story of Otta Benga. It was tragic. Also the Hottentot Venus. The things Africans and people of colour had to endure. Just tragic.
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I remember that Macon D. (Stuff White People Do) did a post on this because a few years ago in Texas (I think) people were about to bring it back.
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Let’s start a human zoo featuring whites and witness how berserk they’ll get at the thought of it.
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I knew of some of this, but not everything. What stood out to me was that Germany still displayed Black men in grass skirts until 2005… Everyone always says the Germans are supposed to be extra sensitive about race given their history, but I guess it doesn’t count if your colour deems you sub-human in their eyes.
@ brothawolf
*Shakes head* Sadly I no longer find it hard to believe when people try to do such things. There is too much racism and ignorance around.
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From my understanding, the Filipinos put on display were mountain people called Igorots (pronounced ee-gor-oats). At that time, they were known as headhunters. Igorots only took heads from their enemies in battle, though. However, because of this practice, they were considered uncivilized. They were also called dogeaters. And that is how some of these Igorots ended up in these human exhibits. You see, the US had colonized the Philippines at the time and they wanted to set as an example, exert their authority if you will, to other European colonial powers, such as the Spanish, that these indigenous peoples can be taught to be civilized and can progress with their help. How is that being civilized when you denigrate people by putting them in cages to be gaped and gawked at? Progression indeed.
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awful
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sad
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Well , this is just more proof of how the invention of racism from white people was weaved into the fabric of society in Europe and the Americas , basicly to justify slavery and the conquest of other people and destruction of civilisations…
Its amazing that people cant recognise the traces of this mentality that have continued down into today . I mean how can anyone think things are on an even keel today ? …like there was some magical transformation of how white people think ?….not….this is our history and we have to ask ourselves what traces of that history still poison our society into today
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Damn. I’m reminded of “Brave New World”
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A somewhat more balanced discussion of the Augsburg event:
http://manchester.academia.edu/NinaGlickSchiller/Papers/572544/African_Culture_and_the_Zoo_in_the_21st_Century_The_African_Village_in_the_Augsburg_Zoo_and_Its_Wider_Implications
Brothawolf, OK, the Human Zoo is a thing of the past nowadays, they do things like people trading places and all that for TV shows like Big Brother and the Olympics… But what sort of white people would you like to see in an Ethnographic exposition?
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I once imagined creating a website that examined the true human toll of Western imperialism and supremacist racism rather than glossing over it as a kind of inevitable “progression”. The idea was to superimpose recognizable aspects of Western culture with simultaneous atrocities against “non-whites”. For example, what was happening in America when Beethoven was composing the fifth symphony? Between 1804 and 1808, African Americans were still legally enslaved. When Disney’s Animated Film “Snow White” was being enjoyed in America the Jewish Holocaust in Germany was getting underway. Life got in the way of that project but this site already does a good job of “looking under the bed” so to speak. Human zoos are such a strong symbol of dehumanization. And even today, it is not uncommon for animal imagery to be associated with POC.
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Those “zoos” are very disgusting, and disturbing (to say the least)-can anyone say Obsession(?) That seems to be the thread of all these so-called “exhibitons”!
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[…] Human zoos (1500s- ), also known as ethnological exhibits, peoples shows (Völkerschau) or Negro villages, showed native peoples at zoos and fairs. They have been common in the West since the time of… […]
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“Its amazing that people cant recognise the traces of this mentality that have continued down into today.”
********
@ B.R. –
It’s not amazing. It’s simply wide-scale denial.. one of the numerous corrosive/demonic effects of whiteness.
This post, imo, gives a whole new dimension to the “my family never owned slaves” argument.
Most whites never owned slaves, but most white families in America’s past viewed/mistreated Africans/blacks as less than human, savage, uncivilized, criminal, lazy or otherwise undesirable/less than. I wouldn’t say “traces” of that mindset still exists today, Instead, I’d say that there there’s an overwhelming abundance of evidence gathered by social science research – as well as anecdotal experiences – which proves beyond doubt that America’s racist history continues to influence and permeate the thoughts and actions (in some form) of most white people today in 2012 – in spite of such (politically correct) efforts to mitigate or cover-up their racist attitudes/behaviors
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/94/2/292/
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I suspect most of these people did it voluntarily and were paid for it. It wouldn’t be my choice. But then there are lots of things others do that I wouldn’t choose. My main objection, however, is that the women are running around with flapjacks flying in all directions. I figure that deep down that’s what really bothers most of you as well. But that’s only because you’re imposing your values on them. It didn’t bother them because they had their own values and it was normal for them.
But I wouldn’t be so quick to judge them considering that cultural exhibits attract lots of people today. People are curious and want to see what others look like and how they live. Have you never seen Epcot’s international pavilions? Or a reenactment village?
That’s one of the main reasons people travel. To experience other cultures. People couldn’t afford to travel a hundred years ago so promoters brought other cultures to them.
There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people are actually proud of their culture and WANT to show it off. That’s why countries promote their local culture to tourists. I guarantee these guys are proud of their culture. Tell them they shouldn’t be doing this and they’ll probably kick your azz.
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@ Bulanik “Half-naked Africans made to gnaw bones and presented as ‘cannibals’ “
At least the exhibits were accurate.
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“At least the exhibits were accurate.”
“I suspect most of these people did it voluntarily and were paid for it.”
@ duckduckgoofs,
So how would a white savage exhibit be displayed in a human zoo? What behavioral exhibitions would ensure that it was accurate?
Also, do you have any support for the claim that the people in the exhibit were paid and not kidnapped and then exposed to the world as savages? If they were paid, and let’s pretend they were, how much do you think they would be paid (since the life of a person of color was worth less than a white person based on their own evolutionary scale).
Finally, what impression do you think these uneducated whites left and then interacted with people of color on the colonies? How do you think that representation influenced how they would address other, non-related people of color when exposed to these peoples?
I suspect they were probably as callous and brutal as historical documents show (just scratching the surface):
United States -> African Slaves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment_of_slaves_in_the_United_States
Australian -> Aborigines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
England -> India, Kenya
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/975408de-6621-11db-a4fc-0000779e2340.html#axzz22CSoC3dL
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/britain-reveals-its-quiet-sins-in-kenya/story-e6frg6so-1226035883200
France -> Algeria
Belgium -> Congo
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5918/Africa-Belgian-Colonies.html
Germany -> Namibia, Togoland, Tanganyika, Namibia and Kamerun
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15427571,00.html
http://suite101.com/article/german-colonial-policy-in-africa-a114437
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@Abagond
Excellent piece of historical research. Which brings together the exclusive, derogatory and inhumane way native Europeans first responded to and then depicted the indigenous peoples they encountered on their global travels and conquests.
Zoos up to this present day are a European/Western conception that reflects heavily on how they see and contrast themselves with indigenous peoples, animals and the natural world. They see themselves as divorced, separate…apart from the natural world around them. Hence the emphasis on the need for technology to make up for this perceived shortfall.
Wouldn’t it great to contrast this approach and compare it with those similar Zoos created by indigenous peoples all over the world from their first accounts with white Europeans…?
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Yeah, Matari, you could say I underestimated it…for sure there is a lot of people in denial about it…
Duckgoofs, where I would agree about the youtube you brought in, those guys are proud of their culture and would be offended if someone questioned them about it, what seems to be on display in this thread is a kind of manipulation of the charactors to fit stereotypes of white superiority.
If you really want to understand culture from Africa, go to one of the countries national folklorico drum dance presentations, that is real culture…and that is basicly what the people you brought in are doing.But the circus events are grusome and bizarre.
It just seems as we look back in time at the West about other people, there is overwelming incriminating evidence of really horrible atitudes and ignorance . Not that the whole world has other incriminating things to look at, but , the West certainly has its own unique take that blatantly deserves to be scrutinised
To be honest, I havnet heard of African canabalism, sitting around chewing on bones, the Germans did do some grusome massacering down there along with the Belgiuns, and, all the colonising nations and slave trading nations did a heck of a barbaric number on Africa
But, I thought canabalism was more from the South Pacific.
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Kwamla, your observation came in as I was typing, and its a good point
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Matari, you lovable racist you.
Let’s run your comment through the Double-Standardator:
“It’s not amazing. It’s simply wide-scale denial.. one of the numerous corrosive/demonic effects of blackness.”
Just imagine the response if a white commenter submitted that one.
Matari:
How far “past” are you talking? When my family emigrated to the US in the 1900’s they had no prior contact with black people and limited contact with native-born white people. What makes you think that these immigrants took their opinions from spectacles as human zoos?
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@ BR But, I thought canabalism was more from the South Pacific.
Yeah, Soylent Green was standard fare throughout Polynesia. In fact, Hawaiians ate Captain Cook. To be fair, they modernized very quickly once they were exposed to the outside world. They were just isolated.
“To be honest, I havnet heard of African canabalism”
Cannibalism has always been widespread throughout Africa. Still is. I can’t believe you’ve never seen the The Vice Guide to Liberia.
Yeah, King Leopold was a bastard. He abused the natives for a few years. When word got out it caused a major scandal. Brussels took it away from him and put a stop to it.
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Duckgoofs, I didnt intend to imply that all of the South Pacific is practicing cannabalism, but, there was some well documented evidence of tribes in New Guinea that led me to make that statement.
But, in truth, looks like cannabalism was practiced by everyone at some point :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism
and my attempt to point out what I knew about New Guinea was not as bad as your blatent stereotype insult
Turns out both of us ddnt know the truth
and, any cannabalism in Africa is dwarfed by the cruelties of the slave trade and colonialism
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@ Duck
1. Part of what is wrong with human zoos – and this issue dogs people of colour to this day – is that whites control how others are presented. If whites were honest and fair-minded that might not be the worst thing, but they are far from it. They use their power to present people of colour in racist ways. It flows from their own racism and in turn helps to support it, excuse it and keep it alive. Hollywood is STILL doing that.
2. The lives of those we know took part were tragic:
3. As to “proud of their culture”, they were presenting not their culture but a stereotype of it. Or sometimes it was not even their own culture – like the Iroquois pictured in the post dressed up as Plains Indians.
4. Epcot grew out of the old world fairs. The pavilions themselves probably come out of the human zoo tradition. From what I hear each country has some say in how its presented at its pavilion, but it being Disney I shudder to think what the true story is.
5. Tourism also plays to stereotypes. Here is a guest post about how Black American cultural tourists in Brazil are not getting a true picture of Black Brazil – and how that in turn affects black Brazilians themselves:
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A zoo featuring white people? A great idea! But this time show how the white people USED to live BEFORE the Africans found them……. Now you’ll see some serious white rioting!
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HA! I didn’t see that you posted this Bulanik. I guess great minds think alike! 🙂
I saw this a few years back and showed it to some of my White friends. They actually enjoyed it.
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I guarantee these guys are proud of their culture. Tell them they shouldn’t be doing this and they’ll probably kick your azz.
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@ everyone,
If duckduckgoofs saw a photo of a slave master dragging his female slave by a chain on the ground, he would suspect that it was all a part of an elaborate s & m role play. *smh*
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“Randy@
What makes you think that these immigrants took their opinions from spectacles as human zoos?”
Linda says,
I agree with you, Randy, I don’t think these human zoos impacted the new European immigrants…they were influenced by the people/society around them who lived in a racist environment that allowed these types of zoos to exist and be successful.
America at the time was virulently Racist towards black people, brown people and held deep prejudice towards jews/southern Europeans and no one escaped being affected by society’s written and unwritten rules.
As an immigrant, you learn fairly quickly what society feels is taboo because the people you come in contact with have no qualms to tell you what they feel you are doing wrong, so I am sure your ancestors learned about the racial pecking order Very quickly.
When I first came here, I had preconceived ideas about Americans in general(everyone’s rich, great fashion, big cars, etc), but I had no negative concepts of American people based on race…so in essence, my mind was a “blank slate” as another poster phrased it.
Within 2 week of starting school, I was brought up to scratch by both white and black American kids on the do’s and don’ts of what is acceptable.
I remember talking to a white kid during recess who was into rock music and he was playing a song by the band KISS, I actually liked the song. Later, a black kid I had met let me know that it was uncool for black people to listen to rock music, that was white people music.
Flipside, I had learned to jump double dutch (the best game ever) and I wanted to play it with a few white girls at recess. They looked at me like I was crazy and made the comment that ‘double dutch was a game that only black girls played’…I was like “so, what” but instead of just saying ‘we don’t know how” they brushed it off as a game that was stupid because black girls played it.
Randy, I bring this up because it makes no sense to say because your ancestors didn’t go to these shows, they weren’t affected by race or stereotypes. By virtue of living in a racist society, they had to assimilate and part of assimilation is taking cues from the new society you live in order to get along.
These shows presented a distorted view of Native cultures and it’s primary target audience, white people, took these distorted views (presented to them as truth), home and spead what they just saw by word-of-mouth.
If anything, these shows only reinforced what the general population (white)already probably thought since in the US, the American army were still fighting with the native Indians and slavery had just ended.
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@ Bulanik
I’m fairly certain Duck was trolling the thread with that comment.
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@ SomeGuy,
Are you sure? It’s hard to tell between his offended white pride based rebuttals and his racist jokes. They seem to be part of the same bundle.
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@ Bulanik
That reminds me of a conversation I had with my New Zealand Maori friend a few weeks ago. He gladly related tales of how his people ate Humans with no shame on his part. He was proud of his history. He told me how they would bury a man to his head in one of those heated pits and could tell when he was ready to eat when his eyes rolled back in his head.
To me, tribalism and even the extreme behavior of cannibalism is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s only shameful when others portray such behaviors as the main thread in a very diverse tapestry.
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….My main objection, however, is that the women are running around with flapjacks flying in all directions. I figure that deep down that’s what really bothers most of you as well…
The lack of attire on the women would have been a major draw for the WM of this time
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You then follow that with a list of genocides and historical atrocity against the indigenous and/or enslaved peoples over 4 continents….
It’s strange that some cannot, and will not, see the connection.
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@ Bulanik,
Yes the list was by no means comprehensive – it is hard to over-estimate how screwed Whites would have been if they hadn’t had slavery and land-stealing.They would be still rolling around in their own sh&% like in pre-colonial Europe aka the world capital of germs and plagues.
http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/3_3%20European%20Disease%20in%20the%20New%20World.htm
Also, even these accounts of European barbarism are favorable and probably omit the true scumminess of the urban centres. I mean the individuals writing the history books are more than likely to be in a certain elite group of individuals.
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@JT
If duckduckgoofs saw a photo of a slave master dragging his female slave by a chain on the ground, he would suspect that it was all a part of an elaborate s & m role play. *smh*
Good heavens no cos dont forget, WM did not participate ‘willingly’ or otherwise in carnal activity with BW back in the day… 😉
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@ JT
Yeah, I’ve kind of gotta a “feel” for ducks sense of humor. So, I think that was one of his jokes.
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@ SomeGuy,
So wait – does that make duckduckgoofs the punchline? Lol. Otherwise the joke is lost on me. lol.
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@ abag “If whites were honest and fair-minded that might not be the worst thing, but they are far from it.”
As opposed to the honesty and fair-mindedness that you demonstrate on your blog, right? *sarcasm*
>>>
@ Bulanik
I think you left out a few instances. There were some Chilean soccer players who resorted to cannibalism when their plane crashed in the Andes back in 1972. And the Donner Party resorted to cannibalism when they were trapped by snow in the Rockies back in 1846. I’m pretty sure that plenty of sailors in lifeboats have resorted to cannibalism as well. And let’s not forget the most widespread example in which symbolic cannibalize was ritualized ie transubstantiation. You can ask Abag all about that one.
Of course, my point is that the examples of cannibalism you’ve listed were ALL done as a last resort by starving people. That’s why you left out the source from which those quotes came… so you could take them out of context by omitting the fact that those who did it were starving and did it out of desperation.
As for the kooky medicine stuff. A little ground up bone or a few drops of blood mixed in a drink. Yes, that was ignorance and superstition by people who were sick and looking to cure diseases. It’s ignorant and superstitious because it doesn’t work. Are you not equally horrified by doctors today who put the organs of corpses into living people ie. organ transplants? Why not? Because one has a scientific basis and the other doesn’t. That’s the only reason. Of course, we can look at Europeans of a few hundred years ago and laugh at them. But the only reason we can do that is because of the medical breakthroughs that THEY made.
We know better now but African witchdoctors are still cutting the heads off chickens, burning witches and killing children for their body parts today. Yeah, some of those people are sick, too, and desperate to cure diseases like AIDs and cancer. But this isn’t the 15th century anymore. And cannibalism is still widespread throughout much of Africa.
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Good heavens no cos dont forget, WM did not participate ‘willingly’ or otherwise in carnal activity with BW back in the day…
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Nor would the WFs try to seduce the BM and then blame the BM as a sexually violent and deviant beast.
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“duckduckgoofs
And cannibalism is still widespread throughout much of Africa”
Linda says,
Without source proof, (as you just admonished Bulanik about) what you just stated above is dishonest and misleading.
‘The Vice Guide to Liberia’ is the only source you presented and
Liberia doesn’t represent the whole continent of Africa.
The below link gives a great Global view of cannibalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism
Cannibalism is and got it’s name from the Carib people of the Caribbean but it is mostly associated with South Pacific cultures.
But, I understand the confusion…you know how it is with black/brown people, they all look alike, so African…South Pacific, quite interchangable…couple thousand feet between continents shouldn’t matter (obviously, I am being sarcastic)
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The way I see it, there are some people in this world that need to be eaten. It’s unfortunate that most of the time the wrong people end up as tender loin.
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Incidences of cannibalism per billion inhabitants (1990-2012):
27.8 Oceania
13.0 South America
11.3 North America
10.8 Europe
2.0 Africa
1.2 Asia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism
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[…] Read original story here. […]
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This is one of my favorite films of all time. Definitely in my top 20 films.
Enjoy:
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Since whites are the real Neanderthals,maybe they should be the ones in cages. They’ve proven they spread rape,slavery,colonization and genocide everywhere they go.Nowhere on earth have they ever gotten along with any people of color. They’re the reason the water supply is contaminated,GMO foods,and a homosexual culture is spreading everywhere. And they have the nerve to call other people savages??lol Please!
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@ Bulanik All the cases were a last resort of starving people?
Yep.
“No sources..? Really. Because you don’t look at those provided, I suppose that makes them non-existent.”
I found the original source so I know you took the crusade examples out of context.
http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com/cannibalism.html
Like I said, they resorted to cannibalism out of desperation. They were starving.
“I believe archaeologists can trace back evidence to about 7,000 years ago proving mass cannibalism in Germany – even children and unborn babies were on the menu.”
From the article that you linked: “Analysis of 7,000-year-old bones dug up at Herxheim in south-west Germany suggest the region was a centre for cannibalism at a time when the first European farming society may have been collapsing.”
Farming society collapsing equals resorted to cannibalism out of desperation.
In Gough’s Cave, England, remains of human bones and skulls from approximately 15,000 years ago, suggest that cannibalism took place amid the people living in the cave.
So what you’re saying is that bones from a cave 15K years ago might have had markings on them suggesting that possibly cannibalism could have maybe happened during an ice age when people were starving? So you have to go back 15K years during an ice age when people were starving to find cannibalism. Because that’s one of the examples that YOU chose.
“And the survivors of that aircrash were Uruguayan…”
Okay. So Uruguyan’s crashed in the Chilean Andes. The countries border each other and they’re both white. Did you really need to nitpick? Maybe I should watch my spelling and grammar, too?
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@ Bulanik “Where are YOUR sources to show that cannibalism is widespread throughout much of Africa.”
I guess the video of people slinging entrails around and bragging about it wasn’t sufficient.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199985/Now-goes-trial-Africas-cannibal-despot-Charles-Taylor-finally-just-deserts.html]
“Helped by his teenage son ‘Chuckie’, Taylor allegedly orchestrated the slaughter of up to 250,000 people, many of whom were tortured and raped before being cooked and eaten by Taylor’s troops.”
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2661365.stm]
“More than 350 witnesses and victims interviewed by the UN confirmed earlier allegations that the MLC was responsible for rape, torture, executions and cannibalism near the town of Beni. ”
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/16/tanzania-humanrights]
“She cited evidence that killers acting for witch doctors are turning to cannibalism alongside their quest for lucrative body parts as magic charms.”
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060503430.html]
“As the military and spiritual leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Kony is a combination of serial murderer and cult leader. He raises armies of captured boys, who are often forced to kill their neighbors and engage in cannibalism”
[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A14F9345E13738DDDAA0894DE405B838DF1D3]
“FORTY “LEOPARDS” HANGED; Members of Cannibal Secret Society Had Terrorized Sierra Leone.”
[http://www.expotimesonline.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113%3Asierra-leonean-woman-cought-in-scotland-for-canibalism&Itemid=65}
And, of course, when they immigrate they bring their culture with them.
I won’t even source the cannibalism allegations against the president Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea and president Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic since they were found not guilty of cannibalism at the trials. *wink* *wink*
Next time, don’t ask if you don’t want to know. You feel me?
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The day before he suffered he took break in his sacred hands and looking up to heaven, to you, his almighty Father, he gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
Take this, all of you, and eat it:
this is my body which will be given up for you.
When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said:
Take this, all of you, and drink from it:
this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.
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Great stuff. Check out the book from Savage to Negro that talks a good bit about museums, anthropology and the creation of common sense knowledge about race in America circa late 19th early 20th c.
For example, the Great Chicago’s World Fair had a human zoo that was called something like the tour of human progress where whites could enter one part of the exhibit and see blacks as “the lowest” form of human civilization then proceed “forward” to indigenous, asian, and then european civilizations.
This was in essence a living version of the Great Chain of Being eugenics diagram.
They even hired local black Chicagoans to play the “african savages.”
This exhibit was the target of protest by african american civil rights organizations.
An an interesting anecdote some of you may be interested in reading about museums in Apartheid South Africa and how after the fall of that evil regime the artifacts that dealt with black people had to be moved from the natural history catalog (plants and animals) to the human civilization collection(s).
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@ Kush Since whites are the real Neanderthals,maybe they should be the ones in cages.
Neanderthal-type species once roamed Africa, DNA shows
Genetic evidence for archaic admixture in Africa
And then there’s this.
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Comments with lots of links in moderation.
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Cannibalism is now off topic – it is starting to derail the thread.
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duck,
Are you seriously trying to use the news media to support your claims for a topic that doesn’t have anything to do with this forum??
Seriously, give it up. You are so obsessed with trying to make black people out to be bad people that you can’t see that you are making yourself look foolish.
The topic is about human zoos. What the hell does cannibalism have to do with it?
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Bulanik,
If he uses the media to back up his argument, then he is surely in a desperate state of mind.
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@ Bulanik “None of your links works, so, no, you are not felt.”
I thought putting links in brackets would make it past the filter. It’s not my fault you’re too dumb to copy/paste instead of clicking.
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@brothawolf Making himself look foolish is what duckgoofs does best. What do you expect?lol
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Linda:
My ancestors were quite low on the “pecking order” back then, and as far as I can tell spent most of their time at work, church, or around their fellow recent immigrants. I do accept your point that some bias surely filtered through, though I would contest Matari’s certainly of width and depth of that influence.
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@ Randy
My point entirely directed at you. You consistently fail to see a lot of things! Even when they are directly pointed out to you! You should consider this a BIG hint!
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duck
You told Bulanik, “I thought putting links in brackets would make it past the filter. It’s not my fault you’re too dumb to copy/paste instead of clicking.”
And you’re too dumb to simply ‘copy and paste’ the links and are too dumb to make a comment based on the topic at hand it seems.
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Bulanik,
That’s very informative.
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@ Bulanik:
Thank you for that pic. The man creeps me out. Isn’t that being too forward? Placing your arm on a woman you probably don’t even know? Let alone a black woman?
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To Brothawolf
Let’s start a human zoo featuring whites and witness how berserk they’ll get at the thought of it.
You’d probably get volunteers.. and FWIW it’s already been done:
http://io9.com/5912434/the-first-quintuplets-got-put-in-a-human-zoo
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Bulanik,
I check out that pic and I could barely stomach it.
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@duckgoofs Yes I’m aware of that. Black people are the oldest people on the planet. Black men and women are parents of all other races. If there really ever was an “Adam and Eve” they were most likely black. And even though modern humans migrated out of Africa over 50,000 years ago—the time apart shows that Africans and Europeans are very different. If Africans truly are related to Europeans they must be very DISTANT relatives. Judging by the behavior of Europeans worldwide,they don’t seem to get along very well with people they deem different than themselves.
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I’m probably going to get blasted for saying this but…..
Being a white European (born in Germany, raised in the southern part of the US), I’ve had plenty of people assume I’m a Nazi or racist or both (or worse). I’ve seen racism in all its ugly glory (whether it be directed at me or at friends of mine). I’ve thought, researched, discussed and agonized about it. The conclusions I’ve reached (and this is purely my opinion) is that what we call racism isn’t something that can be placed on any one races’ shoulders. I do feel it develops differently in different areas of the world and I am emphatic that it is a learned behavior.
Right now, however, I would just like to address the racism discussed in the writing above, pertaining to human zoos. Firstly, can I just say, that humans would do this to other humans is so wretchedly awful…it makes me weep. What I am about to say isn’t to be taken as an excuse, I am merely trying to explain where such behavior might have come from or been learned. I believe many white Europeans condoned/supported/patronized these zoos mainly because of the teachings of the Catholic Church. If you do any research into the Catholic Church and how it changed and shaped Europe, you cannot fail to see how they (the Catholic Church) taught bigotry and hatred. There is a reason Europe experienced the “Dark Ages”…it because the church demonized science, medicine, women and anything else it thought went against its own agenda. It also taught that anyone outside of the Church was a “heathen”, “barbarian”, “heretic”. It taught that in order to not be damned to the eternal fires of hell one must conform to the strict ideologies of the Church. When it came to people living outside of the Catholic Churches’ realm, the church’s opinion was simple….the should be made to convert and if they didn’t, then they were “heathen”.
This doctrine was drummed in generation after generation. But just like a game of “telephone” the message can get a bit warped after filtering from mouth to ear over and over. Soon, instead of “barbarians” being the non-converted….it just became, “anyone not like us, that believes what we believe and lives like we live”. Understand, that Europe before WWI was a pretty “white” place. (Shoot, it still is in lots of areas.) Most Europeans had never seen anyone of color. Unless, they traveled to other places…they had a very limited idea of what was “normal”. Having the church teaching them for centuries that there is only one “right” way to be and that anyone different wasn’t equal in God’s eyes…really set the stage for the atrocities perpetrated in these “zoos”.
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“Most Europeans had never seen anyone of color. Unless, they traveled to other places…they had a very limited idea of what was “normal”. Having the church teaching them for centuries that there is only one “right” way to be and that anyone different wasn’t equal in God’s eyes…really set the stage for the atrocities perpetrated in these “zoos”.”
**********
Jenn
In your opinion – did “most Europeans” see God as white?? …thereby setting the stage for this – only one right way to be – attitude?
Also, reading your assessment about the church seems to suggest that the church (or God) is demonic. Is this your stance?
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Matari,
Wouldn’t you say that most people envision their god to look like them? Not to mention, the Church did show Jesus and his mother Mary as white people.
I don’t follow where your deducting from my statement that the church is demonic. Could you clarify please?
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Bulanik,
I from Northern Germany…way, way north. And yes, you are correct, Northern Germany, for the most part is Lutheran/Protestant. However, Germany like most of Europe was firmly Catholic before Martin Luther got fed up and nailed his list to those cathedral doors. You are also correct in Luther didn’t have kind words regarding the Jews, but he wasn’t the first. If you read the Torah and/or Old Testament, the Jews have been harried, enslaved and persecuted since Abraham had two sons. But Abagond’s blog wasn’t about the Jews and their struggles.
Oh, you don’t have to tell me about the burning times. And I’m also pretty familiar w/ the Inquisition as well. Both excellent examples of the Catholic Church “cleansing” heretics and heathens from the population. My point was simply, knowing how the Church did things and how the general populous had been beaten into submission…is it not easy to see that said populous would look at tribal people from “far away lands” as a curiosity and not protest their inhumane treatment?
You stated, “However, I wonder if the Church merely enabled these catastrophic events, rather than instigated them, because of economic and political interests, investments and ambitions it was established to protect?”
Man, if that is them enabling…I freakin hate to see them start instigating! The church was protecting the economic and political interests of its own establishment, as its always done. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you of it’s wealth and power and its misuse of said power. Why, just look at what is happening in the Philippines. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/population/la-fg-population-matters5-20120729-html,0,5897961.htmlstory
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To Bulanik:
What a curiosity… did darkies come to look and point at them?
If you mean people that are not White, since the children were seen by over 3 million people I am sure a few.. but of course this was also organized by Whites so I get the difference. Brothawolf’s proposed venture would probably get a quite a few willing applicants from Burning man types.
To Jenn, Bulanik;
I don’t see Catholicism as the root for Human zoos since they were also popular in predominantly protestant Britain and the US.
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Jenn
“Wouldn’t you say that most people envision their god to look like them?”
.
Judging from the depiction I saw of Jesus (as white w/blonde hair) hanging on the wall in my own home AND in the homes of my relatives, black friends and colored Puerto Rican friends when I was in elementary through high school, I would emphatically say no!
.
“I don’t follow where your deducting from my statement that the church is demonic. Could you clarify please?”
you wrote:
“If you do any research into the Catholic Church and how it changed and shaped Europe, you cannot fail to see how they (the Catholic Church) taught bigotry and hatred.”
If God/Jesus is LOVE, does not the church’s position (doctrine) seem odd to you?
Why would a loving Creator teach his/her people (in Europe) to be hateful bigots? Aren’t those qualities more in line with the character of evil than that of a loving parent/creator? Why would the church blatantly misrepresent the character of God??
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@Matari
If God/Jesus is LOVE, does not the church’s position (doctrine) seem odd to you?
Why would a loving Creator teach his/her people (in Europe) to be hateful bigots? Aren’t those qualities more in line with the character of evil than that of a loving parent/creator? Why would the church blatantly misrepresent the character of God??
I am intrigued to hear the response to this too.
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@Uncle Milton, Yes Britain and the US are predominantly Protestant, now. Britain was Catholic until good ol’ King Henry decided that the Pope was too rigid in his position on divorce. It then flip-flopped a few times as his various children took the throne and slaughtered their citizens, all in the name of religion. By the time Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth I was crowned and the question of England’s religious affiliation was settled (The Church of England, Protestant), centuries of Catholic influence had already taken hold in the people. As you know the US is populated by immigrants, pretty much all of us are originally from somewhere else. Though, as you said, the US is mainly Protestant many of its people came from predominantly Catholic countries. I am not saying that human zoos were purely a product of the Catholic Church’s teachings and doctrine…more so saying that those teachings could have caused the people to be more complacent regarding the inhuman treatment of so called “barbarians” or “savages”.
@Matari, If you had never seen those pictures and statues portraying a “white” Jesus…would you envision him differently?
You wrote, “If God/Jesus is LOVE, does not the church’s position (doctrine) seem odd to you?
Why would a loving Creator teach his/her people (in Europe) to be hateful bigots? Aren’t those qualities more in line with the character of evil than that of a loving parent/creator? Why would the church blatantly misrepresent the character of God?? ”
Odd? How about wrong?! Unfortunately, all churches are run by people, not God. There by, are subject to all human emotions and failings. The Catholic Church, during the last millennium, has been control by some of the most powerful families in Italy. Families, that during the Middle Ages and before, were bankers, money leaders, land owners and merchants. It was traditional for the 2nd or 3rd son to “go into” the church…but these wealthy sons were not humble priests or monks but Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and often times Pope. Wealth and power were/are synonymous w/ the church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church#Organisation_and_demographics The Catholic Church answers to no one but God and according to the Church “Catholic doctrine maintains that the Church is infallible”. So, pretty much God is who they say he is and if you disagree…well, your wrong. *eye roll*
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“At least as late as 2005 you could still see “African tribesmen” in grass skirts at a Western zoo (in Augsberg, Germany).”
Not true, but at least as late as 2010 the PC-crowd in Germany raised the issue, when anything culturally African happened in a German zoo. Interesting to note is that where the French put quite some eroticism in their people-shows (some of the US version seem to have become regular stripper shows), the Germans never presented the black African as erotically interesting…
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@Matari
Judging from the depiction I saw of Jesus (as white w/blonde hair) hanging on the wall in my own home AND in the homes of my relatives, black friends and colored Puerto Rican friends when I was in elementary through high school, I would emphatically say no!
That’s quite different. These depictions of White Christ in Brown and Black homes are the result of cultural dominance of another group. Chinese Christians depict Christ as chinese; Ethiopian Christians depict Christ and the angels as African.
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Bulanik, your statement,”In this regard, I see the human zoo almost like a open-air department store of imperial conquest – the entertainment end with the goods up fro grabs and on display. The tip of the iceberg of something much bigger and far more troubling”, is sad but true!
Religion was a major tool used by slavery supporters here in the US too. Just look at the Willie Lynch letter, he considered himself a “good” christian upholding the will of God. http://www.africanamericanimages.com/aai/willie%20lynch.htm
Not to mention the baptizing of slave before they were loaded on to slave ships…..
“In the early seventeenth century, it became customary for slaves in Africa to be baptized before their departure from Africa. This requirement was first laid down by King Philip III of Spain (II of Portugal) in 1607 and confirmed in 1619. The slaves had, as a rule, received no instruction whatever before this ceremony, and many, perhaps most, of them had no previous indication that there was such a thing as a Christian God. So the christening was perfunctory. In Luanda, the captives would be taken to one of the six churches, or assembled in the main square. An official catechist, a slave, say, who spoke Kimbundu, the language of Luanda, would address the slaves on the nature of their Christian transformation. Then a priest would pass among the bewildered ranks, giving to each one a Christian name, which had earlier been written on a piece of paper. He would also sprinkle salt on the tongues of the slaves, and follow that with holy water. Finally, he might say, through an interpreter:
‘Consider that you are now children of Christ. You are going to set off for Portuguese territory, where you will learn matters of the Faith. Never think any more of your place of origin. Do not eat dogs, nor rats, nor horses. Be content.'”
http://www.ralphmag.org/slave2.html
Its truly a lamentable thing when religion is used as a tool to control and legitimize cruelty!
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Well, to be honest, such things happened too in countries absolutely without colonial aspirations, the attraction of seeing people who are different from you just did the trick and made it a commercially sound show.
If we look at Germany there were more than 400 of those, and quite remarkable, using people from German colonies for those was very rare, not to say prohibited. They carried the danger of being the equivalent of Uncle Tom’s cabin, showing “alien people” to be just people, with their own culture and so on, as such it had the potential to be the kryptonite of the Colonial Empires, though history did not follow that course.
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Jenn:
If you read the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus and his disciples in several places command slaves to obey their masters, and not just the kind ones.
Jenn:
This is also congruent within Christian belief.
If your religion dictated that non-believers would suffer in the afterlife, the most moral action would be to convert anyone and everyone to the religion, even by use of force.
People like to say that the Inquisition and slavery were perversions of the faith, but if you read the Scriptures you’ll see that they’re quite moral within that framework.
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Randy…you need to realize something very important about Jesus, the majority of his teachings were metaphors or parables so that the common man could understand. When Jesus said for slaves and women to obey, he was referring to “man” should obey God.
That said, you wrote,”If your religion dictated that non-believers would suffer in the afterlife, the most moral action would be to convert anyone and everyone to the religion, even by use of force.”
So, it was fine to make them suffer in this life as long as they went to heaven? If that is the crux of Christianity…I want no part. What of Jesus telling us, ” I give a new commandment to you: ‘Love one another; just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.” in John 13:34? How can you love someone and enslave them, rip them from their family and homeland, beat, rape and degrade them? Do you realize that those slaves were BRANDED as property shortly before being baptized?
It is the idea of “….convert anyone and everyone to the religion, even by force.” that has brought about so much human suffering. If you are to be a Christian…then be as Christ was…loving your fellow man.
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Jenn:
A finite human lifespan is but the merest blink of a wren’s eye compared to the eternity of the Christian afterlife, so what wouldn’t a person of noble morals do to save his or her fellows from unending suffering?
This discussion is probably better suited for the Open Thread. If you’re interested, I can provide you with chapter and verse which supports these opinions.
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It is the idea of “….convert anyone and everyone to the religion, even by force.” that has brought about so much human suffering. If you are to be a Christian…then be as Christ was…loving your fellow man.
This is true, but Hebrews would periodically rape, pilage, plunder, enslave, and murder their neighbors. It’s to be expected that Christians follow in their footsteps.There’s nothing loving about the faith’s history and dictations, just authoritarian horse piss.
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@ D / Jenn
“…but Hebrews would periodically rape, pilage, plunder, enslave, and murder their neighbors. It’s to be expected that Christians follow in their footsteps
***********
Au contraire, there is nothing remotely Christ-like in the “rape, pilage, plunder, enslave, and murder their neighbors.” That’s not what the Christ preached/taught!
There’s a stark/huge difference between the Old & New Testaments. Actual Christians are not those who follow the Hebrews but those that follow the message/instructions/Spirit put forth by the Christ – which would totally disqualify many/most churches – current and past.
It’s obvious to some observers that the so-called Church has not truly emerged from its darkness (or dark ages, if you prefer).
*Any* institution that’s supposedly GOOD, but in reality and truth is EVIL is a demonic enterprise – in my opinion!
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As a matter of fact, the zoo as we know it came into being more or less along with such shows, Bulanik.
Well, they rather seemed to suggest they were against the celebration of Namibia’s independence in a Berlin Zoo… And no the impression I get is rather that zoo visitors in the Augsburg or Berlin cases would consider those Africans rather as a nuissance than as a display.
Of course, it should not be forgotten, once at a time it was a huge manifestation of the entertainment industry, though excesses did occur, it was compared with other things happening at the same time rather harmless, though I must admit that the advertizing and most of the 20th century shows are hard to justify. The past is a far away country, they do things different there…
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PC-crowd, people who care about political correctness, rather than about the truth,…
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The Augsburg thing. This is what I had read:
Source:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/zoo-sparks-row-over-tribesmen-props-for-animals-1-715365
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Abagond:
After reading this post several times, it leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth when thinking about modern-day zoos who happen to enslave wildlife native to Africa behind bars for the enjoyment of the masses, this is some profound s**t Abagond. Let’s include the circus as well, the same mindset is inherent in both models. Abagond, info like this is not to be seen or heard about, control of the Net is the next big censorship fight. If we think the nuts that have power right now are gonna allow black folk to know the real story, We’re Crazy!!!
Tyrone
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Well, Tyrone, there is no problem at all finding rather extensive documentation about all of this, provided you don’t mind it is in German… With the PC-crowd I mean the people who made that accusation Abagond is talking about, the ones who do protest, while other (black) folks try to do their thing in a zoo setting.For a lot of those people on exhibition, it was doing their thing, and certainly the first shows, seem to have been quite genuine representing the “alien” culture.I mean, yes, that accusation was made, but it was just people with a wildly varying degree of claim to Africa-ness, selling or sharing their Africa-thing.
Granted, this was a form of entertainment degenerating seriously in the 20th century, we are even talking about “adult entertainment” in the US.
Bulanik, there aren’t that many people interested in actively burrying and downplaying that kind of stuff, the white crowds just don’t care.
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As a matter of fact, I don’t call them anything. As far as I’m concerned people are free to say “I don’t care”, “I’m not interested” and so on, untill they start to tell things which are incorrect, as in factually wrong, like in this case, the accusation Abagond mentions was real, but false, as such it is a good illustration of the onliving legacy of this form of entertainment, certainly.
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Do understand that in my experience there is no bunch of cheats, deceivers, liars, pretenders, makers of false promises and violators of the truth worse than politicians.
People who are protesting against racism, animal abuse or whatever form of evil, not being bothered by whether their accusations, stories and so on are true, or at least based on sound evidence, are harming the cause. If Martha Jones would say “I was discriminated because of my skin color and two times two is six”, she would have proven herself a liar, so one is justified in considering the first part as probably untrue too.
“Völkerschau” just google that.
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@duckduck:
“There were some Chilean soccer players who resorted to cannibalism when their plane crashed in the Andes back in 1972.”
Noup, they were uruguyan rugby team.
And on the same subject: western christianity goes trough a cannibalistic ritual every sunday and in every mass when they drink the blood of Christ and eat his flesh. And this has been going on since at least 1400 years now. So much about cannibals.
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“As a matter of fact, the zoo as we know it came into being more or less along with such shows…”
THE ZOO AS WE KNOW IT, was meant as the modern 20th and 21st century zoo, the dry moat elephant enclosure, for instance, was created by the man who organized a quarter of those People-Shows in Germany, the zoo as a panorama, showing by imitation parts of the world, parts of the Sonoran Desert, the African rain forest, or a West-European barn , by bringing animals and plants,stones (and fake stuff) together to create the impression of being in another part of the world. In that concept the addition of actual people from those parts fits quite well, enabling people to make a world trip in 8 hours so to say.
Employing the caretaker-of-color who had taken care of animals on their trip as a keeper, was not that uncommon either, and had quite some attraction value too.
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😦 Wow, wow, wow. Thank you to Abagond and all the commenters for sharing your knowledge and links/photos/videos. I didn’t know anything about the topic before and now I have a large number of resources to learn from.
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Reblogged this on replace white supremacy with justice.
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Reblogged this on Moorbey'z Blog.
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I’ve been doing some research about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933-34. I’m writing a novel and my research interest was actually “balloons”. But as happens on the internet… that led me to Sally Rand and her bubble (balloon) dance at Chicago. In 1933 Sally Rand was doing a burlesque fan dance in the “Streets of Paris” exhibit. Other than the ostrich feather fans, she was buck naked. This created a great stir that catapulted Sally Rand to fame and fortune and made Chicago’s “Century of Progress” a financial success. It also got her arrested numerous times. Sally Rand was white, and her nudity offended the self-appointed guardians of morality in Chicago and elsewhere, but it drew the crowds.
At the same fair was a “Darkest Africa” exhibit which included bare-breasted women. The “players” in the exhibit were billed as “African natives” but were actually black Americans, mostly from Chicago.
I have found no evidence (so far) that there was any great uproar about naked black people, for the reasons discussed on this blog. The next step in my quest is to discover if the Chicago Fair of 1893 had “tribal nudity”.
My thanks to all who have contributed to this article and comment thread.
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@ Dean
Wow, I did not know that about the Chicago World’s Fair. Thanks.
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Great post and really needs to be reblogged daily for the masses to wake up!!
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[…] Human Zoos. Humans would often be displayed alongside animals to represent their likeness. Photos curtesy of Abagond. […]
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I don’t think this is stupid and pointless like the Clitoridectomy Cake or that stupid chair but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with the following either. It’s not a simple project like that stupid cake (I didn’t like it, can you tell? lol). How do you attack amnesia and narrow self congratulation? I can see why the artists would choose to slice through the amnesia and stories of “goodness” and moral superiority with a hot scalpel. The hot scalpel they chose coupled with timing (Norway’s bicentennial) is a controversial and thought provoking (not to mention emotion provoking) one.
What am I talking about? Well, a human zoo from 1914 has been resurrected.
Some commentary:
•A brief interview with the artists
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/05/23/norways-infamous-human-zoo-was-a-travesty-in-1914-heres-why-it-was-brought-back-in-2014/
• A pretty good piece.
http://thisisafrica.me/exhibiting-africans-like-animals-norways-human-zoo/
• An idiotic piece from the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2014/05/20/there-human-zoo-norway/3k4k3FM3lQYjePR0pnttaN/story.html
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Brothawolf said: Let’s start a human zoo featuring whites and witness how berserk they’ll get at the thought of it.
That is what rankled me. The original 1914 “Congo Village” has already been done. Although I am still thinking about the merits of the new resurrected version, I immediately thought it should be a zoo of whites during a primitive period of their history. A similar reaction to thinking Colbert should have ridiculed a white ethnic group instead of East Asians.
^ My comment is not yet clear, as I am referring to something currently in moderation.
———-
correction: it isn’t the Boston Globe. it’s an outlet called boston.com, but they appear to be part of the Boston Globe.
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@ Legion
Wow, “Congo village”. That is messed up. There is a Spike Lee film about it:
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[…] https://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/human-zoos/ […]
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@ Jenn on Wed 1 Aug 2012 at 04:14:37
I agree your comment 100%. Finding explanations to behavior of past generations isn’t the same thing than searching excuses for their behavior. Rather contrariwise: when we understand why such absurd ways of act were seen rational back then, we can better to try to prevent the same mistakes to be done again in the future.
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Found another pic of Philippines Igorots on display.
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Leigh, without any exposition it’s just tragi-porn. Can you give some background please.
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Here’s a link to the article in which I found that photo above.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-13/tale-sex-greed-and-filipinos-coney-island
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Thanks.
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Reblogged this on kamutef and commented:
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Good post.
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Good topic to get out there. One of the things we learned in ethnic studies was that the world’s fairs harmed the people they exhibited by forcing them to perform their traditional ceremonies everyday over and over on a viewing schedule until the ceremonies were left devoid of all meaning: traditional funeral today at 3pm and 6pm! same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next!
One interesting thing is that in the coverage of the events at the time, Helen Keller stood out as a white person who attended the fairs but treated the exhibited people with respect as fellow humans.
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[…] https://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/human-zoos/Human Zoos […]
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[…] human zoos. […]
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Reblogged this on Chez Dcembre and commented:
Zoos pour humains ….
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[…] via human zoos […]
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[…] Human zoos […]
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