Cat People Are People Too

Doctor Who is still eating away slowly at the foundation of my life. Sorry about that. Let’s think of it this way, there’s only a few more episodes of the new season left. Then I will reclaim my life! But my slight tv show addiction aside (which says something because I don’t get addicted to tv shows), I have some strange news!

Part of me desperately wants to hope this is a joke. It was passed on from a community I frequently called “WTF Humanity”. Its almost a month old, but if its real, the craziness of it persists.

Cat turns into woman in Port Harcourt – 5 killed as cultists clash

Nigerian Tribune learnt that three cats were crossing the busy road when the okada ran over one of them which immediately turned into a woman. This strange occurrence quickly attracted people around who descended on the animals. One of them, it was learnt, was able to escape while the third one was beaten to death, still as a cat though.

According to a source who witnessed what happened, the cat-woman said she and the two other cat-fellows had travelled from Abuja to Port Harcourt to kill three people. “The woman said they came to Port Harcourt from Abuja and that they came to kill three people. She said they had succeeded in killing two people, but the third person, whom I guess might be a pastor, was difficult for them and that they were preparing to go back to Abuja,” said the source.

Another witness, who gave his name as James, said the woman started faking when she saw that many people were gathering around her. “I have never seen anything like this in my life. I saw a woman lying on the road instead of a cat. Blood did not come out of her body at that time. When people gathered and started asking her questions, she pretended that she did not know what had happened,” he said.

When the Nigerian Tribune got to the scene of the incident near Garrison Junction, the cat-woman was seen sitting on the ground with blood all over her body. The right side of her face had a deep cut from what was gathered to be from a cutlass. She was later taken to a hospital for medical attention. It took the intervention of policemen to prevent the mob from killing her.

When reached for information from the police, the Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State police command, Mrs. Rita Inoma-Abbey, said she had been taken to the hospital.

“She has been taken to Teme Clinic. Police will still be guarding her so that she will not disappear,” he said. In another development, at least five people have been confirmed dead while four others were said to be receiving medical treatment following a suspected cult clash in Aluu, one of the host communities of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Nigerian Tribune gathered from sources around UNIPORT that the clash, which led to the loss of lives and injury to others, was between two cult groups; Vikings and Black Axe Confraternity, a spill over of the struggle between the two cult groups on the RSUST campus, Port Harcourt.

This wonderful news story came from the Nigerian Tribune.  Their slogan on their website simply says, “Truth, Courage & Fairness” and I’m not sure what to think about it. Real? Not real? WTF IS GOING HERE? All of them could be true! And I have absolutely no idea where to place this as far as categories go? Is this religious because they are freaking out over them being witches? Or is this actually news! Oh, darnit, this is too hard.

Kieffe & Sons: Sit Down & Shut Up

This appeared on my livejournal friends list originally, but its from The Consumrist. Apparently a Ford dealership in California – Kieffe & Sons – has been running this lovely ad for almost five months now.

Did you know that there are people in this country who want prayer out of schools, “Under God” out of the Pledge, and “In God We Trust” to be taken off our money?

But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Now, since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians who believe in God, we at Kieffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don’t just tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess maybe I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case, then I say that’s tough, this is America folks, it’s called free speech. And none of us at Kieffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak up. Kieffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond: if we don’t see you today, by the grace of God, we’ll be here tomorrow.

I don’t even know how to respond to this one considering 21% of California is non-religious. I think that they are the second largest group as far as religious demographics go, actually. I’m sure that 21% of the consumers you just alienated can just take their business elsewhere? On top of just that spectacular trainwreck, you just assumed that the rest of 86% are Christians? What about the Jews? Muslims? Polytheistic religions even? Oh man, there’s a phrase on the part of the internet I hail from that best describes this: EPIC FAILURE.

There’s another saying I’m always told, “Just sit back and watch people sink themselves. Sometimes you wish you had popcorn!” Pretty accurate! Sadly frequent.

Moral of the story: If you want business, its not best to offended a huge potential customer base? Oh, and you probably shouldn’t group all them other religions in with the Christians. Might offended one of those pagan gods. 

In other news, I really dig this guy’s name, even if he was a crazy cult leader. Then again, he’d have to be to even want that name. Mmm, Sacrilegious.

I Love Anonymous vs. Scientology

The girl they had to voice this Anonymous video on the human rights in the Rehabilitation Project Force (another branch of Scientology), really hit the mark. And by hitting the mark, I mean hitting the mark of being ridiculously creepy. If you don’t agree with the content, I sure hope you can agree on that!

Speaking of Scientology, I found this amazing website through the Anonymous cause:

Its long, but read Kendra’s account at least. Her wit, combined with the Orwellian nature of the environment in which she grew, worked, and eventually escaped is really quite engaging. Also, sorry if this sounds rushed, by the by. I’m trying to get dressed and write at the same time. I need to get some gardening supplies. :)

Jesus Camp

I finally sat down and watched Jesus Camp. I’d been meaning to do so for quite some time but I only just got around to it now as it was on Bio and seemed as good a time as any.

 
Would it be dramatic of me to say that this was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen? Not for content, because the content is really quite amazing, but sitting through the movie is so exceedingly difficult for me. It makes me completely and utterly enraged. I hate evangelicals who do this to their children. I hate people in general who do this to their children, be they christian, jew, muslim, or any other faith. They are children. They should be allowed to be children. Instead, these poor souls are locked away in a homeschooling environment where their beliefs don’t get a proper challenging and worst of all, they don’t get interaction from other children their age. Let alone children their age who have, oh the horror of it, different opinions.

What this inevitably creates are a population of children who are completely and utterly inept at being able to cope with the real world. It sets them up for long-term stress and perhaps even mental illness due to poor coping. Crippling depression when they hit their teen years, for example. Explicitly said in the documentary by a family, was the belief that science “knows nothing.” Science knows nothing? These are the same families, who, when a member is sick, flock to the doctor for medicine to make themselves better. That’s certainly science. And it certainly knows how to make you well again.

This is another huge qualm with this sort of belief that drives me mad. They call people who aren’t completely devoted to the cause “hypocrites and liars.” Okay, so you can pick and chose which parts of science you like and are to your benefit, but you sure don’t see the hypocrisy in that? If you tell your children to go all the way, then come on, you guys, why don’t you go the whole way, too? Oh wait, that might make you more backwards than the Amish. Which, actually, is a group I give a lot of credit. Now that’s devotion to your religion, and boy, the Amish don’t bother anyone in the process! Take a page from them, you guys!

Here it comes again, but its worth mentioning again and again. While religion was in my life from a young age, I am so very, very thankful that it was not pushed on me. Eventually I came to my own decision, and while many people don’t like the decision that came to me, I’m grateful to be allowed to have had to opportunity to have it happen that way. Though I suppose in some instances religion was commonplace and overbearing. Overall however, religion does get a bit of distaste when way you hear about it is largely through the mouth of an illiterate misogynic racist, but that’s another tale for another day.

I suppose that this is a bit all over the place as I’m horrifically tired, but still. Jesus Camp certainly made me upset for the youth of certain parts of our nation. I wept for them, though they’d probably be unhappy to hear that. I just wish that I had known indoctrination like this was going on so close to home sooner than I did.

Jonestown Massacre

Originally written around six this morning.

Sorry if this seems disjointed. Its six in the morning and watching Most Evil specials on this sort of thing makes me a bit cantankerous in the morning.

One thing that never ceases to bother me whenever I hear about it, is the massacre at Jonestown. What bothers me more, is that a good portion of my generation has no idea what it is. I simply cannot fathom how anyone my age can simply not know about the systematic murder of over nine-hundred people that Jim Jones essentially caused due to his paranoid delusions. That just seems beyond ignorant of history itself. Also, I’ve been told before that calling it outright murder is too judgemental, as it supposedly a mass suicide.

Why? What’s the point of dumbing it down? Yes, there were suicides, or as Jones himself put it, revolutionary acts, committed there. Still, these people wouldn’t have killed themselves on their own. It was Jones who pushed them to do it, and if they didn’t, according to most survivors’ accounts, they were injected against their will. Its sick. All of it is sick.

Although Jonestown contained no prison and no form of capital punishment, various forms of punishment were used against members considered to be serious disciplinary problems. Methods included imprisonment in a 6x4x3-foot (1.8 x 1.2 x 0.9 m) plywood box and forcing children to spend a night at the bottom of a well, sometimes upside-down. For some members who attempted to escape, drugs such as Thorazine, sodium pentathol, chloral hydrate, Demerol and Valium were administered until they “came to their senses,” with detailed records being kept of each person’s drug regimen; . Armed guards patrolled the area day and night to enforce Jonestown’s rules. Some local Guyanese, including a police official, related stories about harsh beatings and a “torture hole,” the well into which the children were placed when they were perceived to have misbehaved.

I have so, so much stuff about Jonestown on my iPod. I tend watch it when I feel apathetic about the world. It reminds me that I can’t stop caring, as when we do, stuff like this can and will happen again. That is unacceptable. Mass cult murder-suicides are some of the most tragic things I can think of.