Following the success of some of our previous lists about the bizarre practices of humans through the ages (and up to modern times in some cases), we have prepared another list. This list includes only new items – excluding anything that has appeared on previous lists such as Tibetan Sky Burial or Thaipusam. In fact, we recommend you check out the Top 10 Bizarre Traditions, Top 10 Bizarre Festivals, and Top 10 Weird Religious Pratices before reading this list.
The Ainu people (an indigenous tribe from parts of Japan and Russia) are a once-suppressed ethnic minority whose religious roots are animist. Because of their worship of nature, they developed a tradition in which bears were killed in order to send their soul to heaven to bless mankind. This ritual (Iyomante) involves the slaughter of a hibernating mother bear in her cave. Her cubs are raised in captivity for two years and then fatally choked or speared in a sacramental act meant to show religious devotion. The villagers then drink the bear’s blood and eat its flesh. The skull is placed on an upturned spear which is wrapped with the bear skin. This bizarre type of scarecrow is then worshipped. The Ainu people believe bears are gods walking among humans. Unfortunately, due to a law change in Japan which revoked the ban on the ritual, it is now occurring again in some places.
Because funerals are an incredibly important aspect of life for the Torajan (an ethnic group in South Sulawesi, Indonesia), it can take many months for a family to raise sufficient funds to pay for the festivities. During this period of months, the dead body is wrapped in clothes and kept under the family home. The Torajans believe that the deceased soul remains with them until the burial. Torajan funerals are a grand affair which also frequently involve the sacrifice of buffaloes (the more important the deceased the more buffaloes are killed). When the person is finally ready to be buried for good, their coffin is usually placed in a cave and their effigy is placed at the cave mouth looking out (as can be seen in the picture above).
This isn’t just regular spitting we are talking about. The Masai tribe (an ethnic African group found in Kenya and Tanzania) have an unusual way of greeting friends: they spit on one another. Furthermore, when a new child is born, the Masai men will spit on it and say it is bad – believing that if they praise the child they will curse it to a bad life. When greeting elders, a Masai warrior will spit in his hand before offering it to be shaken – as a sign of respect. Masai tribesmen are well known through the media because of their practice of elongating their earlobes.
Fairly recent discoveries in the Vatican of old Roman burial grounds have uncovered a fascinating tradition that was previously forgotten: the Romans would eat with their dead and even feed them. Many of the graves found contained pipes that led from the outside of the grave to the body within – this was used to pour honey, wine, and other foods into the dead. Similar pipes in Roman Graves have also been found in England. Ancient Romans would often picnic at the graves of the dead as they believed they were feeding the soul of their departed loved ones. The inscription on the grave above describes the location of a food shop nearby so mourners and visitors can buy food for themselves or the dead.
The Yanomamö are a large tribe of people from Venezuela and Brazil. They have been largely untouched by modern life and so retain many of their ancient customs – one of which is the focus of this item. Yanomamö religious tradition forbids the keeping of any part of the body of the dead; for this reason, when a Yanomamö dies, his body is taken to be burned and the bones are crushed and combined with the ashes. These are then divided amongst the family and eaten. Because absolutely no part of the body must remain, the vessel that contained the ashes is then destroyed. The tribesmen believe that a person dies because a Shaman or member of another tribe has sent evil on him. This leads to much conflict and inter-tribe battles.
The limestone caves surrounding Sagada in the Philippines are home to the region’s dead. While many people are buried in the caves, a long standing tradition in the area also means that the face of the cliffs are dotted with coffins. The coffins can also be found in other places around the world – particularly China where the nearly extinct Bo People (an indigenous minority Chinese tribe) practice this tradition regularly. The Toraja people (featured in item 9) also sometimes hang coffins of young children – though wealthy adults are normally placed in caves.
To commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad), some groups of Shia muslims take to the streets and whip themselves with specially designed chains with razors or knives attached. Other groups slit their heads open with knives (as can be seen in the image above). This awful tradition (called matam) is also practiced by children or forced on them by parents who do the cutting (as can be seen in the introductory image to this list on the front page). Matam is mostly found in Bahrain, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iraq, and while some Muslims frown upon the practice, many major Muslim leaders endorse it.
Thousands of mourners slit open their heads with swords, big knives and razor blades streaming their blood to signify their grief over the martyrdom of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) – the tragedy which caused the sky to rain blood and the earth to bleed – and thus paid rich homage to Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) who sacrificed everything in defending Islam which is today under obligation to him. [Source - including horrific images]
The Satere-Mawe people from the Amazon region of Brazil have an agonizing initiation rite for their boys. In order to become a man, the boy must insert his hand into a glove which is woven with drugged bullet ants which have one of the most painful stings in nature. The boy must wear the glove for a full ten minutes and he must do this twenty times over the course of several months. A television reporter (Steve Backshall) undertook the ordeal and described it thus:
“I put my hands into the gloves. Actually, it wasn’t that bad: pretty unpleasant, but bearable; just like the single sting, but repeated over and over again. I stuck it out for the full 10 minutes. [... M]y crew took me out of the line-up and off to get some medical tests done[.] That’s when things started to go wrong. I had suffered several hundred stings, and all of a sudden I went beyond pain. First, I started wailing, then, once that had passed, the floodgates opened — deep, guttural sobbing, uncontrollable shaking, writhing, convulsing. I started to drool, and suddenly I wasn’t responding to anything at all. My legs wouldn’t hold me up, and our doctor was shouting at me to keep moving and not to give in to the urge to lie down and let it take me. If there’d been a machete to hand, I’d have chopped off my arms to escape the pain.” [Source]
Every year in Solapur (a region in Maharashtra, India) parents get together to throw their babies off the top of a 50 foot tower. The babies are caught in a sheet held by other villagers on the ground. The parents believe that the practice will give their children long and healthy lives. This is practiced mostly by Muslims but some Hindu families also engage in it. Parents that partake are usually those who have become pregnant after praying at the Shrine of Baba Umer Dargah. Local authorities provide policing for the event despite the fact that national government is opposed to it.
The Aghoris are members of a Hindu sect who worship Shiva, whom they see as the supreme god. Because they believe that Shiva created everything – they consider nothing to be bad. For this reason they engage in a variety of sexual practices, they drink alcohol, take drugs, and eat meat. Nothing is considered taboo. But the thing that makes their ancient traditions bizarre is that they are also practicing cannibals and their temples are cremation grounds. An aghori lives in the cremation ground and is able to support himself there – his clothing comes from the dead, his firewood comes from the funeral pyres, and food from the river. When a person is cremated, an aghori will coat himself in the ashes of the body and meditate on the dead.
The most shocking aspect of the Aghori life is their cannibalism. Dead bodies that are found floating in the river are gathered up and meditated on. The limbs are then removed by the Aghori and eaten raw. If you are interested in watching a fascinating documentary on the Aghoris, you can watch an excellent one here in full. A much more in-depth article on the aghoris can be seen here on Cogitz. It also includes a link to a much more gruesome video of the cannibalistic practices.
S. Davis I have noticed this on other lists but how does this apply to this current discussion?
Lifeschool- I agree with you on many parts but for the reserves thing I disagree heartily. On the border of Namibia and Botswana there is a group called the N!ai that has been hunting the lands for centuries, until the dutch came. Now the government of the country protects the animals from these people, making it a criminal offense for them to kill the animals, while forcing them to eat a terrible diet that is killing them off slowly. The thing that makes this bad is that the animals they are not allowed to kill are killing their food (crops and cattle). Even worse is that the government allows westerners to kill the animals the N!ai cannot for a price. In conclusion often times it is only wrong that the native people to a land kill their native animals because the colonial powers that took them over say it was.
I think the bear one is worse than the video. I have seen much more disturbing things. Poor mama and baby bears, people are so cruel.
#63: TCS – yes, I quite understand. As I wanted to say in the post above, I don’t mind cultures doing their own thing – for skill or for food, and as Mom says, they do this with honour and reverance for their animals as well as their Gods and belief systems. Just as you say, killing for ‘sport’ is another matter.
the Ainu remind me of the neanderthal tribesmen in Jean M. Auell’s “Clan of the Cave Bear”.
i have no problem with allowing certain cultures to continue their traditions in a traditional manner. this makes me think of the Inuit in Alaska being allowed to slaughter minke whale…just do it with bone-carved harpoons instead of high-powered rifles.
as far as #1 cannibalism doesn’t bother me. it makes me laugh to think that people have no problem dismembering domestic animals in the same manner and consuming them for sustainence. the aghori are simply feeding their spiritual needs.
meh. i’ve seen worse on the internet over the years…a few swamis performing elaborate, exaggerated rituals over floaters seems kinda tame.
rtr
#63: TCS (addendum) – I agree that politics can both help and be a hinderance to life. Some governments are only interested in the botom line. Many folks in the Amazon don’t want their trees to be cut down, but the gov’t is addament that their beef exports must increase by 30% over the next few years. Does everything have to have a price on it’s head? (right, enough rhetorical questions, I’m off)
That canabilism scene is sick especially when he grabs the okes arm with his mouth and pulls like a dog jeez
I didn’t find the eating death video at all disturbing. I truly thought I wouldn’t be able to watch the whole thing. Anyone else like the music in the video?
What if the babies missed the sheet…. dun Dun DUN!
Quite disturbing for a westerner, though extremely interesting from both a Religious and an Anthropological point of view.
Some of these I would want to follow up on…*which* ones I can’t say until I do some deeper reading into all of them.
That is one thing I do not understand about Christianity. How can they say that God created everything and nothing is a mistake, then they go and say that ***** is bad. That is why i don’t believe in religion, it has the imprint of humanity stamped across its tales. Everything is viewed from the human perspective, and that is how you can tell it is false. If there was a God, he would not care for only Humans. Christians believe that they are above other animals..and that the world was created FOR them. Sort of how UNEDUCATED peoples in history thought the universe revolved around earth. The only difference between humans and animals and that our brains evolved enough to have logic and emotions. And when we are faced with something beyond our logic and our means of interpretation, our imagination kicks in the fill in the empty space. Religion is for those who fear death. They don’t want to believe that they only have one life. They view life from a narrow perspective, they see countries and state borders where they should see only earth. They see love, when they should see the lust to procreate. There is no such thing as laws, there is no such thing as states, there are no such thing as countries, there is no such thing as time! There is just animals and earth, nothing more.
Ringtailroxy. Ok. Just Maybe, if Doctor Lector cooked up something nice I may have a teeny bite just to be sociable or if in a plane crash style marooning maybe would have a little nibble; just so everyone else did’nt feel so bad. But dragging a corpse out of an open sewer and eating some…I’m off again. Will listen to warnings in the future.
addendum S Davis
NVM, I see your statement was more a prophecy than a recollection.
-looks up at josh plum-
TCS, to true mate. I feel the same as him but thought it best not to go on a Dawkinisk rant. It’s just a bit of fun folks lets not get carried away.
I am athiest and I say that Lebanon is not the way the media depicts it. We (Christians and Muslims) believe in science, and all of our schools teach Darwins theory of evolution aswell as Chemistry, Biology, and even in some schools phsychology. And we do not enjoy the foolish rituals that go on in the southern part of our country. Lebanons religions are divided into different parts of the country. South is Muslim, North is Christian and the center (Beirut) is mixed and also has athiests. We do not mock the religious practices though (even though we do not agree with them) we respect them, after all who says we are right?
Directed to jfrater with all due respect
Also, I would really like to tell you about my country if possible jfrater.
You all really need an edit or add button in the comments.
The Aghori area a-gory! All I kept saying during the video was Holy F**K! HOLY F**K! That has to be some of the most F’ed up crazy A** S*** I have ever seen. How do people tolerate these crazy A** Mofos? They obviously mentally deranged. I’m surprised not more of them die from the bacteria infested corpses that they consume.
This video is 10x worse than #1
WARNING: NSFW- EXTREMELY GRAPHIC
http://vodpod.com/watch/1288749-dnepropetrovsk-maniacs-murder-guy-with-hammer-and-screwdriver-real-snuff-video-best-gore
People are stupid and weird.
Just because the vids are there, it doesn’t mean you have to watch them. Skimming the text was enough for me. There’s no way I’m going to watch the vids.
Maybe I am just a little too morbid for my own good but #1 did not phase me at all! I was expecting more gore or more things that seemed way wrong. *shrugs* It did kinda touch me though that at least someone was willing to give the floating cadaver some kind of a send of, even literally meditating on the dead. I think I might look more into that one and see what else I can learn. I had hoped it was more like a documentary and less a music video. I know I am just weird.
Shibari Hime out!
What….happened to the comments here? When did we start talking abbout Lebanon and Christianity?
Callie:
Heh, I said as much on another list (Greatest Epic History Movies) that we could have a “Top 10 best uses of Hungarian wicker furniture” and someone will start religion bashing somewhere.
without going any further than 10 i felt the need to post. what kind of sick bastards would kill animals in that way? i would rather see a person come to harm than an animal.
God sits on a whicker throne you blaspheming swine
Callie –
Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows,
Everything that’s wonderful is sure to come your way…
Better???
no tex, I can hold my own with all things bad or unpleasant, I just wondered how it got that way. Also, I prefer unicorns to lollipops
I know that, it’s just that other thread is giving me a headache like you wouldn’t believe, so I’m bored over here by myself.
86: “God sits on a whicker throne you blaspheming swine”
PRICELESS!
I don’t take issue with the hunting and eating of bears…the excerpt is specifically “This ritual (Iyomante) involves the slaughter of a hibernating mother bear in her cave. Her cubs are raised in captivity for two years and then fatally choked or speared in a sacramental act meant to show religious devotion.” To me this means bear is sleeping peacefully, is in a very vulnerable state, she’s slaughtered not hunted, and her cubs raised in captivity and then tortured. I think, if you are going to hold something as sacred, at least give it a fair fight. I find this more barbaric than eating dead people, as the people are already dead, not ambushed in their sleep and slaughtered. And if you are allowed to have an opinion, please allow another to have theirs, without resorting to calling people children when their opinion does not match yours.
littleboots:
Sorry, pinhead, but your fawning attempt at begging for my mercy has fallen on deaf ears.
Find the Ainu’s practice barbaric do we? Because they sneak into a cave and kill a sleeping mama bear and enslave her cubs to later off them too? Awww. Well tell you what, sport. You go a-hunting sometime. Or better yet, go visit a farm where livestock are being slaughtered so that you can have your cheeseburger with the pickles and the mayo.
Or, if you really want to experience nature’s brutal laws, let’s go on a safari sometime and watch the hunter and the hunted go at it, and we’ll see what’s “barbaric.”
The fact of the matter is that NO act of “food gathering” where animal life is involved is pretty. And yes, you DO need to grow up, because clearly you’re living in this culture and want to pretend that we’re superior because you don’t have to see it, and can just schlep down to your local supermarket to buy your porkchops and lamb shanks and ground beef.
The Ainu do NOT kill out of sport, they kill to survive. And yes, whether you approve of it or not, their ritual is a deeply sacred affair that goes back thousands of years, and they are, as a people, deeply in tune with their environment. You want to talk about mistreatment of animals? Visit an industrial farm sometime, where animals are kept in cages so small that they can’t move, and where all manner of other foulness goes on.
This attitude, that indigenous people must be barbaric because they kill as we all once killed, is a species of preciousness that you would do well to grow out of. You think it would be more acceptable if the bear had a chance to fight back? Uh huh. Let’s see you take that stance if the bear was your primary means of sustenance, and was a sacred, essential part of your life rituals.
Do you give the humble cow a chance to “fight back” when you want your steak or burger, “littleboots?” Nope. How about the useful piggie? Suppose instead of hoofs he had opposable thumbs? Want to hand him a weapon to make it a “fair fight?” Or do you want to eat?
You’ve made a sorry play for emotions with this irrelevant business about “mama bear and her baby bears.” Pure and simple, it’s nothing compared to the way we have used animals for our own ends in an industrial manner for decades, nor compared to how we’ve WASTED the animal resources at our disposal in the past.
well Randall, surely you missed the distinction between livestock and wildlife..go look it up. I find you wordy but not really educated when it comes to the real world. For someone who calls himself “learned” your credibility crashes terribly when you start insulting people. Besides, where would the human race be without emotions? Is that what you would prefer? And finally, you do not know how I grew up, where I come from or what I do, therefore your attempts at insulting me are falling on deaf ears as well.
^People who try to stick wit and significance in every word and try to make everything a damned line are just boring and useless. Stop thinking the world is as you’ve lived it… all you do is ***** and fight with people. Jeez, you think you’d get a clue. I’m sure, with your preaching and barking, you do EVERYTHING right. Please, don’t respond and try to draw me into your little circle races.
Anyway, that last video wasn’t too bad. The guy was just a hunk of meat. Now look at that one video of those two Russian teenagers torturing and killing a homeless man and laughing at their perversion as though it were a mere game… when they bash his face repeatedly and zoom in on the bubbling, oozy, and gory mass, that will make your stomach turn.
Littleboots, these people don’t realize that the rules they ordain for their own lives do not extend to others… you call these people imposers, and they try to steer your wheel because they can’t handle their own. That’s why they insult and demean and insult your intelligence with no credible basis, “Do you even KNOW etc.” (I’ve read that line about 1,000,000 times).
littleboots:
Nice try, but I imagine you don’t know who you’re dealing with here. I missed the “distinction between livestock and wildlife?” Hardly. Tell you what, champ. You tell me what relevance it has. So… what? It’s barbaric when we do it to wildlife, but NOT livestock? Just whatever was your POINT?
And I’M not “really educated when it comes to the real world?” There’s a laugh. If that isn’t the pot screaming at the kettle about how black he is, I can’t think of a better example. You have the gall to get offended at an ANCIENT practice of an indigenous people who have NEVER committed the waste, destruction, and wanton, wholesale slaughter that goes on EVERY DAMN DAY for YOUR benefit so you can live in a modern, sanitized culture—and I’M the one whose “not educated” about the “real world.” Uh huh. Sure.
And the point was NOT that the world would be better off without emotions—the point is that an emotional appeal is NOT a valid form of logical argument. Moreover, I’m forced to ask where the hell your emotional indignation is over industrial livestock farming, or wasteful hunting practices, and so on? And yet I guarantee that almost certainly, if you live here or in any other industrialized nation, that you to at least some degree live off the former.
Nietzche:
Dry up bozo. In the same breath you try to lecture me and then pull this BS about not wanting a response. Sure. If you really didn’t want a response, then don’t address me. If you don’t like what I have to say–or how I say it–then shut the f*ck up and stay out of the discussion.
And tell you what, smartass… how about you lay out in detail for us just how it is that *I* am an “imposter” and don’t know how to “steer my own wheel?” (whatever that actually means).
The simple fact is that we’ve had words before, recently, and you followed me onto this thread to take another cheap shot at me because your arguments fell flat before. If you have something germaine to say ABOUT THIS TOPIC then SAY IT. Otherwise, go pester someone else with your nonsense.
wow Randall, you are really “chomping at the bit” today…go outside and get some fresh air..which is what i am about to do. Go insult someone else now.
last one wasn’t that bad at all
to be honest it’s their culture and it’s just differnt
The more I read the comments, the more I like Randall. He’s totally saying everything that goes in my head when I read a stupid post about “the mean people killing the poor bears.” It’ is their religon, it is their beliefs, it is their culture, it is their lifestyle, it is what they do. I would much rather see one bear being worshipped and thanked and and killed in it’s sleep than to watch caged chickens being thrown against walls and then turned into KFC chicken wings to eaten by some fatass in a trailor.
And Randoll, ***** what littleboots has to say with the name calling *****. You can call them what ever name you want, when people are that sheltered they deserve it. If they care about “Livestock” so much, treat them as such.
Awesome list though!
Never said imposter or impostor. I said imposer, as in you IMPOSE your dogma onto others, which you have no business doing. Maybe you should have connected my point about steering the wheels of others… it is beyond a simple misreading of the word “imposer,” it is the entire misunderstanding of something your common chimpanzee could nail.
Now, before you speed through text and attempt relieve the cravings of your confrontation douchebaggery addiction, be a considerate human being, and (like I’ve said before) stop arguing for the sake of arguing. All you do is throw around a bunch of random huff puff. Where is your insight? How can you even pretend that reading some books gives you the right to play God among debates? That’s why all your debates look the same… how trite and nauseating. Show that you have grounds for an opinion by presenting your considerations (which should be plentiful taking into account your having a position at all) and not a bunch of random “facts” and then bashing down someone’s general intelligence with generic insults.
I guess everyone who reads these lists everyday “follows” you, I suppose. I wanted to take part in the discussions, and, in reading through the posts (isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?) I came across a repeat of your lamentable “wit” that I encountered yesterday, and couldn’t resist. Once again, all you can say is “your arguments fall flat” and the like without anything real. And I did say what I had to say about the topic, which I presume you misread, or completely missed, also?
Now, before calling me a “child” or informing me of my (stick-up-the-ass-insult) or failure or whatnot, deeply consider what I have said. Get off that high horse of yours, put down your Bible and Thunderbolts, and pry open that tightly sealed mind of yours. When you have something real (not simply the fact that you are an arrogant *****weasel), feel free to go upstairs and tell it to your parents, or someone who gives a damn about your worthless ass, the next time you crawl out of your lair to sniff out some rice crispies or beer.
Seriously man. We should talk (and kindly) about the subject… whether you think I’m right or wrong, just look at the fact that you are always in some damn personal argument.
REALLY interesting list, I thank ye for putting it up.
The video wasn’t bad at all, but then again, I’m horribly desensitizedXD
I’m fairly new to Listverse, I haven’t ever posted yet but I figured this list was best as any right? haha
WOW – I’m watching the last video thinking this isnt so baa….oh my god! haha I wonder how long that will actually stay on youtube before its deleted. Gag me with a spoon.
I do want to make a comment though, I adore this site. Keep the lists coming!!
Becca, you should try the video I suggested in Post 93. I don’t know what its title might be, but I know it’s exactly how I described it because I watched a few minutes of it. The fact that it is a living human suffering is what is horrible about it. A dead corpse that feels nothing isn’t exactly worthless, but the person itself is gone.
oh *****!!!…that last videooo….shivers*
Saw the video but could not use speakers… Did they mention how long that person had been dead? I saw no blood dripping and there were signs of rigo mortis (spelling?)…
Did not gross me out as much as I thought it would.
Nietzsche- Randall is abrasive (one his charms in my eyes) but how is he imposing or sticking a dogma on someone else? How exactly is passing the opinion that maybe their culture isn’t barbaric (which it isn’t, trully there is no such thing as a specifically barbaric culture unless you are going to call all cultures barbaric) that what we do is the same or possibly worse than what they do? not knowing something is ignorance but willful ignorance is stupidity. I can “steer my own wheel” as you put it and I feel the need to help others with their lest people start crashing into people doing just fine on their own terms. It is because we live in a society of information that “imposers” such as randall can tell you why you’re *****ed up. They are not a part of our society, so for anyone outside of their society to say they are wrong because they worship and ritualistically kill something that has been a part of their culture for eons is just bloody ridiculous. The world loses cultures due to thoughts like that.
@ masdom Rigor (think rigorous) Mortis
Nietzche:
Look, I invite you to go f*ck yourself. I encounter your type on here from time to time and it’s ALWAYS the same old dull litany. The bottom line is that EVERY TIME it seems to come from someone who either lost to me in an argument or couldn’t raise points to match mine, and carried a grudge against me from then on.
AGAIN, if you don’t like what I have to say or how I say it, then tell you what–IGNORE ME. That’s the best course for you, me, and everyone else. Because if you want to harp about “arguing for the sake of arguing,” then you tell me just what the hell you’re doing by wasting our time and others’ time here with this endless attempt to lecture me on my style of discourse. It’s IRRELEVANT to the topic at hand and ALWAYS IS.
And you know what? I’ve said this before—for every dick like you who has some axe to grind against me, it seems fairly obvious that most of the “reading public” here at List Universe appreciates my contributions to this site. And, as I’ve said before, if that WEREN’T so, then Jaime would have kicked me off of here long ago, or would have asked me to alter my persona or something of that nature. But it only ever seems to be some small, fringe percentage of people, like you, who detest me and want to bring me down in some way. Well more power to you—but as I said, if there’s one thing that’s a waste of time and energy here, it’s that.
The thing is, it doesn’t seem to occur to you how incredibly contradictory you’ve been just in this one thread! I entered this thread with a reasoned, conscise contribution as to why I didn’t think the text about the Ainu bear ritual was worded fairly… I offered an argument, and provided some knowledge on the subject, since it’s a field I have some familiarity with and interest in. From there I commented further and defended my opinion. Yes, again, I like to play a game with my persona, making fun of people when they make stupid remarks and the like, because it keeps things interesting for me and for others looking in. If I feel there’s an opportunity for a more serious bit of discourse, then my demeanor changes—and if you don’t believe that, then do some research on this site. But when it’s just more nitpicking or when someone throws a gauntlet in my face, I feel justified in responding with some vitriol. AND it’s just more fun and more interesting than repeating the same old statements OVER AND OVER again.
At any rate, from the start I was here in this thread with something to offer—and several people commented on this, that I’d made a cogent point. YOU then come along and, rather than offer up any point of your own PERTAINING to the topic at hand—or even an attempt to argue with mine—ALL you’ve done since you popped in here is rail against me for my BEHAVIOR and my manner of discourse, and lecture me on the same. AND THEN you have the gall to tell me to “say” something that matters instead of just “arguing for argument’s sake”—which in POINT OF FACT IS ALL THAT YOU ARE DOING!
And here, again, this is carrying on needlessly, and YOU have YET to say ANYTHING about the topic, you’ve only picked this moment to lecture and scold and try to score points against me.
“Never said imposter or impostor. I said imposer, as in you IMPOSE your dogma onto others,”
Ah well, excuse me… not difficult to see how I got confused… since there’s no such word as “imposer,” or, at very least, it’s a VERY uncommon form of “impose.”
Perhaps this awkward mis-use of a word might have made you a trifle more difficult to understand–I wonder if you considered that?
“Now, before you speed through text and attempt relieve the cravings of your confrontation douchebaggery addiction, be a considerate human being, and (like I’ve said before) stop arguing for the sake of arguing.”
Again, see my points above. This is a cutesy trick often employed by those of your ilk—i.e., trying to turn around onto me the very thing that YOU are guilty of committing.
“Where is your insight?”
WHERE IS THE INSIGHT? How about reading my goddamn posts here going all the way back to #39? I offered REPEATED “insight” onto what I felt was a mistaken, if somewhat backhanded, condemnation of the Ainu. Several people have in fact AGREED with me on this and supported it with thoughts of their own.
“How can you even pretend that reading some books gives you the right to play God among debates?”
And who says I do that? Again, jackass, you and a few others who occasionally pop in here take me FAR too seriously. YOU need a goddamn sense of humor.
“That’s why all your debates look the same… how trite and nauseating.”
I’d point out that that’s YOUR opinion, and if you want to find some people who share it with you, be my guest and try it. I’d bet we’d find five times as many people here who find me entertaining and informative. In fact, I’ve heard MANY times how people look in here just to read what I have to say. Which, sure, sounds like my ego talking, but I take pride in spicing things up around here. If it weren’t so, if I had evidence to believe that I was boring people, you can damn well bet I wouldn’t be here. I have better things to do with my time.
My purpose here is NOT merely to “argue” despite your vaguely pop-psychological pronouncements against me. My purpose is A) to inform, based on the storehouse of knowledge which I have, which emanates from years of study, both professionally/formally and otherwise… B) entertain, which given the nature of the site I do through wit, humor, a Don Rickles-esque persona (which is largely a contrivance) and C) to keep MYSELF amused. And for the latter, I manage this by playing with the aforementioned persona and interacting with friends which I’ve made on this site over the last few years, and making new ones from time to time.
Why YOU are here is another question. But the evidence thus far suggests that a big part of the reason you’re here is to try to nag me.
“Show that you have grounds for an opinion by presenting your considerations (which should be plentiful taking into account your having a position at all)”
Again, that was clearly done here. And has been done elsewhere. Your point, such as it is, is invalid and without basis.
“I guess everyone who reads these lists everyday “follows” you, I suppose.”
Yes, I’ve been told that. Nice. I appreciate it. It warms my hear to know that I’m entertaining people. I hope in some small way it helps keep Jaime’s advertising income flowing. If I can do anything to help him and his site, I’m honored to do so, because he’s a good egg.
“I wanted to take part in the discussions, and, in reading through the posts (isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?) I came across a repeat of your lamentable “wit” that I encountered yesterday, and couldn’t resist.”
Again, your opinion is yours. I invite you to find others that share it. I bet you’d come up with a handful… as opposed to the hundreds, if not more, who read this site. Not that all of them LOVE me, but I think very few of them share your apparent distaste for me.
“Once again, all you can say is “your arguments fall flat” and the like without anything real.”
And again, I beg to differ. COUNTLESS TIMES on this site I have offered up valuable information AND debated and argued at length ABOUT things—with VERY REAL and VERY concrete, supportable evidence, scholarship, information AND wit. But if you don’t like it, too bad for you. I know where I stand on all this and what I’ve contributed to this site. And I’m proud of it.
“And I did say what I had to say about the topic, which I presume you misread, or completely missed, also?”
The only thing I saw was a remark about one of the videos. Would you care to enlighten me in regards to this great contribution you made, then?
“Now, before calling me a “child” or informing me of my (stick-up-the-ass-insult) or failure or whatnot, deeply consider what I have said.”
Uh, sorry, Nietzche, but A) there’s little to consider, and B) I don’t have to follow your cues about what you think is “wrong” with me. Now THAT’S arrogance, telling me to “deeply consider” what you’ve railed at me about. Again, the most proper response I can formulate for you is to tell you to go jump in a lake.
“Get off that high horse of yours, put down your Bible and Thunderbolts, and pry open that tightly sealed mind of yours.”
Uh huh. Sealed mind. Sure. And on WHAT, pray tell, do you base this new accusation, that I am somehow “close minded?” I’d love to hear your evidence for that one.
As for your last bit of acidic “wit,” Nietzsche, I’d say it applies better to you than me. I’ve offered a great deal to this site, and if prompted to do so, I could go through it piece by piece and offer up huge gobs of evidence. I’ve not only written several lists but I’ve initiated and contributed to dozens of discussions, with only a fraction of them being “argumentative.” You want the evidence, it’s there for all to see.
What have YOU contributed here? As far as I can tell… nada.
Now enough’s enough. Go bother someone else and stop wasting my time and everyone else’s with this pointlessness.
interesting list
i should try spitting in my hand next time i greet someone =)
This place is f**king crazy sometimes, you all need to cut back on the caffine
Randall (91): I agree with littleboots – I have no problem with hunting in general and am an avid meat eater, but to cut off a bear’s paws to stop it being able to defend its children and then slaughter the children with strangulation or a gang of people standing around it firing arrows is hardly fair. The bear is tied down as the first stage of killing happens. It is not honorable.
And do you really need to call people names before you reply to them when they haven’t been at all rude in the slightest to you? It does come across as rather immature. No one insulted you at all – and one person didn’t even address you and so far you have called them:
pinhead
fool
twelve years old
bozo
smartass
dick
You also told people to “shut the ***** up” and “go ***** yourself”. Simply for not agreeing. We tell newbies off for that kind of thing – set a good example!
hah. randall’s awesome.
… although i agree with jf’s name-calling story.
#111 JFrater – Ah, I didn’t know the full story involved with those tribes.
masdom (105): dead long enough for the rot to be setting in (you could see the colored spots) and when a person died, the rigor mortis only lasts for a short time and then the flexibility returns. The body in the video looks to be in the second stage of decomposition which is Putrefaction – this is three stages on from rigor mortis.
Oh – I still think Randall is awesome btw – just lippy
jfrater:
Honestly, you should know better. Here I say nice things about you to everyone in hearing range, and you intimate that I’m immature. My feelings are hurt. I swear… I feel a tear welling up.
Well look, I was rough on “littleboots,” but no one’s perfect. Even *I* have a bad day now and then.
But this Nietzsche guy? C’mon. Following me on here just to lecture me? That’s not cricket, not in my book.
Well anyway, about the Ainu… look, I don’t want to come off as an apologist for animal cruelty, whatever the justification. I’m just troubled by this notion of picking on an indigenous folk like the Ainu who do not deliver one *tenth* the indignation to the environment that WE do, simply on account of an admittedly strange ritual. Do I LIKE it? No. I’m an animal lover. But I’m troubled by people who get righteous about this sort of thing when much worse is going on all around them, to support their own survival needs.
One thing though, something I forgot to mention… the ban that was placed on the practice—you know, I don’t know what the justification for that was, but I frankly doubt it had anything to do, REALLY, with the cruelty meted out to the bears. I’m sorry to say this because it sounds nasty, but the Japanese are hardly big on being kind to animals.
On the other hand, the Japanese have been trying for a very long time to suppress and stamp out Ainu identity, and I would think this attempt to suppress the bear rituals was part of that—an attempt to bring the Ainu way of life to an end. Their language and culture has been under assault for a very long time, and it continues to this day.
#116 JFrater – I agree with the sentiment of what Randall was trying to say originally – just where could you draw the line on barbarism? One bear, or 10,000 hens in a toxic dump (battery)? Where is the line on suffering? It isn’t an easy question. Of course I am sentimental towards animals, and I would natuarally condemn the item in #10 now that the full story has come to light. But heros or villans? It isn’t for me to say. I have done so many wonderfully beautiful things in my life – and I have done some horribly nasty things too.
To those who may have had their feelings hurt today; follow Randall’s advice – don’t fight fire with fire – if you don’t agree with it, save yourself the heartache and just ignore it.
Randall: I am not picking on indigenous folk – I am picking on a practice that I think is wrong. I also don’t like battery hens and the like. The Maoris in New Zealand used to eat their enemies – that is a practice that I certainly don’t want to see restored and don’t believe you would support it either! They also hunted the Moas to extinction and would have done so to the kiwis if it wasn’t outlawed. We don’t want to let them back at the kiwis do we?
So – having said that – I don’t think the government should stamp out the culture of the Ainus – but they should definitely stamp out practices which are abhorrent.
Randall, I support you! Shame on all those people who oppose Randall and oppose the Ainu traditions! The Ainu’s sacred tradition of killing bears is honorable and beautiful, as well as practical. The great Stephen Colbert once said that bears are “godless killing machines”, and while it comes off as toungue-in-cheek, is there ANYTHING that Colbert says that doesn’t have some ironic, hidden truth to it?
The Ainu are a great culture and I support their bear-killing ways. Bears are violent, mindless creatures and they need to be hunted to extinction. It is our right as human beings to subjugate all lower species and do what we shall with them. What people fail to understand is that animals have a hive mind, and this mind is growing stronger day by day, ultimately culminating on December 21, 2012 when all animals on earth will rise up against humans and attempt to destroy us.
Hard pill to swallow? Just listen to what M.P. Helmholtz has to say about it.
“Technology and Animals are bound together as Enemies of SPACESHIP JESUS Empire. Computers are evil. Television is evil. Robots are evil. Lions are evil. Bears are evil. Butterflies are evil. ALL LOWER ANIMALS ARE EVIL. Do not be swayed by cute puppies or purring kittens: ANIMALS THINK DEATH ALL THE TIME!!! All they want to do is KILL HUMANS. Listen to Stephen Colbert! HE WARNS US AGAINST BEARS – GODLESS KILLING MACHINES. Watch the Colbert Report. PRAY TO STEPHEN COLBERT FOR STRENGTH AGAINST IMPENDING ANIMAL VS. HUMAN WARFARE. Praise be Stephen Colbert and PRAISE BE SPACESHIP JESUS
!!!!!!!!
But will you wait until the day when the Lower Animals use Technology to destroy us Humans? A Lion + A Radio = BAD COMBINATION!!!! Colonial Parasites will infest RADIOS and LIONS. The Parasites can make Lions understand words. Lions can talk to each other on the Radio. The Radio will tell Lions to where they can find you. Do you want to be eaten? You won’t be eaten if you are on board SPACESHIP JESUS
!!!! Why do you think Bigfoots RAPE and MURDER Humans? BECAUSE THEY ARE CONTROLLED BY COLONIAL PARASITES.
If you removed parasites from a Bigfoot’s brain, they would not rape/murder you. They would join you with SPACESHIP JESUS.
Bigfoots would check into Hotels. The Hilton Lobby would be overwhelmed by Bigfoots, but the Bigfoots would not kill anybody because they believe in SPACESHIP JESUS
. Bigfoots result of SICK NAZI EXPERIMENTS WITH GENETICS!!! Bigfoots would boycott Star Wars films and the HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS but they DON’T. Why? Because the Colonial Parasites won’t let them. But you can stop this! Pray to HULK HOGAN., MR. T.., and BRUCE LEE to give you strength! STAY IN HOTELS! Better yet, pray inside a hotel. THESE COLONIAL PARASITES MUST BE STOPPED! Kill all Bigfoots! Kill all Lions!”
While many would dismiss the preceeding as some drug-fueled rant by a confirmed schizophrenic, it is my experience that what the Prophet teaches is indeed true…IF…we are willing to dismiss the illusions shown to us by Satanic Alliance cohorts and various miscreants.
It is a biological trick that animals have developed: By looking “cute” they get protection from humans who are beguiled into caring for them. The animals will ultimately seize their chance and make their final push for EARTHLY DOMINATION.
Sacred Ainu teachings are slowly being eroded away by enviromentalists in league with AL GORE (who also has attempted to stop spaceship radio clues from entering earth) and it is truly a sad day for internet forum history when many blind followers of ROBO-ANIMAL ALLIANCE are just spitting out platitudes and mindless drivel drilled into their heads by Ghost Shark and all High Puppet Masters.
Thank you.