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May 23, 2014
A Trail of Murder and Revenge in Papua New Guinea
Three men, each wearing homemade balaclavas with small eyeholes, sprouting strange little ears, like Halloween masks. One carried a World War II–era .303 rifle, the two others three-foot-long machetes, known as bush knives in PNG. One of the machete carriers also had a sawed-off shotgun. The men were short, small. “Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!” they yelled, pidgin English for “lie down.”OutsideOnline.com
Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 23, 2014 10:59 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Well, that was a step back in time. To about 500 AD. Western humans have come a far piece, but some corners of the world have not been on the journey. There's a lesson in human nature there, I think.
Posted by: Jimmy J. at May 23, 2014 4:02 PM
The proper response to tribal violence is to wreak such horrific violence on the tribe that it forever fears to attack Westerners. Unfortunately the West has forgotten this lesson.
Side note: Cultural anthropologists will continue to insist simultaneously that this didn't happen, that it happens only rarely, and that it's our fault.
Posted by: pst314 at May 23, 2014 5:11 PM
Jimmy, recall the genocide in Rwanda. The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority. During the approximate 100-day period from April 7, 1994 to mid-July, an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed. Mostly with machetes.
pst: Kipling's Grave of the Hundred Head speaks to this.
Posted by: chasmatic at May 23, 2014 10:33 PM
It is foolish to travel in such places unarmed.
Posted by: ThomasD at May 24, 2014 11:15 AM
Thomas: I think it's foolish to travel anywhere where there are no people similar to me and where I cannot assure some basic freedoms for me and mine. Yes, armed societies are polite societies.
Posted by: chasmatic at May 24, 2014 8:33 PM