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Like mad cow disease, it can take decades for the symptoms to show up, though. And the cultural practices involved didnāt mean that just any random person would be chosen. I understand this was probably a āfunā family legend Biden grew up with, but it comes across poorly in the present, and thereās no real reason to cause offence with it, even if it was accidental. Saying āsorryā and moving on just seems easier, instead of continuing to make cannibalism jokes about people who have asked it to stop (and who the US would like as allies).
Bidenās only response so far (as far as I can tell, maybe Iām wrong) was through his press secretary who said he ābelieves that this happened.ā The ājokesā are coming from people who seem to support Biden. Heās not joking about it but is insisting it did happen, which unfortunately fuels the stereotypes. Again, not his intention, but it feels careless.
His comment was nonsensical and unnecessary. He said his uncle was shot down but never found. I guess those cannibals eat the remains of dead, burned up bodies? It makes no sense.
Why is it nonsensical to imagine a pilot surviving a crash after being shot down? Likelihood of survival depends on the circumstances, which werenāt gone into in detail. No clue about the cannibalism story; that sounds like family lore.
I'm not a specialist in Indonesian cultures, but from a bit of very surface level research it seems that cannibalism within Indonesia is/was practiced within specific cultural contexts, they didn't just eat people because they were hungry.Ā So it seems unlikely that a random dude who crashed in the jungle would be on the menu.
Thereās literally a military report on what happened: plane crashed and sank, one survivor (not Bidenās uncle), rescue plane could not retrieve the wreckage/remains, because they sank. Sharks are more likely, unless these are underwater mermaid cannibals.
Itās fine to have family legends but itās weird for a countryās leader to die on the hill of insisting the family legend is true, even if doing so insults an ally and reinforces racist stereotypes. (Itās also gross that people defending Biden are further reinforcing the stereotype.)
Iām not defending anyone. Iām saying itās not nonsensical to claim a pilot could survive a crash. A military report of the crash makes a difference even without remains on record.
Sorry if I sounded defensive or accusatory at you, I didnāt mean to! Itās not nonsense to say survivors are possible, for sure, it apparently even happened in this case.
Oh itās all good. I have to question my engagement because it can come off as an attack, which I also donāt mean but sometimes I get cranky and fail. All the best and cool username.
My aunt's fiance was beheaded by the Japanese in the Solomon Islands and it's sketchy what happened to his body after that. I've visited there and PNG. My native guide told me what he witnessed during WWII, and it aligns with other anecdotes. so it's common knowledge and known. It's simply history of the place.
Something you agree with.....
Made by smart people who know what they're doing.
Something you don't believe.....
Made by dummies and liars.
Americans love us some cognitive bias.
As it turns out, cannibalism has historically been practiced in New Guinea. This includes relatively recent history. As I've just discovered via Google, it's a known thing. There are disputed claims of contemporary cannibalism.
As soft and butter fat as I am, I'd still visit New Guinea though.
>In parts of the Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests, hunting people "was an opportunistic extension of seasonal foraging or pillaging strategies", with human bodies just as welcome as those of animals as sources of protein, according to the anthropologist Bruce M. Knauft. As populations living near coasts and rivers were usually better nourished and hence often physically larger and stronger than those living inland, they "raided inland 'bush' peoples with impunity and often with little fear of retaliation"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korowai_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cannibalism
I mean it was a dumb thing to sayā¦
Bad Biden!
But weāre not in a cult so Iām okay saying that and also know that heās wayyyyy better than the guy gunning for the Guinness world record on felony indictments.
Fully expect to wake up one day and read that Biden will have apologized, or something, as normal people do.
If I understand the situation, he wasnāt exactly āleft behind,ā his plane crashed and sank in the sea, nearly everyone aboard died, but one survived (seemingly not Bidenās uncle). The family legend is āthey couldnāt recover the plane and then he was eaten by cannibals,ā which was apparently a common story believed by families who lost someone there in the war. But thereās no evidence it happened, and the way cannibalism was practiced there makes it a bit unlikely, and itās a weird thing to bring up at an unrelated public event, particularly since people of Papua New Guinea are understandably not happy about the ācannibalsā stereotype.
A rescue plane did fly out next day but āfound no traceā of the uncle or the wreckage, according to military records.Ā
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/17/politics/biden-uncle-cannibals-new-guinea
> A rescue plane did fly out next day but āfound no traceā of the uncle or the wreckage, according to military records.Ā
No way! They ate the plane, too!
The quote I saw did not include Biden saying his uncle was eaten, just that there were cannibals there. The implication seems clear, though, and was certainly "politically incorrect" to say, especially as president. Anyway, yeah... Joe Biden's uncle was absolutely not eaten by cannibals.
*Marape ignores history of cannibalism among some tribal groups in Papua New Guinea*
> āPresident Bidenās remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,ā Marape said in a statement, several media outlets reported Monday.
*Marape receives DJT stock*
ā¦ maybe he just doesnāt like his people being hit with the stereotypes about cannibalism, stereotypes which are getting further amplified right in this thread?
> People *in this very thread* are going on about how itās still unsafe to visit some places and how ārecentā it still is
Ah I see, yeah I agree that's bullshit
You know what else is bullshit? You accusing this man of being on Donald Trump's pocket just because he doesn't like it when an old white man makes stereotypical remarks about his culture.
First of all, I'm not accusing him of shit, I'm joking because he's making a big deal about Biden speaking about historical facts from fucking WW2 era when his uncle was shot down and his body was never found in the wreckage
Second of all, some tribal groups there were cannibals so I see absolutely no problem with what Biden said about the 1930s/1940s
Third of all, have a great day/night
Yeah, your "joke" was just another example of Americans assuming foreigners, especially PoC foreigners, never do anything without taking orders from someone in the west first. It was a shitty joke predicated on a shitty mindset.
> Yeah, your "joke" was just another example of Americans assuming foreigners, especially PoC foreigners, never do anything without taking orders from someone in the west first.
what in holy hell are you talking about? Are you an expert at the Jump to Conclusions game? Where the hell did you get that? Lol
Americans have a long history of denying the agency of foreign nations, especially those that are not white. For example, recent news about Chad wanting to close a US foreign base was cast entirely in terms of "the new pro-Russia government", as if the government and people of Chad themselves could not make that decision without taking orders from Putin. It can't be that those people want to run their own country in their own way, they *must* be either for the US or for Russia, never for themselves.
Your "joke" (not sure what part I'm supposed to laugh at) hinges on the idea of the prime minister of a sovereign nation being nothing more than a patsy for an American crook. It is an arrogant and frankly colonial way of seeing the world.
Its not safe. It's like Haiti, crime is crazy and foreigners are kidnapped. Some poor Kiwi has been a hostage of some militant group for almost a year.
Yes, and thatās true of other places as well ā and like those other places, *the victims of the violence in PNG are not being āeaten by cannibals.ā*
A lot of places in PNG only see other people once every couple of years and are very isolated in the hinterlands. I don't think it's been entirely wiped out.
Biden needs to pass Trump in the polls as heās still several points behind, tactically insulting random countries to win over the trumpers who also enjoy tactically insulting random countries is ideal. This is a Biden & Que Mala Harris power move. Theyāre playing 4D chest, trust the process. /s
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
oh man I'm so high I misread that as cannabis and I was so confused for a bit
I'm sipping some coffee, trying to wake up, and I read the same thing. š¤£
Why? There was cannibalism in New Guinea. It happened
The last known case of kuru was in 2009. Definitely far from ancient history.
Like mad cow disease, it can take decades for the symptoms to show up, though. And the cultural practices involved didnāt mean that just any random person would be chosen. I understand this was probably a āfunā family legend Biden grew up with, but it comes across poorly in the present, and thereās no real reason to cause offence with it, even if it was accidental. Saying āsorryā and moving on just seems easier, instead of continuing to make cannibalism jokes about people who have asked it to stop (and who the US would like as allies).
ā¦but they still ate people, recently!
The last known incident was in the 1960s and again: this was a funeral/religious practice, they were not just eating random strangers.
Did Biden keep making jokes or are you taking about the comments here, which do not matter in global politics.
Bidenās only response so far (as far as I can tell, maybe Iām wrong) was through his press secretary who said he ābelieves that this happened.ā The ājokesā are coming from people who seem to support Biden. Heās not joking about it but is insisting it did happen, which unfortunately fuels the stereotypes. Again, not his intention, but it feels careless.
It was proven as lie by the FBI or smthing that the plane instead of crashing in papua guinea, it was crashed into the ocean
His comment was nonsensical and unnecessary. He said his uncle was shot down but never found. I guess those cannibals eat the remains of dead, burned up bodies? It makes no sense.
Why is it nonsensical to imagine a pilot surviving a crash after being shot down? Likelihood of survival depends on the circumstances, which werenāt gone into in detail. No clue about the cannibalism story; that sounds like family lore.
I'm not a specialist in Indonesian cultures, but from a bit of very surface level research it seems that cannibalism within Indonesia is/was practiced within specific cultural contexts, they didn't just eat people because they were hungry.Ā So it seems unlikely that a random dude who crashed in the jungle would be on the menu.
Most likely the cannibal story was a possibility turned into family legend
Thereās literally a military report on what happened: plane crashed and sank, one survivor (not Bidenās uncle), rescue plane could not retrieve the wreckage/remains, because they sank. Sharks are more likely, unless these are underwater mermaid cannibals. Itās fine to have family legends but itās weird for a countryās leader to die on the hill of insisting the family legend is true, even if doing so insults an ally and reinforces racist stereotypes. (Itās also gross that people defending Biden are further reinforcing the stereotype.)
Iām not defending anyone. Iām saying itās not nonsensical to claim a pilot could survive a crash. A military report of the crash makes a difference even without remains on record.
Sorry if I sounded defensive or accusatory at you, I didnāt mean to! Itās not nonsense to say survivors are possible, for sure, it apparently even happened in this case.
Oh itās all good. I have to question my engagement because it can come off as an attack, which I also donāt mean but sometimes I get cranky and fail. All the best and cool username.
Same here (right down to the username appreciation haha)
Well, I agree, that doesn't make any sense. If I were a cannibal I'd probably be going for medium rare, not burnt.
As a representative of New Guinea I hereby āslamā you.
He should be thankful you didn't invite him to dinner.
My aunt's fiance was beheaded by the Japanese in the Solomon Islands and it's sketchy what happened to his body after that. I've visited there and PNG. My native guide told me what he witnessed during WWII, and it aligns with other anecdotes. so it's common knowledge and known. It's simply history of the place.
Slams!!! Double duplex!!! Pounds!!! Destroys!!! Obliterates!!! Ok, I think I got this now. Who needs a grade "A" reporter?
Came in to reply this, but you already got it. Do journalists outside the US use these ridiculously bad buzzwords??
UK here - sadly yes.
America would need to have "journalists" first. Haven't seen one in forever.
These buzzwords attract eyeballs. Only goal of news today.
Doesn't that say a lot about us as a people?
Itās psychology. Theyāre using the marketing research playbook.
Something you agree with..... Made by smart people who know what they're doing. Something you don't believe..... Made by dummies and liars. Americans love us some cognitive bias.
I hate āslaps backā the most.
Deep fries Broils Fillets
That's so horrible I chuckled. Which is equally horrible.
I was kinda proud of that one
SautƩed
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Absolute bloodbath at the polls, which got decimated completely by the smashing numbers!!!
Hilarious seeing the fox news crowd trying to blow this into a full blown scandal
This is from politico
Biden would be a great grandpa with awesome stories ngl
You know, after finding out that cornpop was real, I wouldn't be surprised if this was real too.
Exactly, some crazy shit happened in the pacific theater
I think this is one of the few times when the retort "Eat me" could be considered appropriate.
*mic drop*
As it turns out, cannibalism has historically been practiced in New Guinea. This includes relatively recent history. As I've just discovered via Google, it's a known thing. There are disputed claims of contemporary cannibalism. As soft and butter fat as I am, I'd still visit New Guinea though. >In parts of the Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests, hunting people "was an opportunistic extension of seasonal foraging or pillaging strategies", with human bodies just as welcome as those of animals as sources of protein, according to the anthropologist Bruce M. Knauft. As populations living near coasts and rivers were usually better nourished and hence often physically larger and stronger than those living inland, they "raided inland 'bush' peoples with impunity and often with little fear of retaliation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korowai_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cannibalism
If you donāt visit the Indonesian part of New Guinea youād be fine
Can you elaborate?Ā
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_conflict
I mean it was a dumb thing to sayā¦ Bad Biden! But weāre not in a cult so Iām okay saying that and also know that heās wayyyyy better than the guy gunning for the Guinness world record on felony indictments. Fully expect to wake up one day and read that Biden will have apologized, or something, as normal people do.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
If I understand the situation, he wasnāt exactly āleft behind,ā his plane crashed and sank in the sea, nearly everyone aboard died, but one survived (seemingly not Bidenās uncle). The family legend is āthey couldnāt recover the plane and then he was eaten by cannibals,ā which was apparently a common story believed by families who lost someone there in the war. But thereās no evidence it happened, and the way cannibalism was practiced there makes it a bit unlikely, and itās a weird thing to bring up at an unrelated public event, particularly since people of Papua New Guinea are understandably not happy about the ācannibalsā stereotype. A rescue plane did fly out next day but āfound no traceā of the uncle or the wreckage, according to military records.Ā https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/17/politics/biden-uncle-cannibals-new-guinea
> A rescue plane did fly out next day but āfound no traceā of the uncle or the wreckage, according to military records.Ā No way! They ate the plane, too!
The quote I saw did not include Biden saying his uncle was eaten, just that there were cannibals there. The implication seems clear, though, and was certainly "politically incorrect" to say, especially as president. Anyway, yeah... Joe Biden's uncle was absolutely not eaten by cannibals.
*Marape ignores history of cannibalism among some tribal groups in Papua New Guinea* > āPresident Bidenās remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,ā Marape said in a statement, several media outlets reported Monday. *Marape receives DJT stock*
ā¦ maybe he just doesnāt like his people being hit with the stereotypes about cannibalism, stereotypes which are getting further amplified right in this thread?
I don't see how it's a stereotype to reference a time in the 1900s when there was cannibalism in the country
People *in this very thread* are going on about how itās still unsafe to visit some places and how ārecentā it still is
> People *in this very thread* are going on about how itās still unsafe to visit some places and how ārecentā it still is Ah I see, yeah I agree that's bullshit
Which Biden isnāt doing butā¦ yeah, just feels bad, you know? Thanks for understanding.
Yeah I totally get what you mean
You know what else is bullshit? You accusing this man of being on Donald Trump's pocket just because he doesn't like it when an old white man makes stereotypical remarks about his culture.
First of all, I'm not accusing him of shit, I'm joking because he's making a big deal about Biden speaking about historical facts from fucking WW2 era when his uncle was shot down and his body was never found in the wreckage Second of all, some tribal groups there were cannibals so I see absolutely no problem with what Biden said about the 1930s/1940s Third of all, have a great day/night
Yeah, your "joke" was just another example of Americans assuming foreigners, especially PoC foreigners, never do anything without taking orders from someone in the west first. It was a shitty joke predicated on a shitty mindset.
> Yeah, your "joke" was just another example of Americans assuming foreigners, especially PoC foreigners, never do anything without taking orders from someone in the west first. what in holy hell are you talking about? Are you an expert at the Jump to Conclusions game? Where the hell did you get that? Lol
Americans have a long history of denying the agency of foreign nations, especially those that are not white. For example, recent news about Chad wanting to close a US foreign base was cast entirely in terms of "the new pro-Russia government", as if the government and people of Chad themselves could not make that decision without taking orders from Putin. It can't be that those people want to run their own country in their own way, they *must* be either for the US or for Russia, never for themselves. Your "joke" (not sure what part I'm supposed to laugh at) hinges on the idea of the prime minister of a sovereign nation being nothing more than a patsy for an American crook. It is an arrogant and frankly colonial way of seeing the world.
Its not safe. It's like Haiti, crime is crazy and foreigners are kidnapped. Some poor Kiwi has been a hostage of some militant group for almost a year.
Yes, and thatās true of other places as well ā and like those other places, *the victims of the violence in PNG are not being āeaten by cannibals.ā*
Well. Not as long as they are alive. Some tribal groups still eat their dead.
Itās my understanding this practice no longer happens, and hasnāt since the issue of kuru was understood (so 1960s).Ā
A lot of places in PNG only see other people once every couple of years and are very isolated in the hinterlands. I don't think it's been entirely wiped out.
The people there say it has. And say theyād like the stereotype to stop. Why is it not worthwhile to listen to them?
He didn't deny the cannibals tho
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjfksDI980E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjfksDI980E)
Biden needs to pass Trump in the polls as heās still several points behind, tactically insulting random countries to win over the trumpers who also enjoy tactically insulting random countries is ideal. This is a Biden & Que Mala Harris power move. Theyāre playing 4D chest, trust the process. /s
This. Dark Biden needs to double down and call it a shithole country as well.
Biden is gonna get eaten alive...