It takes a LOT of stupid to surprise me lately....

[lunadelcorvo]

I'd love to introduce this with something witty, but the stupid runs too deep for that. Stupid like this is just sad. And scary. I want to move to Finland, like NOW.

"Block African witchcraft curses against McCain and Palin NOW!
Jim Bramlett
Sep 28 2008 04:12PM

Dear friends:

THIS IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS.

Minutes ago I spoke with friend Dr. Norman G. Marvin, M.D. and he is so concerned at what he has learned about Barack Obama's family in Kenya that he is calling a special prayer meeting in his home to pray against the witchcraft curses attempted by them against John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Dr. Marvin sent me the below e-mail from Flo Ellers. Flo is credentialed with the International Fellowship of Ministries which is based in Washington State. She is also a member of EndTime Handmaidens and Servants of Jasper, Arkansas.

IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DO SPIRITUAL WARFARE, PLEASE PRAY TODAY AND CONTINUALLY THAT ALL SUCH CURSES BE BROKEN AND SATAN'S PLAN FOR AMERICA BE DEFEATED, IN JESUS' NAME. PRAY AND COVER MCCAIN AND PALIN WITH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO SPIRITUAL WARFARE, IT IS TIME YOU LEARN!!!"

and:

"Bree Keyton went and visited Obama's tribal people and she found out Obama is 75% Arab and his family are Muslims. Odinga is strill trying to become the President of Kenya. If he does, he will make a law forbidding all public preaching and institute Sharia Law. Bree K. said Odinga has made a pact with satan.

Bree K. also said when Obama visited his tribe in '06 and as late as Jan. '08 he went to every elder's home which has a "shrine" inside to worship the genie and asked for their blessing. She was told Obama and Odinga were both "destined" before they were born to be president/leader of their nation. They say "he is the chosen one". She said Obama's grandmother sacrificed a black and a white chicken to the "goddess of the river" so both whites and blacks will vote for Obama. All Islam loves and worships Obama. The world is mesmerized by him. Oprah's 200 million followers are out to elect Obama. Also, Dick Morris of Fox News was sent to Kenya to help Odinga run his campaign! I find that unbelievable.

The occultists are "weaving lazy 8's around McCain's mind to make him look confused and like an idiot". Bree K. said we need to break these curses off of him that are being sent from Kenya."

Source

OK, yes, these are the fringe, the nutters (obviously) and the minority (hopefully). But they are adults, citizens of this nation, members of our culture, fer fukksake! They use computers, and the internet, and they are spreading warnings about curses and sacrificed chickens and witchcraft!!!!! What's next, blaming Barack when milk goes sour, when the cat gets fleas, when it doesn't rain often enough? WTF? How? Somebody tell me how? How is any adult this colossally stupid? HOW? And why are we not locking these people up and forcing them to get psychological help?

Comments

[virginia-fell.livejournal.com]

XD

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

Don't forget about when the horses are sweating in the barn and all the knives go dull...;-)

And since when are Islam and witchcraft so intricately intertwined?

I've got to say that, while this is frightening just on the grounds of pure stupid alone, the fact that they are actually allowed to vote is even more terrifying.

This, I suppose, is the real America.

[x3non.livejournal.com]

"And since when are Islam and witchcraft so intricately intertwined?"

Never been to Kenya, eh? Very syncretic. (The same happens to Christianity there.)

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

I knew that Christianity had a tendency to get translated in some interesting ways through the filter of the indiginous African religions, but I didn't know the same thing happened to Islam.

Good to know.

Are you saying that this is more credible than it appears on its face, or just that this form of Islam is not as uncommon as it sounds here?

[x3non.livejournal.com]

While I agree that the people sending out the above email are acting extremely goofy, I am also aware that Kenyans are (generally speaking) fervently rooting for the first Kenyan-American presidential candidate, and given the culture of Kenya, it would be surprising if there were not a lot of Kenyan "curses" being cast against that candidate's opponent.

There are crazy people everywhere. An argument could easily be made that Americans are less superstitious than Kenyans.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

...don't you mean "more superstitious?"

[x3non.livejournal.com]

Kenya mob burns 15 women to death over witchcraft (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJ9t5L-mEUjMX185__GCAH7uvx3g)



No, I mean "less".

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

I know, hun, I was being sarcastic... :)

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

:)

I think that there is something in most human nature that loves a superstition....;-) And while we, as Americans, can look at these practices and some may feel uncomfortable with this level of "superstition", the fact that anyone would actually be intimidated by it and feel that it needs countering via additional supernatural means (defensive prayer) just goes to show that folks of this ilk are not so far away from the same superstitious inclination.

It's empowering to think that we can effect changes in a person's life, either for good or for ill, by hurling curses or blessings, and there are many anecdotes that seem to point to the fact that those things are not altogether ineffective--the power of the human mind is one vast, unexamined facility that we all possess. And I suppose that it would be just as easy for someone standing outside of us, and observing our everyday behavior, to make a rather dramatic story about some of our personal "superstitious" behaviors, were they not familiar with the foundations and reasons for their existence. And when I say "superstitious", I mean crazy things like stopping for a red light on a deserted street at two in the morning--pretty nutty stuff, considered logically, but something ingrained enough in us by the circumstances of our daily life that we do it unthinkingly.

I am not specifically familiar with Kenya, but my grandfather spent most of his life in Angola, and I have been to South Africa, and so I know that there are certain customs and beliefs in those countries that would seem odd to an American, but that are completely mundane to them. I can see where someone who was of an American mindset--especially one that was easily intimidated by cultural strangenesses or fundamental xenophobia--could craft a story of the kind displayed here, and credit this kind of behavior with some demonic origin when it is nothing more than human behavior.

This whole campaign, I think, has been all about superstition, and preying upon the superstitions of so-called "real Americans". It's discouraging to see the Republican party and the Christian right pulling out the sangoma's beads and rattles, invoking the magic words--"Muslim", "Un-American", "Socialist", "Communist" and, perhaps most unfortunate of all, "Black".

It seems that Americans have their own set of superstitions.

[sorshawolf.livejournal.com]

I...

need a Clue by Four made. Very very soon.