To all you “White men created HIV to destroy blacks and homosexuals” conspiracy theorists, may I have your attention? Eating monkeys is bad for your health:
The study of blood samples from nearly a thousand bushmeat hunters or handlers in Cameroon showed that at least six viruses had crossed from monkeys to the people who were exposed to freshly caught bushmeat. And two of these viruses have never been seen before in humansThe newly discovered human T-cell lymphotropic virus 3 (HTLV-3) and HTLV-4 are closely related to the known viruses, HTLV-1 and HTLV-2…..
“What’s increasingly clear is that the hunting and butchering of non-human primates is associated with the transmission of retroviruses to humans,” says Nathan Wolfe, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, US, who led the study.
He says the new results suggest the team’s previous find of simian foamy viruses in bushmeat hunters was “not just a fluke”. In the blood-screening study, 13 out of 930 people were found to be infected with simian retroviruses, and two with the new human strains. (Source)
The post title is a line from a song. Can you name the song and/or band?
Update: The great Walter Williams is guest hosting the Rush Limbaugh show today.
{ 56 comments }
Now there you go, La Shawn, ruining a perfectly good conspiracy theory. Next you’ll be trying to tell us that George Bush doesn’t have a secret oil pipeline running from Iraq to Crawford, Texas.
ROFL (at the conspiracy theory comment)
If I had a million dollars (Goo Goo Dolls)
Let this be a lesson to you…we may look succulent and mouth-watering…but we’re dangerous…oh yeah, baby…dangerous.
It is from the song If I had a Million Dollars by the Bare Naked Ladies
I was sure no one would guess that.
Danged Google Search
Thanks Orange
I must be way out on the fringe, what movie and what song ?
I prefer Venison to monkey any day.
Mark
La Shawn… I love that band and that song. It started playing in my head as I read the title. Thanks for the unexpected smile… I now need to go get that CD out of the closet.
That makes a lot of sense but my question has always been how did the virus get into the population of gay white men (which is where it was initially detected in the late 70s, early 80s) which in turn led to the infection of drug users and then deeper into the hetersexual populations?
Love the BNL reference! “If I had a million dollars…I’d be rich!” Now I’m gonna have to cue up the MP3…
With regard to Tiffany’s question, I had heard one possible theory that a group of people responsible for spreading the virus might have been Haitians who went to Africa as economic advisors, etc., to the newly-independent African nations, and brought it back to the Western Hemisphere with them. It is true that there was a big outbreak of HIV among Haitians in those early years. But I suspect this can’t have been the only vector, even if it is true.
Pretty irresponsible your promoting racist thories of that sort.
Bushman have been surving on whatever they eat for hundred of thousands of years without getting HIV, — what’s your theory on why they’re suddenly getting it now — they put monkey meat on their pizza?
And then, of course, there are the countless cannibal cultures that once were to be found in abundance (humans are primates too). And what about oral sex?
Please, no more blacks eat monkeys, that’s why we have higher rates of HIV. If you’re going to present yourself to the world as a pundit, be a responsible one — don’t promote racist junk science. We get enough of that from the skinheads which I would be only too pleased to debate you or anyone else at the Black Bloggers Forum:
http://blacklogs.com
And, yes, it’s junk science.
ric landers
Ric, I think I’ve had just about enough of you. I don’t know who you’re supposed to be, but in your own mind, you’re obviously someone whose opinion means a great deal.
Your real problem is with the conclusions of the scientists/researchers in the article, not with me. I suggest you e-mail them with your concerns, OK?
This is MY blog, and I can write, quote and link to WHATEVER I want, you got that? If you don’t like it, DON’T READ IT, and by all means, DELINK my blog from your site. Don’t EVER come on to this blog again and tell me what to do.
Evolution in action. Chimpanzees are our close cousins, so eating their meat is not much different than eating other human beings in a biological sense: most illnesses pass easily from one species to the other. This isn’t a racial issue at all; “mad cow” disease, scrapie in sheep, and CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or Kuru) in human beings are all closely related brain diseases which are passed from organism to organism by ingesting infected tissue.
If we fear giving offense to people by insulting “cultural traditions” which are clearly causing health problems, is that in any way a moral stance? We in the West abhor incest not just because it a morally ugly thing, but also because it almost inevitably leads to genetic defects in the children of such unions. We can morally abhor unsafe sexual practices (even if practiced between consenting adults) because they transmit STDs and cause secondary health problems.
If there is a clear link between the transmission of viruses between primates when they ingest each other’s tissue (and there clearly is) then some way must be found to prohibit this practice. Eating the meat of a chimpanzee is only a tiny step removed from cannibalism, and some way must be found to drive that fact home.
My goodness. Do people still believe that. More funding is needed for High School Science classes.
Monika Brooks
Oakland,CA
More funding is need for READING classes Monika
Monika, were you objecting to my post or agreeing with it? If objecting, what part were you objecting to?
The line “haven’t you always wanted a monkey?” is from one of my all time favorite songs “If I had a millino dollars” by Barenaked Ladies.
The theory that eating monkeys might have been the link for the virus to be transmitted to humans seems plausible. What is totally implausible is the idea that this theory is somehow racist. We might as well deny the theory that the Bubonic Plague came from Asia, lest we be accused of an anti-Oriental racist agenda.
I want to add to what RedBeard said. The monkey theory isn’t new; it’s just politically incorrect because of the “Africa” connotation, and it’s not talked about in “polite” circles.
I’m old enough to remember when things like diseases and anything of a sexual nature weren’t discussed in “polite” circles at all. Now we have to pretend that I face the same AIDS threat as homosexuals or monkey-eating Africans.
How impolite is that?!
La Shawn:
It’s even worse than you think. The practice of hunting “bush meat” is restricted to a fairly small cross-section of African tribes, but once a virus has crossed the species barrier into humans, then the cultural practices of human beings come into play: not just sexual behavior, but also things like the handling of corpses for funerals, childbirth, and rituals involving tattooing and scarring.
Anything that can facilitate the transmission of the virus from person to person is suspect, but unfortunately many of these practices are “culturally sensitive” and thus prohibited from discussion in polite company.
When millions of people are dying in Africa because of their cultural traditions then “talk in polite company” needs to go out the window. Cultural traditions aren’t bad, just different to the Western world but if those traditions are killing an entire continent, then I am in favor of a re-education process which typically starts in re-ducating the elders of a tribe and hoping that it will trickle down.
So the cultural tradition of mutilating the sex organs of young girls isn’t bad, Tiffany, just different?
LB,
Are you being persnickety…LOL!! I understand where you are coming from..And yes I do think genital mutilation is horrible. But the point of my statement was that there are cultural traditions that one group might think is horrible (like genital circumsion etc) that are perfectly normal/acceptable to that group. However, I was really referring back to the tradition of eating bushmeat which goes back to the subject of your post.
You know, somehow I don’t think the mutilation of their bodies is acceptable to the girls. Then again, it’s a different cultural tradition, so what do I know?
LOL- you know, the second I heard Walter Williams voice, I thought of you, La Shawn, and knew you’d be happy. Man, i need to get a life…
I’m sure it’s not acceptable to the girls either which is why there are efforts to encourage the tribes that practice that cultural tradition to stop doing it. I didn’t say it was right, I’m just ackowledging that it does happen.
On a side note: LB, are you picking on me today for commenting??? I’ll stop if it’s a problem.
LaShawn, that is one of the best lines from a song ever written! I have listened to “If I Had $1000000″ more times than I can count, and I still crack up every time!
(”But not a real green dress. That’s cruel.” Classic stuff!!!)
Tiffany and La Shawn:
The technical term for the issue at hand is cultural relativism (http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/culturalrelativism.html). It is a cornerstone of Leftist/Liberal thought, and basically says that cultures are all objectively equal. Thus, to call a given cultural practice “wrong” or “evil” is a subjective (and therefore improper) thing.
I hasten to add that this is not an entirely wrongheaded notion. La Shawn can probably herself attest that many white people simply assumed that black people were inferior as a culture, and therefore felt free to pass moral judgements on their (perceived) behavior. But this is the human condition, alas: in-group and out-group moralizing has been a feature of human cultures since human culture has existed. (There is some evidence that non-human primates even practice this behavior!)
The problem lies in changing behavior, and unfortunately this can often only be accomplished by stigmatizing the behavior that causes the problem. Like it or not, behavior modification has a huge moral dimension to it and requires that both parties in the debate make moral decisions. Cultural relativism in this case is simply irresponsible.
For some reason Tiffany, your comments on mutilation of women reminds me of this Denii Prager article (http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/PragerHomosexuality.shtml)
That’s Dennis Prager
Robbie – When I first heard “The Old Apartment” on the radio, I had to buy the whole CD.
Renee,
I’m not understanding how my comments led you to post that link (which I skimmed but could not read in it’s entirety since I’m at work). Are you suggesting that I support homosexuality, because that’s certainly NOT the case. Also, I stated that I reject the practice of genital mutilation but also recognize that to the culture that actually practices it, it is a normal custom.
Please clarify.
Not at all LOL
You would have to read the article to undertsand why but it deals with “RESPECT” of women
I learn something everyday. Thanks Monty for the link and commentary.
So the cultural tradition of mutilating the sex organs of young girls isn’t bad, Tiffany, just different?
How about the tradition of mutilating the sex organs of young boys? By that I mean removing the foreskin.
It’s been a long time since I’ve followed the AIDS epidemic. When it first was identified, I remember calling a newspaper reporter who had an article which contained the following contradictory facts:
1. People should not be worried about getting AIDS.
2.In 14% of cases it is unknown how the infected person acquired the disease.
That 14% looked too high to me to not be worried about getting AIDS–I was scheduled to have open heart surgery and there was no way to test for the AIDS virus in transfused blood at the time. The reporter told me that actually the 14% was way too high but if a man claimed never to have had a homosexual experience was found to have AIDS the cause would be listed as “unknown.” This would be part of the 14%, even though another man listed that same man as a sexual contact. It sounds as though investigating the transmission of AIDS became politicized early on so that trying to determine the transmission of the disease was very difficult right from the start.
DS, I don’t like the practice of circumcision for babies, although it was part of the Old Testament ceremonial law. No son of mine will ever be circumcised.
Whites didn’t need to invent AIDs. We have contributed 2 million malaria deaths a year to Africa because of our banning DDT. I agree about circumcision – I was 7 when I got it, and if I could ever run across the doctor that recommended it, I would have returned the favor.
DS/La Shawn, for some the concept of circumcison is an act of consecration to God–if you wish, being scarred for God.
In the OT, it’s kind of hard to deny that you belong to God or pretend you belong to Him vis a vis circumcison. This is strictly a religious act
OTOH, female genitalia multilation has everything to do with submission to no a higher being than menfolk. Designed to deny women their “sexual gratification”. This is yet another coup by Satan to subvert something sacred into yet another sexual perversity.
I remember back in the HS days when we used to sing “I can not come (to the banquet)” at Sunday School/Camp. Our juvenile joke was always to switch two lines from
“I have married a wife,
I have bought me a cow,”
to
“I have married a cow,
I have bought me a wife”
Sadly the real world mentality does indeed exist in at least 1/2 the world’s population where a cow is more valuable than a woman.
Ironic how some can laud science at the expense of faith in God, yet dismiss as junk science, any objective scientific research that tends to indicate that certain PC tenents are founded on shifting sands. Sorta like global warming=global cooling, (uh, never mind) any climate change is eviiil.
http://www.sfbr.org/pages/news_release_detail.php?id=47
a July 2002 report which discusses research on green monkeys that explains why they appear not to be affected, simply because their immune system “ignores” the virus, hence nothing for the SIV to attack until the monkey is sick from other causes.
IIRC, where the SIV made the jump to white gays was attributed to a flame who like to travel and sample exotic fares (raw monkey brain?) back in the late 70s.
As for how it may have circled back to wreak havoc in Africa and other 3rd World countries has been attributed to mutations in the virus and sex tourism. Blame UN peacekeepers and NGOs going back to the Ethopian famine in the mid 80s?
We could just blame the Anthropologist
Brilliant post, La Shawn. The reaction in the comments section just goes to show us more and more how “racist” is increasingly defined as “something that people don’t want to hear” rather than “something that genuinely perpetuates racial stereotypes.”
At the risk of running off on a tangent, though, I don’t quite see the connection to circumcision. I had been under the impression that circumcision was healthy and more sanitary for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, it’s utterly incomparable to “genital mutilation” because it in no way affects the normal function of the genitals. The objective of primitive female-genital mutilation is to enforce sexual norms, because this manipulation often leaves the girls unable to take pleasure in the act, but the objective of circumcision is sanitary in nature. And, repeating because I feel it bears repeating, circumcision does not impair the normal function of the sex organs (at least not that I’m aware of; if I’m simply misinformed then please edumacate me), whereas female genital mutilation does.
Hopefully this wasn’t too explicit, especially for being (somewhat) unrelated to the post at hand. I’m just curious why there’s such vitriol against circumcision and how it ends up being compared to more violent genital mutilation.
La Shawn, Jesus was circumcised.
As am I — but not my two sons (Catholic, in Europe). At the US Naval Academy I knew a guy who, for health reasons, needed to become circumsized as an adult. Painful. He was not pleased.
I’m certain there are “mistakes” by those doing the cutting; and there are some, usually minor (more important in history), health benefits. Wives of circumsized men have fewer cancers of the cervix. Either decision has important advantages.
But genital mutilation of women is terrible. “Cultural norms” should be limited by Human Rights, and the domination of women by men is excessive in most cultures of the world.
Don’t eat monkey meat.
Those infected with HIV should be treated a bit more like drunks; with some limits on their right to drive / have sex, because it endangers innocents. Gays infected thru gay sex were infected by criminals — but the gay community doesn’t want to admit its own support for criminal irresponsible sexual behavior. Much like many drinkers haven’t wanted tough punishment on drunk drivers.
“If I had a $1000000″ — hadn’t heard it in months. Love the lines about:
MORE macaroni and cheese, with fancy catsup; yeah, dijon catsup.
Since I love dijon mustard, and not catsup.
La Shawn,
Good to see another Montie (albeit with a “y”) on the comments. I had some thoughts on what Ric Landers had to say (althought I must admit you put him in his place rather nicely). He mentions that “bushmeat has been consumed for thousands of years by certain groups in Africa. This is true, but the fact that we only recently indentified the HIV virus does not mean it has not been present in some of those groups and never identified. The huge cultural upheavals that Africa has undergone in the last half century have a lot to do with how things like HIV have gone from rare to epidemic in scope.
He also mentioned cannibalistic practices and wondered why there are no recorded instances of transmission from that. In fact there was a tribe (don’t recall if it was in Africa or another continent or island) who made a habit of ritually consuming portions of deceased relatives. This tribe was found to have a huge incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Desease, which was the result of ingesting tissue from individuals who had expired from the desease. It had become rampant in the tribe because tissue from one individual might be consumed by several relatives.
Before Ric makes comments on subjects, he should have his facts straight, although I assume you may have blocked his access to comment at this point (I hope).
Hey Montie, glad you cleared up the fact that there’s two Mont_.
You both sound so much alike, I thot you just changed the ending. The world could use more Monties.
Thanks Andy
Another point on circumcision. If performed on the 8th day (Jewish practice of child circumcision), the healing is quicker and supposedly the pain is less (I don’t remember that far back and even if I did, I would not have a frame of reference for comparing the pain). Certain hormones peak at that time, which provides the benefit. If performed as an adult (again a reference in Genesis), it is debilitating for a while.
The CDC would be all over any outbreak of deadly contagion, looking for the vector, quarantining the infected to prevent the spread.
Well, that is, unless it would be impolitical (unpolitical? politically incorrect) and seem to target a specific identifiable group (monkey eaters, gay men, etc).
I do wish y’all would stop talking about circumcision. I can’t even look at my pocket knife today without getting nervous.
RE: update
La Shawn, do you listen to Rush Limbaugh’s show??
If all those weird diseases don’t scare people, I fear there’s no hope for Mickey Dolenz or any of the other band members. I, for one, am going to toss out that half-eaten chunk of Michael Nesmith’s femur in my fridge.
Genital mutilation is still mutilation, whether the victim is a boy or a girl.
But that’s just it, Jeff. Female genital mutilation totally destroys the normal function of the sex organs. Male genital “mutilation” is a purely cosmetic change that has no effect whatsoever on the normal function of the genitals. There’s a world of difference, and lumping them both into the same category is wildly inaccurate.
The researcher’s are correct. In fact autopsy’s on Aids patients who have died have shown that the virus also spreads to the brain. In some parts of Africa people were eating chimp brains. The other important factor here is the fact that it only takes a few to contract HIV from eating chimp meat – the virus then started transmitting from human to human. The conspiracy theory is bunk – in the same way that epidemiology now shows a clear link with ebola and dead apes, HIV outbreaks have a direct correlation with eating chimps in Africa. Now the transmission from human to human is so widespread that the chimp issue is minor in comparison. And as for cannibals – I read some interesting scientific studies on that. The prevalence of prion disease (CJD) is higher and directly relates to eating brains also.
Just wanted to point out http://www.bushmeat.org, which has tons of information on bushmeat, including risks to health. While people have been eating wildlife meat pretty much forever, the current demand for bushmeat and frequency with which people and closely-related primates come into contact with one another provide many more opportunities for cross-species disease transmission. Thanks for a great post!
Slightly off topic, but…
Remember boys and girls, Tuesday March 15th is “International Eat an Animal for PETA Day”.
While normaly, I’d say any animal will do (tastes vary, of course) this year I would advise against monkeys.
No matter how succulent they look at the zoo.
And despite what you may think, monkey brains are better fried and chilled. Despite what you learned from Hollywood. But, you can approximate the monkey brains with nearly any other large omnivore. Ask your local butcher or deli for proper recipe substitution.
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