Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his nation does not deserve to be labelled cannibals, and urged the U.S. to clear up the remnants of World War Two littered across the Pacific, after comments by President Joe Biden about his missing serviceman uncle.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/E0kBM
Papa New Guinea. The place famous for Kuru, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder caused by the consumption of human flesh?
I mean that was a tiny minoriry and it’s only “famous” for that because of the internet’s fascination with prion diseases.
Its better known for being the most linguistically multicultural places on the planet, for its biodiversity (Attenborough keeps making documentaries there about bower birds) … and in some circles, for the fact that half of it is currently an Occupied Territory being violently oppressed.
From what I’ve read, the Fore ate deceased family members as a compassionate act to help the soul pass on. Obviously this act is pretty horrifying to us, but it’s not like the ‘violent savage’ racist depictions that you see in media.
It doesn’t sound like they’d eat random foreigners. I’m guessing this whole story is something that was passed around the Biden family to give the death some extra excitement and mystery.
Apparently some Japanese troops did practice cannibalism… Dark stuff.
Yeah, you’re right. It’s a ludicrous suggestion from Biden given the contexts in which it happened.
Turns out his uncle’s plane landed in the ocean as well, so not sure, maybe he was thinking of cannibal mermaids.