Meanwhile, in other twenty-first century news,
A family in Bangladesh has been arrested after using a fake penis to trick villagers into believing a genie had performed a sex change on their teenage daughter. “The girl and her parents have set up a profitable business promising to heal people with a genie,” Monzur Murshed, the local police chief, said. As news spread that the girl had not only been transformed but undergone a mystical circumcision, villagers flocked to seek the genie’s intervention with their own medical woes.
Via sk60.
And that's different from promising unlimited, state of the art health care while reducing costs by $2,500 per year, per family precisely how? I'd rather take my chances with a genie.
Posted by: R. Sherman | February 08, 2017 at 11:48
I'm just relieved it was a fake penis.
Posted by: Joan | February 08, 2017 at 11:54
"A doctor examined the teenager and discovered a fake penis tied to her waist,"
The diagnosis of "string" should always be left only to trained professionals.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 08, 2017 at 14:32
It’s surprisingly easy to forget that, in parts of the world, the distant primitive past still exists.
Posted by: David | February 08, 2017 at 14:34
You can provide a dildo to a poor Bangladeshi child for just pennies a day, or you can turn the page.
Posted by: R. Sherman | February 08, 2017 at 14:58
It’s surprisingly easy to forget that, in parts of the world, the distant primitive past still exists.
True, but we're talking about Bangladesh, not places like Portland, Seattle, or Luton.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 08, 2017 at 15:59
or Luton.
Never been there so I can’t vouch.
Posted by: David | February 08, 2017 at 16:06
The modern Western Left relies heavily on magical thinking; so such behaviour is by no means always distant, though it's certainly primitive.
Posted by: Theophrastus | February 08, 2017 at 16:07
I assume (since the family were purporting to make use of said genie), that the genie was not meant to be a western-style wish-twisting "Literal genie" - though malign interpretation of "I'd really like a bit of dick" almost makes more sense. "Oh, I'm fine just the way I am, but I'd like a penis, please." Was Freud actually onto something?
Posted by: Sporkatus | February 08, 2017 at 16:26
And that's different from promising unlimited, state of the art health care while reducing costs by $2,500 per year, per family precisely how?
One is accomplished by lying with a fake dick, the other is accomplished with lying by a real dick.
Posted by: Criticas | February 08, 2017 at 16:39
Ba-dum tisshh.
Posted by: David | February 08, 2017 at 16:47
In other, other news.
Posted by: Anna | February 08, 2017 at 17:45
In other, other news.
I hear there’s a lot of that in Luton.
Posted by: David | February 08, 2017 at 17:50
I hear there’s a lot of that in Luton.
I understand they are not too keen on pigs in Luton these days. On the other hand, in Portland, the savages engage in probably NSFW primitive behavior.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | February 08, 2017 at 18:24
Was Freud actually onto something?
In addition to primitive, magical thinking, we're also talking about a part of the world where female children are considered expendable and less desirable than male children. The genie healed their daughter of the "disease" of being female.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | February 08, 2017 at 18:58
Nothing to do with Islam, of course
Posted by: ACTOldFart | February 08, 2017 at 21:00
It's not exclusively due to Islam. The devaluation of female children is common to any largely agrarian subsistence society. It happens in India and China as well (thanks to the one child policy).
Posted by: Daniel Ream | February 09, 2017 at 00:12
Clarke's Third Law usually proves true in backwards countries: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a fake penis."
Posted by: bobby b | February 09, 2017 at 08:36
I'm given to understand that in a muscle powered agricultural society females use as many resources as a male but are able to produce noticeably less. If so then their relative value has a basis in fact.
Posted by: fnord | February 09, 2017 at 08:45
Congratulations, David, and thank you!
Donation to follow.
Posted by: Theophrastus | February 09, 2017 at 13:20
Sorry, wrong thread...
Posted by: Theophrastus | February 09, 2017 at 13:22
a part of the world where female children are considered expendable and less desirable than male children
I'm quite aware, just having a light jab at the sense of the actual usefulness of what was supposedly produced (arguably, the same mere daughter but-now-with-penis rather than a "proper" son). Makes for a comic "what every woman wishes for is a-penis-and-just-a-penis" surreality, hence Freud.
Posted by: Sporkatus | February 09, 2017 at 17:28
And speaking of medical woes... http://bit.ly/2k7stXt Euww! As I believe they say in America.
Posted by: Lionel Ebb | February 09, 2017 at 21:25
Just a penis, sans the accessories? Am I allowed to say "tip off?"
Posted by: Hopp Singg | February 09, 2017 at 22:41
Well Hopp Singg, they did mention circumcision...
Posted by: Ccs | February 09, 2017 at 23:48
Daniel Ream: It's not exclusively due to Islam. The devaluation of female children is common to any largely agrarian subsistence society. It happens in India and China as well (thanks to the one child policy).
Correct; the highest rates of sex-selection abortion are in non-Moslem societies, notably China and Korea, IIRC. It's also prevalent among high-caste Hindus.
Posted by: Rich Rostrom | February 11, 2017 at 04:34