# Holy fuck...they're eating the pygmies!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 25, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812 "2003-01-25T04:30:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/1 "2003-01-25T04:30:42Z")
We live in a time of great turbulance. The war on terror, Israel and Iraq dominate the headlines.
But over in Congo, [they’re eating the Pygmies.](http://www.africaonline.com/site/Articles/1,3,51639.jsp)
First, I didn’t even realise the pygmies still existed as a homogenous unit 'til this story broke
Second, I didn’t realise they really were that small but apparently, they are
Third, I don’t think they deserve to be eaten
They live a reclusive, nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They are forest dwellers who are under threat from logging anyway. I cannot believe they are being eaten. But for them to have taken the massive step of leaving the forest to appeal to the outside world makes me somehow believe them.
WAKE UP PEOPLE,
**SAVE THE PYGMIES**
Congo is a kind of forgotten war. Iraq is the sexy place to be right now. Well I don’t give a fuck about sexy, what’s happening in Congo is an affront to humanity. If ever US power and troops were needed, it’s in Congo.
---
### Author:  [@Virgowitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgowitch)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/2 "2003-01-25T04:51:47Z")
Pygmy: it’s what’s for dinner.
What am I not surprised. From the Continent that brought us raping virgins as a cure for AIDS.
---
### Author:  [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/3 "2003-01-25T05:00:28Z")
wow, I don’t know what to say. that’s fucking horrible. that’s just… wow.
---
### Author:  [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/4 "2003-01-25T12:39:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jojo \*
> **…I didn’t realise they really were that small but apparently, they are**
Actually, they’re bite-sized. For when you’re not hungry enough to eat a normal-sized human.:rolleyes:
I’ve seen these stories on the internet. I hope the cannibals get to hungry that they have to eat each other.
---
### Author:  [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/5 "2003-01-25T12:46:47Z")
Don’t be such cultural imperialists.
---
### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/6 "2003-01-25T15:09:56Z")
Well, just to clarify they OP, **they’re** not eating Pygmies, the Pygmies are being forced to eat themselves.
> [@](#):
>
> “People who have fled the advance of MLC fighters and their RCD-N allies in the Beni-Mambasa axis have reported that prisoners and hostages were being forced to eat their own ears, big toes and other body parts,” Sikulu told IRIN from Beni.
Not that that makes it any better. (but oh, the horrible joke opportunities, I have to go wash my brain out with Lifeboy…)
---
### Author:  [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/7 "2003-01-25T16:08:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Virgowitch \*
> \*\*Pygmy: it’s what’s for dinner.
>
> What am I not surprised. From the Continent that brought us raping virgins as a cure for AIDS. \*\*
You know, in another thread you made this comment, and someone was kind enough to provide you with a link explaining that this isn’t actually true.
Do you just drop these lovely gems wherever you go, and never go back to read any responses? Or do you just refuse to consider any other viewpoint but yours? Or do you just not care about what the truth is as long as you can be insulting? And what is powering your involuntary nervous system? Because I won’t believe for a moment there’s much of a brain in there beyond a fly-ridden, festering heap of urban legends and baseless assumptions.
---
### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/8 "2003-01-25T20:39:00Z")
Similar allegations of hunger-forced cannibalism have been made against North Korea, most notably by Channel 4 (UK)'s documentary series _The Children of North Korea_. Of course, this horror, the horrors in the Congo, and anything else going on the world has been trumped recently by a few empty missiles in Iraq.
---
### Author:  [@Geas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geas)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/9 "2003-01-25T21:15:14Z")
**stpauler**
> [@](#):
>
> Well, just to clarify they OP,they’re not eating Pygmies, the Pygmies are being forced to eat themselves.
Well, actually there are some reports of the rebels committing cannibalism themselves
From the **Guardian**
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/sto](http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/sto)…,871104,00.html
> [@](#):
>
> Sudi Alimasi, an official of the pro-government group Rally for Congolese Democracy-ML, said it had begun receiving reports of cannibalism from people displaced by fighting more than a week ago.
> “We hear reports of [enemy] commanders feeding on sexual organs of pygmies, apparently believing this would give them strength,” he said.
> “We also have reports of pygmies being forced to feed on the cooked remains of their colleagues.”
From the **cotsman**
[http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/intern...cfm?id=96142003](http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/intern...cfm?id=96142003)
> [@](#):
>
> FROM a hilltop in Congo’s dense north-eastern forests, Amzati Njogi watched rebels eat his mother, brother, sister and her two small children.
> …
> “I looked for a while. Then I saw that they were cooking them on the fire and adding salt,” he said. “I saw them kill and eat and share … I fled for a whole day until I got to my uncle’s house.”
From the **New York Daily News**
[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/sto...37p-46963c.html](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/sto...37p-46963c.html)
> [@](#):
>
> The two rebel factions often hire Pygmies to hunt food for them in the forests as they fight to oust the rival rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation from mineral-rich areas of Ituri province, a UN official said.
> If the expert hunters return empty-handed, rebel troops kill and eat them, the official said.
so there is at least some evidence of this.
---
### Author:  [@Geas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geas)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/10 "2003-01-25T21:22:42Z")
sorry, links don’t work
> **[Congo rebels are eating pygmies, UN says](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/09/congo.jamesastill)**
>
> UN officials are investigating allegations of cannibalism in Ituri province, where fighting between several rebel groups has displaced about 150,000 people in the past month.
[http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=96142003](http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=96142003)
[http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030122/80/dlzfy.html](http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030122/80/dlzfy.html)
---
### Author:  [@Geas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geas)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/11 "2003-01-25T21:23:47Z")
sorry, links don’t work
> **[Congo rebels are eating pygmies, UN says](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/09/congo.jamesastill)**
>
> UN officials are investigating allegations of cannibalism in Ituri province, where fighting between several rebel groups has displaced about 150,000 people in the past month.
[http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=96142003](http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=96142003)
[http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030122/80/dlzfy.html](http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030122/80/dlzfy.html)
but either way, this is pretty sick stuff.
---
### Author:  [@Geas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geas)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/12 "2003-01-25T21:28:52Z")
Damn it.
Sorry about that. There must be a way of doing this that I don’t know yet. There isn’t that much more in them, anyway. Presumably sites like [africaonline.com](http://africaonline.com) have more in depth stuff.
---
### Author:  [@Geas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geas)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-fuck-theyre-eating-the-pygmies/150812/13 "2003-01-25T21:43:25Z")
Oh, OK the new ones work, except I forgot this
> **[Breaking News, World News, US and Local News - NY Daily News - New York Daily...](https://www.nydailynews.com/)**
>
> Find breaking US news, local New York news coverage, sports, entertainment news, celebrity gossip, autos, videos and photos at nydailynews.com.
Perfectionism leading to post-padding, I guess. Sorry.
I hope that we’ve got someone truly knowledgeable about the Congo on the board. The number of experts is one of the nice things about reading here. All I really know about it is just what I’ve gleaned from reading the locals.