# The fools who attacked & looted a Liberian Ebola quarantine center. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764 "2014-08-17T17:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/41 "2014-08-18T13:13:56Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Yes, there’s a difference, but this isn’t ignorance. Ignorance would be not knowing there’s such a thing as an infectious disease. Being told that there is such a thing and dismissing it as a hoax makes you simply stupid. They haven’t your advantages of training and experience, and nothing they’ve been told is confirmed by experience. Life is tough in Liberia, from what I’ve read, and these folks have probably been lied to plenty of times. It’s a tragic and frustrating situation, but I’d cut them some slack. Especially as they’re the ones who are likely to suffer from this. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/42 "2014-08-18T13:30:16Z")
Does anyone have more details on what the “hoax” was supposed to be in aid of? Why were the hoaxers hoaxing? Without a good explanation that would justify all the efforts of those trying to contain the disease, it would seem a little stupid to believe in a conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/43 "2014-08-18T14:01:37Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Yes, there’s a difference, but this isn’t ignorance. Ignorance would be not knowing there’s such a thing as an infectious disease. Being told that there is such a thing and dismissing it as a hoax makes you simply stupid. The irony of saying this from a society in which half the population reject Evolution and Global Warming science. > [@grude](#): > > I dunno man, shots of crowds show people wearing fairly decent clothing(I don’t see people in rags or potato sacks) and a local police officer who presumably is not upper class also calls it stupid. I also am under the impression that internet cafes are common in African cities, so anyone could confirm that foreign governments like the USA and the UK are taking ebola seriously. Could you really believe that foreign superpowers are complicit in a hoax? Having the Western Colonial powers supporting the Ebola diagnosis is probably the bedrock of their belief in it being a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/44 "2014-08-18T14:03:40Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Does anyone have more details on what the “hoax” was supposed to be in aid of? Why were the hoaxers hoaxing? Without a good explanation that would justify all the efforts of those trying to contain the disease, it would seem a little stupid to believe in a conspiracy. I don’t know if these idiots believe the same thing as the previous idiots, but the last lot that were threatening to burn down a quarantine center claimed it was a cover for cannibalism. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/45 "2014-08-18T14:15:44Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > “Sick people make people sick” isn’t exactly rocket science. There’s an entire chapter of the Bible devoted to the importance of quarantine and disposing of contaminated fabrics in the case of plague. That’s the level of understanding that they are _failing_ to demonstrate here. Well if the BIBLE says it it MUST be true. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/46 "2014-08-18T14:28:32Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Well if the BIBLE says it it MUST be true. Uh, I’m as atheist as the next Doper ;), but Grumman simply meant that it doesn’t take a deep knowledge of modern medicine to understand things like this; Bronze Age-era knowledge can suffice (the cite just happened to be the Bible, but it probably could have been some cuneiform tablet or other just as well). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/47 "2014-08-18T14:29:48Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I don’t know. > > How smart are the people you hang out with? Smart enough not to joke about Ebola when a couple of their own have caught it, and caring enough not to blame the people they are trying to help for the actions of a few. Rag on me all you want for not seeing the humor in the situation, but the Peace Corps neither need nor deserve your crap right now. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/48 "2014-08-18T14:56:42Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Uh, I’m as atheist as the next Doper ;), but Grumman simply meant that it doesn’t take a deep knowledge of modern medicine to understand things like this; Bronze Age-era knowledge can suffice (the cite just happened to be the Bible, but it probably could have been some cuneiform tablet or other just as well). I know. I was clowning. That’s probably the only time anyone ever pointed to the Bible for facts on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/49 "2014-08-18T16:12:43Z")
> [@grude](#): > > With others saying there are far more developed and stable areas that are barely below first world standard. I’m guessing the truth is somewhere in between and feel like real info is whitewashed for sensationalism in both directions, and I never claimed to have visited Liberia or the continent of Africa. So all I have to go on are documentaries or blog posts like this: No, not all you have to go on, there is great amounts of data which even this thing called Google presents to you for free. [Such as the GDP per capita which can show you the Liberia and say the Portugal, one of the poorest EU nations](http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_pp_kd&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=country:PRT:SEN:LBR&ifdim=region&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false), to see that the liberian income per year is an average of US$850 compared with Portugal of US$25 000 or even Senegal of US$2 200 or [the literacy rate](http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=literacy_rate&fdim_y=age:3&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=region:SSF&idim=country:SEN:LBR:TZA&ifdim=region&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false), and you can see the grotesque laziness of writing “I’m guessing the truth is somewhere in between” and writing of ‘feeling’ . And some of the posters here sneer in their own ignorance at the frightened impoverished people who have never had any access to any schooling, are illiterate and have suffered through the two generations of grotesque civil war. [ > [@](#): > > [http://gautamganguli.com/africa/2010/11/internet-access-in-liberi](http://gautamganguli.com/africa/2010/11/internet-access-in-liberi) ]([http://gautamganguli.com/africa/2010/11/internet-access-in-liberia/](http://gautamganguli.com/africa/2010/11/internet-access-in-liberia/)) > [@](#): > > That isn’t meant to claim I’m saying internet access is cheap or easy, just that it does exist and at least some people do have access. Who said it did not exist? Merde, connard, it is something that is not of relevance to the people who do not even read and live in a district > [@CalMeacham](#): > > They haven’t your advantages of training and experience, and nothing they’ve been told is confirmed by experience. Life is tough in Liberia, from what I’ve read, and these folks have probably been lied to plenty of times. It’s a tragic and frustrating situation, but I’d cut them some slack. Especially as they’re the ones who are likely to suffer from this. This is my point. What happened was stupid, but stupidity coming from the people in deep, deep poverty subjected to gross ignorance that is not all of their fault. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Uh, I’m as atheist as the next Doper ;), but Grumman simply meant that it doesn’t take a deep knowledge of modern medicine to understand things like this; Bronze Age-era knowledge can suffice **This is false**. It was not obvious to even the western european doctors of the 19 and early 20 c that such contaminations occurred,[it was even rejected by these doctors to wash their hands until Louis Pasteur.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis#Response_by_the_medical_community) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/50 "2014-08-18T16:28:39Z")
This story of dimwittery has cast a pall on my plans for home security. I was hoping that if I put up a sign on my door reading “Ebola Quarantine Center” it would keep the Jehovah’s Witnesses away. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/51 "2014-08-18T17:01:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This story of dimwittery has cast a pall on my plans for home security. > > I was hoping that if I put up a sign on my door reading “Ebola Quarantine Center” it would keep the Jehovah’s Witnesses away. ☹ You need to put up a “Red Cross Donation Center” sign to keep them off. To keep the Liberians off you need two signs - [one saying “Men” and the other "Women](http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/feb/03/liberia-sanitation-johnson-sirleaf-toilets)". Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/52 "2014-08-18T17:13:35Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > **This is false**. It was not obvious to even the western european doctors of the 19 and early 20 c that such contaminations occurred,[it was even rejected by these doctors to wash their hands until Louis Pasteur.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis#Response_by_the_medical_community) Leviticus 15:5: 'Anyone, moreover, who touches his [diseased] bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening; Leviticus 15:11: 'Likewise, whomever the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Biblical info is easy to verify by Google as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/53 "2014-08-18T17:29:11Z")
This is not a message about the disease transmission but a message of religious impurity. It is of course not of meaning to people who are illiterate and in any case follow either traditional religion or mixes with islamic and christian beliefs. It is greatly indicative of the american mindset to add in the diseased into the text where it does not exist. The real history of sanitation already has told us that before Pasteur this is not given such meanings, even by the european medical doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/54 "2014-08-18T19:19:07Z")
That message of “religious impurity” is based on the observation that touching diseased bedding made people sick. While the direct cause was called “God’s Wrath” rather than “microorganisms”, the cause-and-effect had been observed. Similar relationships apply to many other rules, such as the bans on shellfish (highly likely to be a deadly allergen) and pork (parasites, yay). The Christian doctors were busy sitting on high horses and believing bad translations from Greek texts, themselves hipothesis rather than observations, instead of paying attention to the observations of midwifes (mere women) and unbelievers. Not so different from some of the university teachers I’ve had in the 21st century, who would for example claim that “nobody would ever want to go to space” when the class itself had three people who might have considered giving an arm (or at least a couple of fingers) to make that trip. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/55 "2014-08-18T19:41:59Z")
At the risk of being called stupid, ignorant or Western, have any countries in the area closed their borders? I heard on NPR that some neighborhoods had been quarantined. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/56 "2014-08-18T20:53:43Z")
Ignorance can be replaced with education. You can’t cure _stupid_. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/57 "2014-08-18T22:38:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At the risk of being called stupid, ignorant or Western, have any countries in the area closed their borders? > I heard on NPR that some neighborhoods had been quarantined. [On Point](http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/08/18/ebola-epidemic-sierra-leone-spread) spent their first hour today on the subject. Interesting that they said this clinic that was looted was a screening facility full of all kinds of patients, not just Ebola. The death rates are climbing because people are afraid to seek treatment for malaria where they could get Ebola. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/58 "2014-08-19T00:11:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At the risk of being called stupid, ignorant or Western, have any countries in the area closed their borders? > > I heard on NPR that some neighborhoods had been quarantined. Countries are screening new entries, as capacity permits. A full travel ban and the panic that comes with it would be economically devastating, and would lead to far more deaths than it prevents. In practical terms, the borders are impossible to seal anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/59 "2014-08-19T00:24:52Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > A full travel ban and the panic that comes with it would be economically devastating, and would lead to far more deaths than it prevents. How so, agricultural imports and exports? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764/60 "2014-08-19T00:48:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How so, agricultural imports and exports? Everything. Foreigners would leave even faster than they are, cutting of much-needed sources of hard currency. Bank runs would start, panic would take hold, and the already-unstable financial system would freefall. On the ground level, if the borders somehow could be sealed (which they can’t), millions of the poorest of the poor that rely on low-level cross border commerce would be without livelihoods. Food prices would rise and scarcity would set it. It would be a really, really bad scene that should be avoided if at all possible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fools-who-attacked-looted-a-liberian-ebola-quarantine-center/695764.md?page=4)