http://ethicalmartini.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/baby-herbal-soup-update/
Baby herbal soup update
I’ve been watching my stats for sometime now and one of the most viewed posts
and one of the most frequent google searches that brings folk to EM is “Baby
Herbal Soup”.
My most recent update – 21 October 2009 – is here Baby herbal soup: the
Internet for sick fc*ks, this time the email hoax has been published on a
(semi)reputable news site, The Seoul Times.
My original post on this cruel and quite disgusting email hoax is currently
sitting fourth on my top posts list. I’m actually quite stunned that the hoax
is still in circulation and that someone (or someones) has gone to a lot of
trouble to perpetuate it through a variety of websites.
[EM's original Baby Herbal Soup post]
So, to set the record straight and in the interests of stopping gullible
websurfers from falling for the simple three card trick, here’s the definitive
post on why “baby herbal soup” is a hoax.
To save you the trouble, EM has re-investigated this story and prepared the
following from a list of organic ingredients. No babies were harmed in the
writing of this post.
This email hoax has a very offensive content describing a gruesome practice in
Canton, China. People there supposedly use baby fetuses as the main ingredient
of an herbal soup. Locally referred to as a sparerib soup, it is believed to
improve health and sexual performance.
>In a pseudo-reportorial manner, the email originator tells of a factory
>manager’s account of how his frequent consumption of the soup resulted in an
>enhanced sexual stamina. It also notes the prices of the dead fetuses, ranging
>from a few hundred to 4,000 U.S. dollars, with those babies who died naturally
>costing more than the aborted fetuses.
>A horrid slide show featuring how the baby is prepared, cooked and eaten
>accompanies the message. Aside from the arguable pictures it presents, there
>have been no other proofs to validate the veracity of this email message.
>Trend advises all email users to delete this email and not to propagate it
>anymore. [Trend Micro]
Trend Micro is a reputable internet security company.
I also came across a new site, not the original Handy Lanka wierdness, that
purports to show actual pictures of the soup being prepared. I strongly advise
you not to look at it, but the link is provided.CharonBoat is absolutely sick.
Do not go there. Feel free to disregard my advice, but IMHO this is a feeder
site for porn and God-knows-what.
However, my trawl there did elicit one piece of information that seems to
confirm the hoax and give some explanation of its origins.
According to a comment, the images that accompany the hoax were part of a
series by Chinese artist Zhu Yu that were meant to highlight issues around
religion and cannibalism. According to the Wikipedia entry on Zhu the hoax
emails began circulating in 2001. The entry also suggests that the images are
of a doll’s head attached to the “body” of a duck. Zhu always claimed it was a
real fetus stolen from a Chinese medical school.
In case you’re still not convinced About.com has also posted on this hoax and
says that it is a form of “blood libel” in which various ethnic groups – in
this case Cantonese – are slandered with a cannibalism tag. Who knows why some
jerks get off on this shit, but in an age of racist ignorance (ie: the world
today), such viral nastiness does find a certain fucked-up audience. This
sample of comment from CharonBoat certainly seems to confirm such an analysis.
OMG THIS IS SICK
>I KNEW THEY ATE DOGS BUT BABIES
>YUCK FOU! 2009-02-03 00:05:03
>I tell you something.
>I wish I was God and have the power to destroy China, India, Quebec and South
>Asia, the world would be much better.. 2009-02-01 00:27:20
>that looks pretty real to me and i wouldn’t put nothing past those chinese
>ppl. anything walking on four legs and now two legs if fair game. disgusting
>bastards! 2009-01-08 23:18:54
Yes, these are real comments from the website, complete with typos. This stuff
is sitting there even though, right above most of these appalling comments,
there is someone who’s pointing out the Zhu Yu link etc.
Some people are really stupid, it seems. When a documentary about Zhu Yu and
other “transgressive” Chinese artists was screened in the UK in 2003, people
complained in terribly upset tones.
A Channel 4 spokesman said that while it takes all comments and complaints
seriously, it stands by its decision to broadcast the programme.
>The artist, Zhu Yu, was quoted as saying: “No religion forbids cannibalism.
>Zhu Yu
>“Nor can I find any law which prevents us from eating people. I took advantage
>of the space between morality and the law and based my work on it.”
>Mr Yu, who is a Christian, claims religion plays a major role in his work.
>But before seeing the show, [Conservative MP] Anne Widdecombe said: “This
>programme sounds hideous.” [BBC]
OK, that’s enough. You get the point. This is a hoax. However, for the
dribblejaws I provide the following advice:
1. It is NOT TRUE that Chinese people (nor anyone else) eats babies and
makes soup from them.
2. Eating baby herbal soup does not make your dick grow, or make you
more attractive to women! [most dribblejaws are men]
3. The images purporting to be of Mexican prostitutes murdered and
dismembered by a serial killer ARE ALSO FAKES
This last piece of gratuitous advice is for those few dribblejaws sick enough
to look at any of the other material on CharonBoat with an open mind.
________________________________
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
* Baby herbal soup: the Internet for sick fc*ks
* Baby Herbal Soup
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 4:34 pm and is filed
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