Current Event #3

Source & Full Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/barbara-wade-rose/papua-new-guinea-witchcraft-burned-stake_b_2688403.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News

Vocabulary:

Doused: (past tense of “douse”/tr. verb)= pour a liquid over, drench

(Example: She was doused in water by her prankster brother.)

Persecution: (noun)= the act of persecuting (discriminating against) on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecutor.

(Example:  You can’t turn away a genuine refugee fleeing persecution.)

Initiated: (tr.verb)= to set going by taking the first step; begin

(Example: He initiated the conversation with his crush by saying “hello”.)

Archaic: (adj.)= Of, relating to, or characteristic of a much earlier, often more primitive period

(Example: Spanking is an archaic form of discipline.)

Myopic: (adj)= lacking foresight or scope; narrow-minded/short-sighted

(Example: The management was myopic in estimating how much food would be required for the company picnic.

Fomenting: (tr. Verb)= To promote the growth of; incite

(Example: The prisoners were fomenting a riot to distract the guards so they could escape.

“Witches” Still Being Burned at the Stake

At the end of last week, a 20-year-old woman, Kepara Leniata, was doused in gasoline and burned at the stake for witchcraft in Papua New Guinea. Her persecution and murder was apparently initiated by the relatives of a six-year-old boy who had died. Obviously the death of a child is a terrible event, but even accusing Leniata of witchcraft seems archaic……………….

………….The famous case of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai is really no different than Kepara Leniata except for its happy ending. The Taliban shot her because she wanted to attend school; in their myopic eyes she was practicing the sorcery of fomenting girls' desire to learn. They used bullets rather than a stake. But she is alive today both because of modern medicine, and because she has left Pakistan and is now living in Britain. To end horrors like the burning in Papua New Guinea, Oxfam says, criminalize accusations of sorcery instead of allowing a citizenry to persecute sorcerers.