The story is reported in a german tabloid
as being about cannibalism when there is fuck all evidence of it. that strikes me as pretty much outrageous stereotyping of the behaviour of polynesians by the german press, no?
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:24, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

It's reported like that
because that's what the girlfriend is saying she was told; not because it was in the Polynesia.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:27, Reply)

Oh come on, do you really believe that?
The giveaway is how it is written. In the Telegraph "attack by cannibals has not been ruled out" (fair enough, a bit over-exaggerated but not too bad)

In Bild and the Mail (directly quoted here) "'It is the suspicion of the authorities that the hunter carved his victim up, ate parts of the body and burned the remainder along with animals cadavers.
He is regarded as a cannibal." ... but conveniently without any evidence or actual quotes from local authorities. That's not journalism, that's xenophobic scaremongering. Oh, and the article title is "Stefan Ramin eaten by cannibals?" Which is hardly a reasonable representation of any facts at all.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:33, Reply)

No, I agree with you
That way of "reporting" by the Mail and Bild is just plain dirty and wrong; but I don't think they're trying to be xenophobic there (for a change); just that blood and scare sell more papers than data.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:36, Reply)

that's certainly part of it.
but neither paper has missed a chance to hammer home repeatedly that "Polynesia has a history of cannibalism yada yada yada all fucking savages" .. if they were genuinely not using it as an opportunity for a dig at different cultures, that bit wouldn't be necessary.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:38, Reply)

Oh, well
I think it's just because it happened there; they say (at least in the Spanish version) that the people in the island are shocked and can't understand this has happened.

Now, in the story about the Chinesse girl, they do talk about how bad China is doing, how materialist they are, how comunism has killed people's souls... I find that a lot more xenophobic.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:42, Reply)

I think that's difference between how Elmundo and the Telegraph reported it
and how Bild and the Mail reported it, which was my point. But, meh, maybe years of exposure to shitty tabloids and their special brand of xenophobia has made me overly sensitive to that kind of thing.

that's interesting in the China one, though, nothing like that has been mentioned in the british stories I've seen, except in direct quotes from chinese people themselves.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:45, Reply)

Well
As I said, I haven't read the Mail, so you're probably right and they're pointing at foreigners as the bad of everything; they wouldn't miss an opportunity like that.

In the China one, yes, most of the criticism comes from the Chinesse themselves, but I bet it wasn't all of them who think like that. I'd like to know how many of the comments were about the bads of the comunism or materialism; and if they were just a small percentage, why are those the only reported on the paper?
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:49, Reply)

As I was discussing with some friends
Similar things happen in Europe too. Not everywhere and not all the time, but you find unsensitive people everywhere (me falling off my bike quite badly and two guys pointing at me and laughing instead of helping). I don't want to believe that the whole of China is rotten; but that most people are scared of helping as they could end up in trouble.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 18 Oct 2011, 10:52, Reply)