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2016 has fucking blown, here have a rare happy news story:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/africa/chibok-girls-nigeria-journey/

21 of the girls kidnapped from their school a couple of years ago by the Boko Haram were able to reunite with their families on Christmas.

(ok yeah there's like 200 more from that group still out there being raped etc. but shhh. Happy story!)

That is good to hear. I hope that the rest of the kidnappees will soon be reunited with their loved ones.

The overwhelming response to your thread just proves what we've known all along, which is the same thing End keeps harping. No one cares about Africa. It's a harsh truth.

If only Africa was in a galaxy far far away. People would care then. They'd care a LOT.

Like, embarrassing, cringeworthy levels of care.

"If only Africa was in a galaxy far far away..."

Choose Your Own Response:

1. Most people would be celebrating rather than caring.

2. They already tried that in a Star Trek TNG episode and the writer got fired.

3. I'm surprised Homeboys in Outer Space lasted as long as it did.

1

2) Code of Honor was doubly hilarious because absolutely nothing in the script called for them to all be black people. That was just an 'artistic decision', I guess the thought being, who else is a natural fit to play tribal woman-stealing savages?

Of course, an entire species of cringe inducing racial stereotypes from an 80s TV show still manage to be more relatable and human than a group of actual, RL woman-stealing Africans of 2016, so maybe the dude was just a visionary.

Not much discussion to be had here, honestly. It's not like there's any disagreement over whether this is a good thing.

But I never make threads. I want a popular one. :(

Somebody go find a radical Islamist to argue that the girls being rescued is a bad thing. That would be a start.

Oh yeah, this is Muslims! Don't worry, Mizal, I can help get the discussion going in your thread!

This is the fault of Islam. Islam is an evil ideology, and Muslims are either evil or fools who misunderstand the Quran.

How's that, boss?

Lots of people "Misunderstand" their religious texts. People come up with different interpretations of the texts all the time to fit their lifestyles. Nice people will spin Islam in a positive, constructive way, just like a nice Christian or a nice Buddhist, etc. Assholes will use it to justify their assholishness, just like the Westboro Baptists, Crusaders, Genghis Khan, 696 movement or whatever it was called, the Shaolin during their stint in Japan as pirate-slayers, the people in India who jump/coerce anyone who eat meat, and that one state clerk who wouldn't validate gay marriage. There've been good religious people and asshole religious people since the beginning of religiousness. Hell, sometimes they're both good and assholish, like Ghandi.

I don't think everyone mentioned there misunderstands their religion. Westboro Baptists seem to get it fairly accurate with their non-violent hatred.

The point is that religion is all about interpretations. Just because someone doesn't believe in this Ideology as it goes according to you doesn't mean they're misunderstanding it, it's because they understand it in a different way. Some Christians think Westboro got it wrong. Most people think Westboro got it wrong. Most Muslims think ISIS got it wrong. It's the same way with ISIS and Westboro thinking everyone else got it wrong.

I bet most of the girls liked it so it wasn't really rape for most of them.

Dammit Ford, show a little sympathy to them, god knows what kind of shit they went through.

It's Christmas!

Those girls were legally married to their kidnappers, and by law Muslim men can't rape their wives. (They can have sex with them against their will, but calling that 'rape' is silly. It's only rape when it's not your property.)

muslims don't follow laws

Although this is bittersweet as 21 is a small number compared to the 300 girls taken, this is a small victory. I'm glad that they're all back where they belong with their families. I hope for the safety of the remaining victims and for their release as well. My only question, which wasn't answered by the article, is why they were released?

More than the 21 have gotten free, either through escaping or being released, so it's not like it's only the 21 out of 300. Still, no idea why they've been released. You think the article would've mentioned that.

They were most likely released because of negotiations by the Nigerian government.

Whatever Nigerian officials were involved in getting them released aren't sharing a whole lot of information right now. I think the article (or maybe one of the others I read) implies it may have been either releasing Boko Haram prisoners, or bribery involved as likely possibilities, but the government denies it. (which of course means exactly jack and shit, but I guess it's still progress either way, and the girls and their families are what matter the most here)