'Israeli melons have AIDS'

[oberliner]

Text message spreading through Saudi Arabia claiming melons entering the kingdom from Israel are infected with AIDS causes frenzy. Officials deny rumors

"Beware of Israeli melons infected with AIDS arriving in Saudi Arabia!" is the latest rumor being spread throughout Saudi Arabia like a wildfire.

An SMS message being sent around the country this week said, "The Saudi Interior Ministry warns its citizens of a truck loaded with AIDS infected melons that Israel brought into the country via a 'ground corridor.'"

The Interior Minister's spokesman General Mansour al Turki responded to news of the message and made it clear to a-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that the Ministry "did not issue any such announcement. This is just a rumor."

This is not the first rumor to spread through the country recently. Just last month another rumor had it that sweets containing carcinogenic flour were being sold in many stores.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387545,00.html

[Jim Sagle]

1. Not only that, they'll suck your blood and steal your wallet.

;)

[Andromeda]

9. ...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zambero]

3. Calling Rep. Dan Burton!

The foremost melon-killer in Congress should be dispatched to the Middle East like pronto! And make sure the man is heavily armed. Burton is the only hope we have to ERADICATE these DEADLY melons before they turn on US! By killing melons in the last century, Burton proved conclusively that Hillary killed Vince Foster. And now that we're in a brand new century (sort of), Dan can once again service his fellow man by blowing away these wicked fruits, and possibly revisit the Vince Foster saga once again while he's at it.

SICK 'EM DANNO!!!!

[DCKit]

4. It's sad what you can pull on an illiterate public. n/t

[pelsar]

5. what makes it worse...

is that they are not illiterate

[DCKit]

10. I disagree, or I wouldn't have made the statement.

One of the basic rules of fundamentalism is that only the elite are educated.

The Madrassas (sp?) aren't teaching the READING of the Koran, they are teaching the MEMORIZATION of the Koran. That way, interpretation can be left to responsible clerics like Mucktater al Satyr.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Disagree if you want, but it doesn't make it so.

Adult literacy rate, 2000-2004*, male
87

Adult literacy rate, 2000-2004*, female
69

UNICEF

This is not a highly illiterate population.

[Shaktimaan]

13. Teaching basic literacy

is not the same as teaching critical thinking. I think they might be well educated though. I'm gonna have to go with UNICEF on this one. Here's what wiki has to say on the subject.

At the time the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932, education was not accessible to everyone and limited to individualized instruction at religious schools in mosques in urban areas. These schools taught Islamic law and basic literacy skills. By the end of the century, Saudi Arabia had a nationwide educational system providing free training from preschool through university to all citizens. The modern Saudi educational system provides quality instruction in diverse fields of modern and traditional arts and sciences. This diversity helps meet the Kingdom's growing need for highly-educated citizens to build on its rapid progress.
Formal primary education began in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s. By 1945, King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud, the country's founder, had initiated an extensive program to establish schools in the Kingdom. Six years later, in 1951, the country had 226 schools with 29,887 students. In 1954, the Ministry of Education was established, headed by then Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz as the first Minister of Education. The first university, now known as King Saud University, was founded in Riyadh in 1957.
Today, Saudi Arabia's nationwide public educational system comprises eight universities, more than 24,000 schools, and a large number of colleges and other educational and training institutions. Open to every citizen, the system provides students with free education, books and health services. Over 25 percent of the annual State budget is for education including vocational training. The Kingdom has also worked on scholarship programs to send students overseas, mainly to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and other nations. Over the past couple of years, thousands of students have been sent to higher-educations programs each year.

[DCKit]

14. If that is the case, why should the House of Saud have anything to worry about?

I'll agree with the distinction between literacy and critical thinking (thank you), but my impression is that the general mood is that of a powder keg.

I have also heard that the House of Saud are not even Arabs with one CT going so far as to say they are actually JEWS. Bwahahahahahaha.

Regardless, Bin Laden wants them out, many of their people want them out and some of their poorer neighbors want them out. Same old story. We're just hanging out for the oil, as usual.

[pelsar]

15. you forgot "group think"

having literacy...and having critical thinking skills dont always add up to being able to discern farce from truth......groupthink and or religion are powerful tools for limiting critical thinking skills.

[bemildred]

6. That makes me think of this story somehow:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-pumpkin-sex.htm

[pelsar]

7. I wont ask...

how you "got there".....

but the ending was great:

Taylor went on to describe what happened when she approached Lawrence. "I just went up and said, 'Excuse me sir, but do you realize that you are screwing a pumpkin?' He got real surprised, as you'd expect, and then looked me straight in the face and said, "A pumpkin? Damn...is it midnight already?"

[bemildred]

8. I just don't see how you can get AIDS from a melon without, you know ...

"Exchanging bodily fluids" with it.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. This is stupid on so many levels.

First, one cannot infect melons with "AIDS." AIDS is the result of HIV infection, and a host of other conditions. Second, even if the title were correct to read the melons were infected with HIV, the virus is extremely fragile outside of the body (or fluids). Contact with the citric acid alone would kill the virus on contact. Third, this is nothing more than the ancient anti-Semitic canard of "Jews poisioning the wells." This whole thing is disgusting!