Spin of the Week: Uganda Child Sacrificle and Witch Doctors

[Gadi Evron <ge () linuxbox org>]

The spin of the week catch goes to Brandon K. Thorp, on the James Randi 
Educational Foundation blog in an article titled Child Sacrifice in 
Uganda, where he discusses the recent outrage in regard to claims of 
witch doctors sacrificing children in Uganda.

The post is built of three sections, claiming:
1. That by merely writing on it and repeating it in a few publications, 
it has now become truth.
2. That evidence is seriously lacking, and what facts are known are 
questioned.
3. That there are consequences to scaring people about witches, namely, 
witch hunts.

He ties it all together by discussing the bad journalistic work 
performed here, from the assumptions made by the reporters who later 
insinuate them as evidence, to why the evidence actually provided is 
unlikely to hold any water when scrutinized.

He asks to see what children had actually been murdered, as the claims 
made about numbers, even if witch doctors do ritually sacrifice 
children, are ridiculous.

A great work of skepticism, writing and argumentation! I definitely 
recommend reading it:

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/829-child-sacrifice-in-uganda.html

        Gadi
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