Let the trap-bashing start!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9116360

Topless virgins vie for Swaziland’s king
Critics rip ceremony as inappropriate for a country afflicted by HIV/AIDS

Quote :

"LUDZIDZINI ROYAL VILLAGE, Swaziland - More than 50,000 bare-breasted virgins vied to become the King of Swaziland’s 13th wife on Monday in a ceremony which critics say ill befits a country with the world’s highest HIV/AIDS rate. King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, arrived dressed in a leopard-skin loincloth to watch the Reed Dance ceremony, which he has used since 1999 to pluck new brides from the girls dressed in little more than beaded mini-skirts. Wielding machetes and singing tributes to the king and queen mother, also known as the Great She-Elephant, the girls danced around the royal stadium in the hope of catching the eye of the 37-year-old monarch. “I want to live a nice life, have money, be rich, have a BMW and cellphone,” said one dancer, 16-year-old Zodwa Mamba, who wore a traditional brightly colored tasseled scarf. Critics say Mswati, who has courted controversy for his lavish lifestyle while two thirds of his subjects live in abject poverty, sets a bad example by encouraging polygamy and teenage sex in a country where 40 percent of adults live with HIV. Some say the Reed Dance, traditionally meant to celebrate womanhood and virginity, has become little more than a showcase for the king’s young would-be brides. “The Reed Dance has been abused for one man’s personal satisfaction,” Mario Masuku, leader of the banned opposition party, told Reuters. “The king has a passion for young women and opulence.” But many Swazis say the young monarch has a right to do as he pleases, defending his penchant for young brides as Swazi tradition and arguing that ceremonies like the Reed Dance, which this year drew a record 50,000 maidens, cement national identity. “The king takes a wife whenever he wants and that’s the way it is. This is our culture and we will never change,” said Tsandzile Ndluva, 21, another dancer. Ticket to wealth Many maidens, who come from villages across the country, dream of joining the king’s wives who each have their own palace and BMW car. But others were scared catching the royal eye could curtail their freedom and force them into a polygamous marriage. “Marriage is about love, not money,” said trainee police officer Patience Dlamini, who jazzed up her traditional outfit with a fake diamond necklace. “This thing of many wives is not good, how does he satisfy them all?” The king has also drawn censure from rights groups and the international community for entrenching a ban on political parties in the nation of 1 million people squashed between South Africa and Mozambique. But despite criticism of Mswati abroad, Masuku’s outlawed People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has failed to muster much support at home, partly because many ordinary people back the king and ceremonies like the Reed Dance as symbols of national identity. Monday’s ceremony was the culmination of a week of preparations, which included the lifting of a royal ban on sex with virgins, decreed in 2001 to help rein in HIV. Days after reviving the ancient ban, Mswati in 2001, married a virgin and fined himself one cow. Last week he lifted the five-year ban a year early, ordering thousands of maidens to throw off chastity scarves worn to ward of preying men. “What the king did by taking another wife was not good, because he was meant to keep virginity,” said 20-year-old Zanele Dlamini, a health worker who chose not to join in the dance. “He is not a good leader because multiple wives can spread HIV.” Palace officials said that if the king did select a new wife at Monday’s dance, the announcement would not be made immediately."

8/30/2005 9:15:01 PM

[old]

8/30/2005 9:25:11 PM

I saw a porn called the luckiest man on earth where a guy banged like 100 girls. But this african king rules!!! No pun intended.

8/30/2005 9:26:16 PM

9/4/2005 10:51:59 AM

well i'm glad to see that you hate africans as much as you hate americans

9/4/2005 10:59:42 AM

on thing that can be said about trap

he hates nerrbody that does bad stuff

9/4/2005 11:05:48 AM

Quote :

"This thing of many wives is not good, how does he satisfy them all?"

I'm sure he cares.

9/4/2005 11:08:25 AM

^^^^Coming to America...gg

9/4/2005 11:30:40 AM

yeah i thought of coming to america when i read this

9/4/2005 1:03:50 PM

One of my best friends lived in Swaziland for 15 years because his parents were missionaries. They left because his sister was coming "of age" for the annual dance.

Quite a scary place, Swaziland.

9/4/2005 1:34:59 PM

Yeah, this is clearly the worst thing in the world.

9/4/2005 1:48:04 PM

^ The sad state of Africa is not one of the wrost things in the world???

This shameful ceremony gives a good picture of the problems that Africa and Africans are swamped with.

Corruption, barbarism, immorality, AIDS, disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, civil wars, lawlessness, etc, etc, etc.

You can claim as much as you would like that it is all the white man's fault, but who is it perpetuating the vicious cycle now pretty much all over the continent?

^^ Do the King's people make all unmarried girls come out and take part in the dance?

[Edited on September 4, 2005 at 4:51 PM. Reason : ]

9/4/2005 4:47:09 PM

In Swaziland it's probably not a big deal for women to go topless.

Not to say the whole thing is okay, but for women to dance without shirts probably isn't quite so shocking there

9/4/2005 5:57:58 PM

Quote :

" This shameful ceremony gives a good picture of the problems that Africa and Africans are swamped with. "

This kind of thing happens in the US all the time. It's called "spring break" except no one is becoming royalty. American girls are slutty for themselves, where as at least these Africans have a chance to become a queen.

Also, if these were white chicks from So Cal, you would be first in line to get a glimpse (I wouldn't blame you...), but it still doesn't make you less of a hypocrite.

9/4/2005 6:42:13 PM

Wait wait, over spring break girls get together by the hundreds to marry and remain faithful to one man!?!?

Our outrage isn't that women are having sex with someone they don't know. Our complaint is over all those men going without when this guy has lots.

9/4/2005 10:32:29 PM

^ Did you miss the part where I said "except without becoming royalty"? That includes the thing about marriage. Otherwise, if Girls Gone Wild has taught me anything, there are lots of half-naked girls running around during spring break in some places.

9/5/2005 1:46:05 AM

Would this be the African equivalent of the Mormons?

9/5/2005 10:22:05 PM

A good friend of mine is serving with the PeaceCore in Swaziland right now. She sent us an e-mail a couple weeks ago telling us about this ceremony.

9/6/2005 12:19:41 AM

You know, with all the sexual slavery in the world, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, I can't see why anybody gives a shit about some girl being made a princess for the occasional use of her cooter.

9/6/2005 11:40:25 AM

moron wins.

9/6/2005 12:00:56 PM

is PeaceCore a competitor of the Peace Corps?

9/6/2005 1:10:54 PM

this thread is no good without pictures

9/6/2005 1:28:01 PM

9/6/2005 1:41:04 PM

Cultural Relativism. Learn It. Live It. Love It.

9/6/2005 2:23:22 PM

PeaceCore is hippie pr0n

9/6/2005 2:24:11 PM

^^ I wonder if that's what you would say to women being forced to wear burkas in some countries

Funny how it is ok, even fashionable to criticize some groups of people, but politically incorrect to criticize others,

9/6/2005 5:42:02 PM

remember when Shaka Zulu used to come on TBS

tits errwhere

9/6/2005 6:04:02 PM

im waiting for the post where he says its America's fault and that we should all die

9/7/2005 1:32:35 PM