Liberal Free Chat Zone

[Gmenfan]

Biden annoys Papua New Guinea's locals with his 'cannibal' claims about them

By Monica Showalter

There he goes again.

Joe Biden, once billed as a foreign policy genius, has gone and alienated another country, upsetting the Papua New Guinea residents with his phony claim that his Uncle Bosie, who died in World War II, was eaten by cannibals on one of their islands, which he wasn't.

The mainstream media isn't saying anything, but the British press is paying attention:

According to the Daily Mail:

Outraged Papua New Guinea academics have slammed President Joe Biden for his 'unacceptable' suggestion that his uncle was eaten by cannibals in the country after his plane was shot down during World War II.

Biden implied on two occasions Wednesday that his maternal uncle 2nd Lieutenant Ambrose J. Finnegan had met a grisly end at the hands of cannibals after his plane was shot down by the enemy over New Guinea in 1944.

But the White House and official defense records confirmed that Finnegan died when the military plane he was in experienced engine failure and crashed into the Pacific Ocean, not over land.

Historically, cannibalism has been reported Papua New Guinea, the Pacific nation that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, but local academics say Biden's categorization of the act is 'very offensive'.

According to The Guardian:


“The Melanesian group of people, who Papua New Guinea is part of, are a very proud people,” said Michael Kabuni, a lecturer in political science at the University of Papua New Guinea. “And they would find this kind of categorisation very offensive. Not because someone says ‘oh there used to be cannibalism in PNG’ – yes, we know that, that’s a fact.

“But taking it out of context, and implying that your [uncle] jumps out of the plane and somehow we think it’s a good meal is unacceptable.”

Cannibalism was practised by some communities in the past in specific contexts, said Kabuni, such as eating a deceased relative out of respect, to prevent their body from decomposing. “There was context. They wouldn’t just eat any white men that fell from the sky,” said Kabuni.

Something like this matters because Papua New Guinea is a nation the U.S. has been trying very hard to strengthen bonds with, given China's expansion into the Pacific. The Los Negros section of Manus island off the coast of New Guinea, where 2nd Lt. Finnegan's plane went down based on engine trouble, is viewed today as a linchpin linking our Australia and New Zealand allies to what strategists call "sea lines of communication" up and down the Pacific, according to this research paper from the U.S. Naval Institute. And with China making advances in the region, in Papua New Guinea as well as the adjacent Solomon Islands through its One Belt, One Road initiative, the U.S. needs to do all it can to keep Papua New Guinea in its 'friends' column.

Aside from that, the Biden statement also insults his uncle, making him a punchline for tales of cannibal pots, quicksand, and natives in grass skirts with bones through their noses.

What a way to honor his uncle, who made the ultimate sacrifice.

But of course, that's Joe Biden, the man who looked at his wristwatch when fallen troops were brought back in coffins to America and made jackass ethnic jokes about hard-working Indian-American gas station owners.

It also isn't the reality at all on Papua New Guinea.

Instead of affirming them for who they are, Biden went and insulted them for cheap peanut-gallery laughs and managed to perpetuate colossally ignorant stereotypes because he just doesn't care. Why he would do this, pointlessly alienating an important nation that America needs as a friend and one that has never done anything bad to us at all, is really disgusting.

It shows what a hash Joe Biden has made of foreign policy and just how cartoonish his knowledge of foreign affairs really is.

So now he's dishonored his uncle and insulted a nation that has never done anything wrong to us.

What a guy. So much for 'experienced statesman.'

He ought to apologize to them personally. But of course, he won't. That weakens the U.S. as China continues its march through the Pacific.

Sounds like he wanted this all along.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/biden_annoys_papua_new_guinea_s_locals_with_his_cannibal_claims_about_them.html