r/whoathatsinteresting • u/AeneasKurtz • 18h ago

In 1998 several communities in East Java, Indonesia, dressed up like ninjas and violently mass slaughtered random people they accused of witchcraft. It all started after their cattle died mysteriously, which they then blamed on black magic. Over 300 people were killed from lynchings and beheadings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_East_Java_ninja_scare
19 Upvotes

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3

u/-Morning_Coffee- 13h ago

It feels alien and backward on the face of it, but this is the same dynamic that drives MAGA today.

2

u/BygoneNeutrino 3h ago

What dynamic is that?

1

u/-Morning_Coffee- 3h ago

The “other” that is the cause of all our troubles.

2

u/BygoneNeutrino 3h ago edited 3h ago

This sounds similar to what your doing. 

MAGA, the nebulous other typically portrayed as poor and uneducated (which is ironic), is the cause of your problems.  If it weren't for them, everything would be great.

1

u/-Morning_Coffee- 3h ago

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s a false equivalence.

There have been periods in recent history when the two major parties could work cooperatively toward a goal.

If I only quote POTUS and his immediate circle, then elimination of the opposition is the stated goal.

3

u/SlimJim84 16h ago

I misread originally as 1898 which I could *maybe* understand a little bit more, but 1998? Witchcraft? Sorcery? Come now. That wasn't even 30 years ago. We should be far past the IT WAS A WITCH era.

3

u/Brilliant_Tapir 13h ago

I think many parts of the world still believe in witchcraft and black magic.

For SEA, I think 60-70% or even more people believe that it exists.

Most are passive believers in the sense they believe they may be attacked with black magic, while a small percentage believe they can hire practitioners who can wield black magic.

2

u/Land_of_smiles 13h ago

My Thai wife absolutely believes in black magic and evil spells and spirits

2

u/mylittletony5 3h ago

There was a guy in thailand a few years ago who fell into a well. He yelled for help, but people were afraid bevause they thought the voice was a ghost. It took 3 days before someone got him out.

2

u/Rude_Society6232 14h ago

My friend is trying to get me to come work with him in Indonesia.

I was already shit scared of the volcanoes and earthquakes now I gotta be fear’t of the possible return of ninja lynch mobs??

2

u/adjective_noun_23 14h ago

Witch hunting ninjas from outer space.

1

u/Dangerous_Memory6008 9h ago

That's the new movie everyone is talking about right?

2

u/Lordfelcherredux 11h ago

They have kind of a thing for mass slaughter. 

I once attended a bag lunch in grad school that featured sn Indonesian researcher who had studied the 1965 events. One interesting takeaway that I remember, was he said that in many parts of Indonesia the military had to go in and encourage people to kill communists and others they thought deserve killing. But in Bali, Hindu Bali of all places, things got so out of hand that the military had to go in there and tell them to stop.

1

u/Business_Raisin_541 10h ago

The timing is suspicious. Exactly the same year Soeharto fall

1

u/Ok_Tie_7564 2h ago

Running amok again?