Often this characteristic has unfortunate consequences. Sometimes foolishness/ignorance/stupidity can kill the holder of those incorrect thoughts. (If you know of the "Darwin awards," those could be some funny, yet also sad, examples of what I'm talking about.)
It's often other people, and even other species, who suffer from the consequences of these beliefs. It's belief in the inferiority of undesirability of one group of humans, held by another group, that leads to genocide.
Let's look at a couple of beliefs that can probably be considered superstitions, and their consequences for both human and non-human creatures.
In Tanzania, it is widely believed that the bones of human albinos have magical properties. This has resulted in the killing of albinos for their bones, etc. Here is a quote from another blog,
http://sdotx.blogspot.com/2009/05/albino-bones.html:
Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: At least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.
Many people in Tanzania — and across Africa, for that matter — believe albinos have magical powers. They stand out, often the lone white face in a black crowd, a result of a genetic condition that impairs normal skin pigmentation and strikes about one in 3,000 people here. Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.
Also, rhino horns are thought to have aphrodisiac properties when ingested by people. Result: much illegal poaching of rhinos, to where they are endangered.
Similarly, in China tiger penises have long been believed to be aphrodisiac, which has meant a lot of killing of tigers.
As a generality I don't believe in interfering with or destroying indigenous cultures, which of course includes all the beliefs of a people. It can be arrogance and ethnocentrism to think our Western, scientific ways are better. But I probably would agree with suppressing some indigenous practices like human sacrifice. Most of us would say that's not even a gray area. The killing of albinos is also not a gray area.
And I have to say, I think I'd agree with efforts to convince people that tiger penises and rhino bones have no efficacy as aphrodisiacs, even when a culture's practitioners of traditional medicine tell them otherwise.
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein
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