Crushing Arms for Stealing Bread…
… or not.
Apparently, my work place is a particularly fertile ground for e-mail forwards, especially the political and religious, and often of a rather mean-spirited nature. One that hits my inbox fairly regularly is the story of the eight-year old Iranian boy whose punishment for stealing bread is to have his arm crushed by a truck running over it.
What amazes me is how often, when it goes around, I end up with 2 or three copies of it from different individuals, who all got the ‘original’ soon after it came into our building. What really amazes me is how un-skeptical people are. A couple have caught on. One guy forwards me everything he gets like this, just so I can check it for authenticity (usually, with Snopes, but sometimes I get to use some real detective skills). But even after learning (and I always tell them) that this or that e-mail chain letter was fake, they seem eager to believe and pass on the next one that comes in the box.
This one was particularly interesting to me because Snopes says that the boy is really performing some street magic (pun… well… unavoidable). I’m a sucker for street magic. And stage magic. And other varieties. And I was dying to know how this illusion was produced. Well, thanks to YouTube, Penn & Teller, and the beautiful Ms. Victoria Jackson of 1980’s SNL fame… I found out.
**Spoiler Alert!**
If you watch this movie, you will see how this illusion is done. [update: The original video is no longer available. I have replaced with a video that includes Penn & Teller's performance of the trick only, without explanation.] You will also be mightily entertained, unless you’re some kind of humorless old fruitcake lady (the link to David Letterman’s fruitcake lady segment seems to be gone, too). If you read on past the movie, you will be able to easily guess how it is done. Ok… ready? Watch:
Of course, on the street in Khazakstan, or wherever, the counterweights will be home-made [Update/spoiler: the original video explained (and showed) that the truck was heavily counterbalanced on the opposite side from Teller, leaving no load to be borne by the wheels on Teller's side. In P&T's case the tires on this side were made of foam rubber], & the tires will uninflated rather than foam rubber… but there’s the principle. I wouldn’t have figured it out on my own. Oh well. Thank goodness for Snopes, Penn & Teller, and above all - for skepticism.
IF indeed this is NOT a sick form of Islamic punishment committed against a small, extremely thin boy who stole bread because he was HUNGRY,(a clear indictment against the country for not feeding it’s children)then its a hoax. I suppose we will never know.
The rumor on other websites is that it IS a hoax. But remember this is a country that executes 13 year old retarded female children when they are raped by older adult men. In one case, the girl was retarded due to years of systematic abuse. Brain damaged due to her ‘family’ beating her on and about the head for years. Then after being violently raped, she is punished for that by being executed. There is NO logic to this manner of ‘justice’. None at all. It is clear to anyone of average intelligence.
This is a country where the educated women FLEE once they can, to come to America, and elsewhere so they can live and avoid stonings and execution based on RUMORS of infidelity. This is a country that does NOT have justice for women or children.
The boy looks, in all three photos I personally saw, as flushed, sweating and clearly in pain and/or either very terrified.
I would NOT be surprised if indeed this poor child had his arm crushed by the truck, and sadly THIS set of photos only does more damage in sending more messaages to Americans and others, that Iran is a land of injustice and inequality for the weakest of its citizens.
Why else would its people run from it as quickly as they can? Going to places like Canada, America, and elsewhere? This is a country where human rights are NOT observed or maintained.
I suppose we will never know if indeed this set of photos is a hoax, unless and until we see the boys damaged arm.
But nonetheless, the photos are DISGUSTING and only succeed in portraying a country that is filled with uneducated, ignorant and animalistically VIOLENT adults who abuse and kill small children, most notably, FEMALE children.
The country is a land of WOMAN HATING first and foremost and I thank God I do not live there. I thank GOD I am an American Citizen!
If that child was really tortured and maimed in this fashion, God will punish those responcible.
I can only imagine whatever the details, the Government of Iran is horribly humiliated to know that Americans and others are able to see such a disgusting set of disturbing photos.
Seeing those three photos the other day was extremely upsetting for me. I was nauseated the whole day. I could not stop thinking about it. Learning that it may indeed be a hoax provides me with some manner of comfort, but sadly, my intuition tells me that it is NOT a hoax. My intuition tells me that that boy was horrified and in pain. I suspect that it really happened and that the boys arm WAS indeed crushed due to him stealing because he was hungry.
God will punish those responcible! If not in THIS life, then in the afterlife!
Sincerely,
Therresa Kennedy