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There are those among us who feel that no good can come from drum circles -- you'll look like an idiot and all your neighbors will hate you. Oh, and you can get anthrax.The unnamed victim went to a drumming circle at the United Campus Ministry near the University of New Hampshire, and experts are saying that while dancing there she must have inhaled thousands of anthrax spores from the African drums being used.
According to the New York Times, officials think that the spores were probably "aerosolized" when a bunch of hippies started beating on the animal skin heads of their drums.
Now that drum circles have been taken care of, we're hoping white dudes with dreadlocks are next on God's list of things to smite.
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Wednesday 30 December
By Icuradrummer2
Drum Circles live on but you can't fix stupid!
Do your own research on drum circles so you will be much more educated that the person that wrote the above article. When I see things like that I understand why we are rated 27th in the world for education! I think that people that judge others are already first on the list of gods things to smite.
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Friday 01 January
By Renata
I went to my doctors office for a routine physical and was surrounded by very ill people in the waiting room. One week later I have the flu. Where is all your ridiculous hate "reporting" on doctors' offices and the "scum" that frequent them?
Friday 01 January
By Evelyn
The idiot who wrote this article, Emerald Whateva, needs to educate itself on alternate spirituality. Drum circles have been in existence long before Christianity and have been used by indigenous peoples throughout history to send sacred vibrations throughout the Universe and to simulate the beating heart in a manner that thanks and honors God for our very existence. To equate hippies and dreadlocks with the drum circle proves the stupidity of this jackass.
Friday 01 January
By Camille
To Icuradrummer2...I couldn't have said it better myself!
Friday 01 January
By touria
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Some people post dumb comments. There's a need for some to attack people for their style. I say, if a white person can get their hair to stay in dreads; go for it.
Wednesday 30 December
By Anonymous
HAHAHAHAH!
You're so RIGHT.
I hate things too, and when I hate them no one else should enjoy them! They should be abolished because I THINK THEY'RE STUPID.
Thank god you exist or schadenfreude might go out of style! You're the KING.
Reply
Thursday 31 December
By DJ Maniak
Considering I am a "white dude with dreadlocks" as you put it, I'm a little peeved, considering I'm not a hippy, don't participate in drum circles, hold a full-time job, and bathe daily.
Reply
Friday 01 January
By Barbara
DJ Maniak,
Toughen up that thin skin of yours.
Friday 01 January
By tom m
Just curious,why do you have dreadlocks? I know Whoopie Goldberg has always worn dreadlocks and I don't think she's a "hippie"...so...
Friday 01 January
By King David
ANOTHER REASON to ONLY DEAL WITH THINGS THAT ARE FROM, and ONLY deal with, the United States. There is SO much to enjoy, to see, to experience ONLY IN THE UNITED STATES that anyone who partakes of wasting their time, and money, by GOING TO, or SUPPORTING ANYTHING that has to do with ANY other country, or culture, IS STUPID!!! It is time to ONLY be concerned with THIS GREAT COUNTRY -- we do NOT need passports, we can keep our money here where it belongs, and we can start to wrestle it back from those who would harm us. Think about it people -- if you're capable of not being under the spell of the advertising industry. SUPPORT THE UNITED STATES --- ONLY!!!
Friday 01 January
By Mike Q
It's really important for some people to try and put others down so they won't be so lonely. The person that wrote this about god smiting people doesn't identify what they are. Maybe they are in a drum circle or they are white with dreadlocks and depressed but can't off themselves so they want god to do it for them. This person is confused! Hopefully they will get some help so they can communicate with the rest of the world. Until then the best we can do is ignore the ignorant.
Friday 01 January
By JD
So, in consideration of all the other items you listed about yourself and your personal cleanliness habits, WTF is up with the dreds dude? They're ugly and no one but fringe types like them.
Friday 01 January
By jim
I've never looked like an idiot, my neighbors love me, the local blind school loves our circle and so do a lot of NC State students. So much for no good from drum circles.
Here's a note from a noted Duke University MD to the Raleigh Drum Circle about this incident.
"Having worked with anthrax in the lab for a number of years and edited the section on anthrax in the online textbook Up-To-Date, I should probably comment. As far as I know, this is the first invasive anthrax case associated with simply using a drum (though this woman apparently didn't even drum;she was just there with people who did). Gastrointestinal anthrax is really rare in the U.S. (though not unheard of) and is unexpected after this kind of exposure. Cases of skin involvement in drummers have been reported before. The other invasive cases (at least one of which was fatal) were inhalation anthrax associated with making drums using West African goat hides that needed to be shaved.
Although anthrax is exceedingly rare, inhalation disease is usually fatal. Whatever anexpert may say, this disease has been full of surprises. For instance,before 2002 the spores theoretically were not considered to be a dangerto postal workers. Anyone drumming with this woman in New Hampshire should probably be taking antibiotic and getting vaccinated. People supplying West African goat skins (e.g. Rhythm Traders) may say they have been tested for anthrax, but there is probably no cost effective way to do this and it is really doubtful that the skins have been tested using an effective method. I would strongly recommend not shaving goat skins from Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan without good ventilation and personal respiratory protection. Alcohol does not kill bacterial spores like the infectious form of anthrax, but despite the case in New Hampshire, anthrax infections in drummers are vanishingly rare. Most of us probably often do riskier things than djembe drumming. Though I have African skins on some of my drums and there is no absolute guarantee, I personally do not worry about getting anthrax.
Ken Wilson, M.D.
Division of Infectious Diseases
Duke University"
Ignorance will prevail wherever it goes unchallenged. Consider the ignorance challenged.
jim
Reply
Friday 01 January
By queenofdrones
Thanks you for your INTELLIGENT comment & useful information. When are these so called "journalists" going to start attacking parasitic spammers & impotent right wing weasels who use every online feature as a tool to spread their moronic ideology?
Friday 01 January
By Charles Ward
Obviously the writer of this article thought he was being funny. I did NOT laugh. I am not White, do not wear dreadlocks or participate in Drum Circles on a regular basis, but as a teacher I can tell you that the discipline of a drum circle is something that our children could benefit from.
The writer of this article comes across as a narrow minded jerk. I hope he doesn't really hold these bigoted views.
Reply
Friday 01 January
By tyrebitre
What is absolutely amazing about this is how ONLY the air this particular woman was breathing contained the spores; apparently no other dancer/ drummer was affected. Sounds to me like they may want to dig a bit deeper for either other infected persons OR another source for the infection.
Reply
Friday 01 January
By Nancy W
Asylum has been punk'd. This was an episode of CSI - it didn't really happen
Reply
Friday 01 January
By Dancing Hands
It seems to me that something is missing from this case of anthrax and the subsequent comments posted here. Logically speaking, it seems odd that if: the infected lady danced but did not touch the drums; it is suspected that the anthrax spores were airborne; other people were at the drum circle and only one has been infected with anthrax; then it follow that further investigation needs to be done. Perhaps this lady was exposed to anthrax elsewhere. Otherwise, how do we explain that no one else from the drum circle was infected with anthrax? It will be interesting to see what the final investigation shows.
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Friday 01 January
By Nancy W
Asylum has been punk'd. This was an episode of CSI. It didn't really happen.
Reply
Saturday 02 January
By Bernicejw
I am from NH and this is not a joke. This really happened and the writer has made a complete joke out of a serious situation.