Nudity And Urine Kill 18 People In Malaysia Earthquake

Distant Image of Nude Tourists Angering the Gods
Distant Image of Nude Tourists Angering the Gods, June 2015

 

(AP News) – Kundasang, Sabah, Malaysia, A 6.0?magnitude earthquake?occurred on June 5th?in which?18 people tragically died. ?Repeated earthquakes have been happening in the region as recently as June 11th. The cause??According to some indigenous tribes and government officials, this was the fault of 10 foreigners who?offended the mountain spirits by undressing and urinating on Mount Kinabalu.

This is very offensive behaviour and showed disrespect to the sacred mountain… This will certainly bring misfortune,“?- Joseph Kitingan,?Deputy chief minister.

The foreigners:?from Canada, the UK, and The Netherlands, are currently in jail?for three days for their transgressions; however, if charged with obscenity and public nudity, they face up to 3 months in prison. This could be viewed as a particularly light sentence considering the fact[sic] that they killed 18 people; but for public indecency, 3 months is a very long time.

Reality Check

As a person with a working brain, it?would be remiss of me not to call-out how utterly ridiculous this notion is; that some naked kids can cause an Earthquake. What century is this again? Now wait, before some of you are quick to agree with me;?don’t forget that even in?dominant faiths today?there are very similar notions?such as human and animal sacrifice, original sin, the Towel of Babel, and the Sodom and Gomorrah story, all stories based on the idea that we must please and somehow appease the gods or a single god or suffer the consequences. It indeed seems to be the pattern that the less humans know about the world, the more superstitious they are.

Enter The Science

As a science writer for Liberal America, it would be uncharacteristic and irresponsible of me to not explain how Earthquakes really happen. Instead of writing out a long explanation with visuals, here’s a video on youtube explaining how Earthquakes occur. Please forward to Kundasang, Malaysia.

For the record, I am deeply saddened for the loss of any human lives. Especially the lives of those humans that are just trying to explore their world and have a good time. If my tone comes across as insensitive to these lives lost, rest assured this is far from reality.

Did?nudity and urine kill 18 people in the recent Malaysia Earthquake? That’s a big, No!

Reggie holds a B.S. in Human Development and a M.Ed. in Science Communication. He is wrapping up an M.S. in Biology from Clemson University, and is also a Doctoral student in Educational Psychology with California Coast University. He has been an informal science and critical thinking educator since 1998 spearheading one of the largest podcasting sites dedicated to free inquiry and science. He retired from podcasting and currently works as a biology educator in Orlando, FL. He is a vegan (most of the time) and his hobbies are: genealogy, singing, anime, watching science-oriented documentaries, and science fact-checking. Feel free to add Reggie on LinkedIn where he periodically writes articles on critical thinking, evolution, and other sciences: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginaldfinley