Talk:Richard Meinertzhagen
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"The British colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, primarily a soldier and a globe trotter, also tried to be an ornithologist, and in the last role he was fraudulent. In words of Rasmussen (as quoted by Barbara, 2005) “There are hundreds and probably thousands of fraudulently catalogued specimens. This was going on for the better part of his (Meinertzhagen’s) life”.
In "Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 16 (January 2006)" http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/shs/EJAIB/EJAIB12006.pdf. there is a reference to Nature to proove this.
Barbara, Santa, 2005. Ornithologists stunned by collector’s deceit. Nature, 437 (September 15, 2005): 302 – 303.
I THINK THAT THE LAST EDIT BY 68.225.254.171 IS BIASED TOWARDS RICHARD MEINERTZHAGEN, CHANGING 'WELL KNOWN FOR KILLING PEOPLE' TO 'WELL KNOWN FOR KILLING ENEMIES'
There is mention of his having suppressed a tribal rebellion in East Africa in 1905 by shooting the "witch doctor" (a curiously dated term). This obviously refers to his role in what came to be known as 'the Nandi Incident', the Nandi being Hamitic pastoralists in northern Kenya. According to Meinertzhagen - and I heard him claim this in 1957 - he had arranged to meet a prominent Nandi laibon to discuss his people's acceding to the establishing of British authority; but Meinertzhagen had only a few askaris (African troops) with him, and in his version the laibon, with a band of tribesmen, launched an assault which led to shooting, the laibon's death, and subsequent difficult relations with the Nandi. The nascent British administration held Meinertzhagen to be at fault, and he was dismissed and deported in 1906. In view of his later involvement in other instances of illegal or precipitate behaviour, it would seem that the administration was justified.
Some comments on above paragraph. "Witch doctor" is not a curiously dated term as suggested by writer of above paragraph commenting on the article. Witchdoctor is exactly what a Laibon (the person killed by Meinertzhagen) is! A Laibon is not a chief, but a soothsayer who's job is to supposedly predict the future (by reading the runes, animal entrails etc.) and put curses on someone unfortunate to fall out of favour with him or other influential people in the tribe (such "curses" are mumbo-jumbo of course, but just the mere fact that the victim sometimes believes they have been cursed, is enough for them to give up, go into a stupor and effectively die of terror).
Then, as now, the Laibon's status as "witchdoctor" comes from the very fact he was seen as a supposed "prophet" (which is what he is becoming to his increasing number of worshippers) amongst believers for his supposed "psychic" predictions, such as that of of the coming of the "iron snake" (the railway) in a dream. I think the fact that he (a master propagandist, like many a sangoma and court crones) and his followers believe in such superstitious twaddle confirms that he was a "witchdoctor". So describing Koitalel as a witchdoctor is not an archaic term from a detractor, but semantically accurate - and the very reason his admirers then and now hold him in high status. A Laibon IS a witchdoctor.
Sirikwa (22 Mar 2006)
[edit] Haversack Ruse
The New Yorker mentions the "Haversack Ruse", which supposedly misdirected the Turks and enabled England to win the war, as Meinertzhagen's most famous deed. So why no mention here? Can someone fill in the blanks? — Adam Conover † 14:03, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
Somebody removed the earlier reference to "witchdoctor" and replaced it with "tribal leader". This is incorrect. The Laibon was not a tribal leader, but literally a witchdoctor (as my earlier comment, 22 Mar 2006, points out). The user (IP 137.198.244.199) who had removed the term witchdoctor had earlier added the misleading comment "he crushed a major tribal revolt by murdering, in cold blood, the general who led it after inviting him to his home for peace talks" - which had been removed by another user, quite correctly. For a start, one questions why this user would use the term "general" to describe a tribal Laibon?
Sirikwa (4 June 2006)
[edit] POV language
While most of the charges against Meinertzhagen are apparently true, the language of this article is unacceptable. The introduction is especially awful. It is not supposed to read like the prosecutor's summary to the jury. --Zerotalk 09:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
- Fixed, hopefully. Shyamal 04:17, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
