American 'killed in India by endangered Andamans tribe'

[Devout Centrist]

This idiot deserves the Darwin Award.

Five seconds of googling would be enough to tell me to never go on there under any circumstances.

He was willing to take risks and go to great lengths for Jesus Christ.

And he got a great length of arrows for his troubles

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

How was this man even planning on evangelising, given nobody knows how to speak the Sentinelese language?

[dead0man]

How was this man even planning on evangelising, given nobody knows how to speak the Sentinelese language?

I'm sure he thought GAWD was going to speak through him somehow.

[Lord Halifax]

How was this man even planning on evangelising, given nobody knows how to speak the Sentinelese language?

That has been the situation for most first encounters of "primitive" tribes by missionaries throughout history, so there would be plenty of precedents. Living with them and learning the language would have been part of his project.   

[DINGO Joe]

What a narcissistic asshole.  If he wanted to do good in this world, there would have been like 2 billion better options than to literally go to the ends of the earth to commit the missionary version of suicide by cop.  Hope he had an epiphany of what a worthless bungass he was before he died.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

It's important to note that he didn't want people to blame the islanders for killing him.

[DC Al Fine]

Zeal is good. Wisdom is also good. RIP

[PSOL]

In fact, by not entering modern society, they require and take less resources.

They live in modern society. Their society certainly has its own changing histories, politics, and passions. They are just unknowable to anyone but the Sentinalese.

Our speculations are sadly unproven, though. You are right that we have no proof that their culture is lacking in modernization but their population seem to be in decline (according to the Indian Government, I believe) and that is not a sign of a modern/healthy society.

So, it is hard to tell how sophisicated the internal workings of their culture are. What we do know is that they are weary of outsiders (and have some reason to be so), but they also engage in shocking violence that doesn't belong in an inclusive world.

They don't want to be "helped" by outside societies, either, and we should respect that desire for the sake of the safety of both outsiders and the Sentinelese.


Also, on a weird note, I watched some videos on the Sentinelese and Jarawas earlier this week. Very sad that something happened a few days later

I recant my statement on the Sentinelese not living in “the” modern society. waradawr is right that now, they are living in their modern society, just like the rest of us in ours.

[Lumine]

I honestly don't understand why it's so hard to just leave the Sentinelese alone.

[dead0man]

I honestly don't understand why it's so hard to just leave the Sentinelese alone.

it's not hard for 99.9999999% of us.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I honestly don't understand why it's so hard to just leave the Sentinelese alone.

In this case, I wouldn't find it hard to believe that the idiot was part of one of those churches that believes the Second Coming will happen once the Gospel has been preached to everyone.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It would be ignorant to think the contact between Sentinelise and the world is impossible per se. We've seen, quite recently, previously uncontacted tribes in South America emerging from the jungle to interact, for the first time, with the population. Though we know next to nothing about Sentinelise, there are numerous precedents for that.

However, as stressed many times in this thread, no interaction is possible as long as Sentinelise simply refuse to engage in one. If they were, one day, to show interest in what's beyond their island, that's diffrent. And even then the contact must be handled by the professionals, with serious precautions, not some random amateur who, in his naive zeal, can unintentionally cause terrible things.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Also, the whole talk about "prosecuting" the Sentinelise is absurdly hilarious. First off, in order to punish someone that someone must be able to understand why. Second, how would such proceedings even look like, if the both sides simply can't communicate? It's not like you can find a translator.

[Omega21]

Seriously though, this island raises all sorts of questions regarding individual rights vs. communal rights. What if one of the islanders wants to vote in the Indian elections? Are that individual's civil rights worth less than the community's right to autonomy?

I doubt they know what voting means lol

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Seriously though, this island raises all sorts of questions regarding individual rights vs. communal rights. What if one of the islanders wants to vote in the Indian elections? Are that individual's civil rights worth less than the community's right to autonomy?

I doubt they know what voting means lol

A random Sentinelise is going to wake up one day and think "hm, as a citizen of India I should totally excercise my voting rights!"

[justfollowingtheelections]

First of all, the island is under the protection of India, but India has no authority over what happens on the island. 
The reasons the islanders are so wary of outsiders is because they had been mistreated by European and other settlers in the past.
Third, this guy knew what he was doing was illegal (and for good reason), but that didn't stop him.  He knew he could cause harm to these people, simply by interacting with them, but he didn't seem to care.  He even wrote in his journal, that he believed this is Satan's last stronghold on Earth.  It's really sad that someone can be so brainwashed to believe that his belief system is morally superior to that of everyone else.  I feel sorry for him, but unfortunately he got what he deserved for being so disrespectful towards a culture he doesn't understand.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Third, this guy knew what he was doing was illegal (and for good reason), but that didn't stop him.  He knew he could cause harm to these people, simply by interacting with them, but he didn't seem to care.  He even wrote in his journal, that he believed this is Satan's last stronghold on Earth.  It's really sad that someone can be so brainwashed to believe that his belief system is morally superior to that of everyone else.  I feel sorry for him, but unfortunately he got what he deserved for being so disrespectful towards a culture he doesn't understand.

This.

[DINGO Joe]

What's even more annoying is the trouble Indian authorities seem to be undertaking to try and recover the body.  No reason to compound the stupidity.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Holidayed there last year with my girlfriend.

It was a fitness holiday where we enjoyed running and swimming every day.

I have never run and swam as fast in my life.

The holiday ended after 48 hours with a midnight 4km swim to the next island.