American 'killed in India by endangered Andamans tribe'

[SATW]

First of all, this is tragic. Prayers to this man's family and friends. Very sad death.


That being said, people need to stop trying to "save" people in dangerous places. It places their home country and the country they are visiting in a very difficult position.

The Sentinelese are known to be dangerous and hostile towards outsiders. As people noted, they are likely to be exposed to diseases that could kill them if they have prolonged contact with outsiders. Influence from the outside world does MUCH more harm than good.

And it is clear that the Sentinelese, the Jarawas (to a less extreme extent) and other uncontacted peoples do not want contact with the outside world.

Let me repeat it for those in the back:

THEY. DO. NOT. WANT. TO. BE. "SAVED." OR. "ENLIGHTENED."


Religious Orgs do their congregants, and especially, missionaries a DEEP disservice by not providing proper training on what situations are worth involving their cause in. India already has complex rules on religious proselytizing, for example:

https://www.loc.gov/law/help/anti-conversion-laws/india.php

Yet, this man, decided to not only go to India to convert people but specifically to the most dangerous territory under their jursidiction.

I do not want to victim blame as this is extremely tragic and he seemed like a nice, albeit misguided/naive, person. I hope his family finds peace through their religion.

We have seen similar cases of missionaries getting arrested/detained/tortured (or worse) in other countries like Iran, N. Korea and Turkey as well.

It is very sad and tragic.

[SATW]

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