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Great point until the end. None of your descriptions imply a lack of morality for living isolated from a greater civilization. If anything, such small societies
by orsorna 2mo ago
Great point until the end. None of your descriptions imply a lack of morality for living isolated from a greater civilization. If anything, such small societies inhabit a neutral position, in that they don't care, which is something you already stated.
I think the only people arguing that the North Sentinelese are immoral are religious, for instance (hence why most attempts to visit are done by missions). The general consensus is otherwise awe for being separated from the rest of us, relatively unmolested.
- graemep 2mo agoI do not think anyone is arguing the Sentinelese are immoral?
- orsorna 2mo agoWhy would you bring a mission to a hostile island otherwise?
- mothballed 2mo agoBecause you think god is immoral, and you want them to meet his mercy?
- spwa4 2mo agoHow about, because civilization is in fact a better way to live? For example, misplacing a single step when you're 5 years old does NOT result in a slow agonizing death? Because if you have civilization imperfect eyes are not a death sentence. Because you can actually survive your 30s (odds > 1% or so) in civilization. Because of music, movies, culture, science, ... Oh and if you must have the more practical reason: because the priests come from the cities, usually a while after the city got brutally attacked with every man (and male child starting from ~puberty) from the village and even a few women trying to indiscriminately kill anyone they meet with spears and (before) poison and forcing everyone else to shoot at them, to devastating effect on both sides? Because such a priest sees the bodies, hears the stories of everyone "they'll try it again in 10 years", of mostly villagers but also a number of people that just happened to be in their way, and wonders if there's another way? Oh and, by the way, for this particular purpose, "our savior Jesus Christ" IS in fact another way and a solution, and that, of course, is how religions work. Because "right of the strongest", brutally imposed through massacres and rape, is not in fact moral, I don't care what ideology or religion you subscribe to? Subsistence farming is a short, brutal way to live and this way of life dials that up to 11, or to 500, really. I'm not sure why anyone would either not know this, or even insult it, as if the success of your ideology, of "natural purity" is somehow more important than kids surviving, and all the other reasons mentioned above, and I'm sure you can come up with 500 more.
- graemep 2mo agoBecause you believe you are proclaiming the truth and have a duty to do so. That does not mean you think they are immoral. Its just an extreme version of things such as the Christian duty to spread the word. Christianity has always had the concept of virtuous non-believers.
- BurningFrog 2mo agoDo we know anything about their morals, aside from that they kill immigrants at sight?
- graemep 2mo agoGiven how other Andaman islanders have been treated by outsiders hostility towards people who come there uninvited is understandable. People going to their island are not "immigrants" - no intention of remaining.
- BurningFrog 2mo agoI really doubt they try to determine the immigration intentions of strangers they encounter. From what I hear, they kill any outsider within spear range.
- nephihaha 2mo agoThat isn't entirely true. There were contacts between them and Indians from the government on more than one occasion. These were cautious but peaceful. There are photographs of these online. So they are not, strictly speaking, "uncontacted" in the sense that they haven't had non-violent interactions with outsiders.
- BurningFrog 2mo agoI looked this up, and you're right! Thanks for teaching me something new. That doesn't happen every day!
- nephihaha 2mo agoIt is the way it is reported. There are very few truly uncontacted tribes. I'm not referring to aircraft and distant sightings. Some have had negative interactions with loggers, miners and fishermen etc, but the North Sentinelese have had some positive interactions with the outside world. Maybe we all are the North Sentinel Island of the Milky Way. Now there's a thought.
- notathrowaway51 2mo agoWell, they sure are xenophobic.
- spwa4 2mo agoThey don't care and "respond strongly" to insults or territorial disputes (which involve both actual land, men, women, and children), to the point that sometimes dozens of people die in the resulting fight. They kill because of insults (which mostly involves sex). Oh and they do quite a bit for alcohol. They'll fuck visitors, just to see if their next kid is white (but, of course, if you go along with that you lose whatever protection that "outsider who maybe brings alcohol" gave you. And you're sure to lose almost any fight). Also: don't make the mistake of still visibly having any alcohol when leaving the village. Certainly it would be accurate to say that both the cities in the neighborhood and the central government have issues with this sort of thing. To say nothing of when cities get attacked.
- mothballed 2mo agoSounds like you need alcohol, and also a pistol, with a few full magazines. Just in case. Try not to let the women see it, if you have occasion to remove your clothes.
- spwa4 2mo agoI would suggest to make sure you are never seen just by yourself by these people.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]