The Uncontacted Prehistoric People of North Sentinel Island

[lordroel]

Nov 26, 2018 16:46:14 GMT stevep said:

   The thing that grates with me is that, if he did any research he should have known he could have been a typhoid Mary, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon, to those poor people but doesn't actually seemed to have given a damn about this.  Its one thing for someone to be willing to die for their believes, albeit not so much if their determined to force those beliefs down other's throats but being willing to put other people's lives at risk because he wants to feel important!  Basically I find it difficult to find any sympathy for him because he showed such contempt for others.  Hopefully there will be no bad consequences for the people on the island.

'Call off Efforts to Retrieve Body of John Allen Chau from North Sentinel Island'

[raunchel]

Nov 26, 2018 16:46:14 GMT stevep said:

   The thing that grates with me is that, if he did any research he should have known he could have been a typhoid Mary, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon, to those poor people but doesn't actually seemed to have given a damn about this.  Its one thing for someone to be willing to die for their believes, albeit not so much if their determined to force those beliefs down other's throats but being willing to put other people's lives at risk because he wants to feel important!  Basically I find it difficult to find any sympathy for him because he showed such contempt for others.  Hopefully there will be no bad consequences for the people on the island.

That's only to be expected. I mean (okay, this is my own background speaking. I don't know his theology), if they die or not just isn't important. What is important is that you can be a vessel for God to help these natives find Faith (through God's Grace of course. It's not something humans can do). This means that some of them might actually be Elect, so God uses you to save them. And besides, disease is not in human hands, but God's, so you can't blame someone for spreading a disease. It's the same reasoning why you shouldn't vaccinate children. And yes, I fully disagree with all that.

[stevep]

Nov 26, 2018 16:50:56 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 26, 2018 16:46:14 GMT stevep said:

   The thing that grates with me is that, if he did any research he should have known he could have been a typhoid Mary, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon, to those poor people but doesn't actually seemed to have given a damn about this.  Its one thing for someone to be willing to die for their believes, albeit not so much if their determined to force those beliefs down other's throats but being willing to put other people's lives at risk because he wants to feel important!  Basically I find it difficult to find any sympathy for him because he showed such contempt for others.  Hopefully there will be no bad consequences for the people on the island.

'Call off Efforts to Retrieve Body of John Allen Chau from North Sentinel Island'

  Sounds like a good decision.

[Zyobot]

Nov 26, 2018 16:56:50 GMT stevep said:

Nov 26, 2018 16:50:56 GMT lordroel said:

'Call off Efforts to Retrieve Body of John Allen Chau from North Sentinel Island'

  Sounds like a good decision.

I don't disagree with you, but I--again--wonder how Christian communities, namely Chau's family, will take such news.

Not that they have a say in the matter, necessarily.

[raunchel]

Nov 29, 2018 1:18:12 GMT Zyobot said:

Nov 26, 2018 16:56:50 GMT stevep said:

  Sounds like a good decision.

I don't disagree with you, but I--again--wonder how Christian communities, namely Chau's family, will take such news.

Not that they have a say in the matter, necessarily.

It seems that his brother thinks that he might still be alive, but I guess that that is just a way of coping with the situation. I don't know about the rest of the family.

In most Christian circles, the general opinion is that no attempts should be made to recover the body because that only endangers others.

[lordroel]

So looking if i could find any updates on North Sentinel Island i discovered that due the shipwreck of MV Primrose which foundered on a coral reef on August 2nd 1981, off North Sentinel Island ( picture below) visitors, such as researchers, have reported an improvement in North Sentinel weapons-making capacity. Rather than stone, the tips of arrows and spears are now seen to have been made from metal.

The likely explanation is that the islanders finally reached the shipwreck and scavenged steel for use in their tools and weapons.

So, in an odd twist to an already strange tale, the Primrose may have catapulted the islanders into an iron age.

[stevep]

Dec 9, 2018 20:03:50 GMT lordroel said:

So looking if i could find any updates on North Sentinel Island i discovered that due the shipwreck of MV Primrose which foundered on a coral reef on August 2nd 1981, off North Sentinel Island ( picture below) visitors, such as researchers, have reported an improvement in North Sentinel weapons-making capacity. Rather than stone, the tips of arrows and spears are now seen to have been made from metal.

The likely explanation is that the islanders finally reached the shipwreck and scavenged steel for use in their tools and weapons.

So, in an odd twist to an already strange tale, the Primrose may have catapulted the islanders into an iron age.

  Only temprarily unless they find ways to actually forge metals and suitable stockpiles.  Otherwise, baring possible other shipwrecks the metal will only last until it corrodes, gets lost or damaged.  However will definitely have an influence on their capacities for a while and probably also their society.

[lordroel]

Three myths about North Sentinel Island

[stevep]

Dec 10, 2018 15:51:24 GMT lordroel said:

Three myths about North Sentinel Island

  Interesting and if the reports about Portman are accurate revolting.  There is a small Wiki entry for him, see Maurice_Vidal_Portman, which says he took photographs on behave of the British Museum and the Government of India and they are scattered around several museums which would seem to counter the allegation of pedophilia.  Also he published a couple of books on the islands and their languages so it sounds like there is some basis for doubt on those allegations although there may be no way of knowing either way.  There are no sources for the article about the three myths so not sure what the basis is of the claims.

  The other two statements do seem to be on a more reliable basis.  There would have been contact with nearby islands and the culture isn't static, as shown by the use of metals that have come into the islanders possession.  There is likely to have been substantial deaths from the British and Japanese interventions, if only from disease impacts on a still largely isolated culture and the sort of behaviour the Japanese are likely to have displayed in their occupation in WWII.

  Checked the Wiki link for the British museum and under his name there are 8 pages of photos, totaling 795 pictures in all.  Many are of artifacts or of people going about performing assorted tasks or manufacturing tools or a fair number displaying painting and tattooing.  In some of those men are naked  just as in those displaying women working they are often topless but whether there was any pornographic purpose it would be difficult to tell as I think often photographs of 'primitive' people of this time period often showed such details.  As such without evidence I am dubious about the suggestion of a sexual motive.