Galatians 6:7 - For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Very sorry for your loss...

But, gosh, why wouldn't those poor 'lost' souls NOT look to America/an American missionary for a lesson in global capitalistic colonization?

Hell, they could have McDonalds, iPhones and fb in a month, two months, six months, tops, IF they'd only let US teach them the Errors of their ways.

Look no further than Hawaii, where indigenous natives needed 'work' only 4-6 hours/day to provide amply for themselves and their families.

Today, they can barely afford to 'live' there.

We MUST educate those poor lost souls the wonderful Benefits of Unbridled, unHinged (like our dear Prez!) Capitalism. ASAP

Perhaps is we just Bombed them a bit?

"Illegal immigrants will be met with lethal force."

Such hateful and insensitive comments about someone's death. Especially when the departed was a missionary of color.

@6 ROFL!!!

@5 -- "Such hateful and insensitive comments about someone's death."
You're speaking of our own Genocidal past?

@6 -- yes.
Blame it on Darwin.

Deservedly hateful, not insensitive.

Good riddance. If more missionaries met this fate, we might finally be free of that particular anachronism.

Correction: Sourge, not anachronism. Missionary work has never been an appropriate activity.

@3: Save Niʻihau
@8: No need to capitalize on genocide.

@11: Except for positioning I suppose.

@2: I was thinking of the parable of the missionary and the Eskimo, but as usual, Pratchett does it so much better.

The bit about the Bible stopping the fatal arrow sounds made up, but in either case, he could have used that small anecdote to launch a small outreach empire if he'd had a lick of business sense. (That market is, by definition, pretty credulous and frankly wants to be duped.) I guess God did not see fit to give him THAT sort of sense either.

Sorry, I meant to say "as always, Pratchett does it better." Odd oversight to make it a qualifier. I stand by the rest though.

Raindrop dear, I’ve always thought that missionaries give the missionary position a bad name.

"He was willing to give his life to share Jesus" ...good for him! Chau is a perfect poster boy for what is wrong with Christianity — and all religion for that matter. In the 21st century, how can anyone still fall for the bullshit & fairy tales & bizarre superstitions & voodoo of Christianity? And good riddance to arrogant evangelical trash!

@8Unfortunately (or fortunately), yes...Darwin WAS right the whole time...

@12: "No need to capitalize on genocide."

Why on Earth not?
WE capitalized on it.
Which is how we Got America.
THNX, Natives!

Oh, and I have a serious Medical Condition:
Twitchy lh Pinky Finger Disease Syndrome
we like to call It. Plus, [whinily] no editing post-Publishing.

Pardon me while I rock out to Bad Religion's "Don't Pray on Me".

Also, Michael Shermer's "Heavens on Earth" is a fantastic book.

18: SOME of us who follow Jesus are absolutely appalled at the arrogance of this dumb, dead man who had the audacity to go where he was repeatedly forbidden. SOME of us followers of Jesus are confident that He will share His life with everyone in the world, if they want it. Heavy-handed, holier-than-thou types of ANY religious belief are a menace. I have to love them but I'm also going to call them out on their misguided, ignorant bullshit.

So, Mr. Chau, I'm sorry you didn't learn your lesson the first time. You are not a martyr, you were a moron.

22

DUDE

@20: I was doing a play on the word "capitalize" in that you unnecessarily used upper case for "G" of genocide in comment #8.

Still, it was interesting how you melded it into your narrative.

@24 -- I felt I had no alternative, with 'on' in there.
But yeah, I knew whatchya meant.

Oh, and if you were a victim of Genocide,
would you not want it Capitalized?

[I'd swap some CAPS for some Italics any day of the
Week]

[AND I'd Promise to try not to italicize Amazing ever again]!

@25: Okay, go right ahead and just will nilly capitalize as you see fit and you'll see your prose looking Trumpian.

@27 -- Trumpfy's free to copy me Anytime he wants to, but that's still great Advice.

Thanks!.

It's about consent. The Sentinelese do not consent for anyone to come into their home. Yet the "missionary" (if indeed he really was one) did not take 'no' for an answer, and insisted on trying to assert his world view on them.
He is just like every asshole dudebro / "MRA" type who insists on trying to "talk" to (hit on) a woman who is clearly not interested in talking or being hit upon.
Such entitlement and expression of power is the basis of rape.
This John Chau nitwit wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, ignored their clearly mortal threats, and insisted on trying to assert HIS will on people not interested in it.
He got exactly what he was looking for.
He knew full well what they were capable of.
He essentially committed suicide.
Anyone calling him a 'martyr' is willfully deluded.

This is an interesting write up of the known history of the Sentinelese, and likely why they abhor outsiders.
https://twitter.com/RespectableLaw/status/1065841141201989632

Oral Roberts University (or whatever it's called*) - where they knew about his long-time objectives - bears responsibility for this young man's death. They shouldn't have encouraged him in this illegal and dangerous "mission." The college is clearly teaching an outdated and bogus curriculum that doesn't include history of, and respect for, indigenous peoples and cultures. How do you graduate from college and not understand that you don't do this kind of thing? Now he's dead and they're stunned this happened to him?

*Doonesbury comics, as I recall, used to satirize an "Oral Roberts."

@29

Thanks for the link.

There's a question out there as far as what to do with uncontacted peoples. Imagine if the Sentinelese, like the Easter Islanders, were actively degrading their environment? It sounds like these folks won't survive another generation anyhow. I guess we just kinda watch?

The tribe gets a pass because he was a Christian, or Trespassing, or just don't know any better?
If they're allowed to kill. Then they can't complain if the tribe gets urbanized, decimated, what evs.

It gives me such statisfaction that they killed that idiot in the most brutal way. I will always revere the people there for killing that asshole kid

34

Sure ya do.

Some love/covet others' Deaths; the brutaler the better it seems. Just what this Planet needs -- more Pain.

And yeah, we could bomb them back to the Stone Age, Thriller (we do have the Technology!),* but it appears they're already fucking There.

Shall we just Confiscate it, because We CAN?

See, this is what Ultimate Capitalism ultimately brings -- ya see something you might covet, you fucking TAKE it. You don't ever fucking ASK. Because money/Power Trumpfs EVERYTHING. (You can even ask President Pussy Grabber if that's True!)

That is a very Ugly look.
To me leastways.

*it's cost us dearly, in Lives and Treasure, but we can now kick ANYone's Ass. Sorta makes a guy Proud, to be the Biggest Bully on the Planet, don'tit?

@33,

Your utter inability to apply even a shred of nuance in examination of a scenario is truly mind boggling. And sad. Nobody who is opposed to and willing to protest arctic oil drilling is permitted to own anything derived from plastic, and now an indigenous people protecting their land by the only means and method they know deserve to be "decimated." Do you think it's at all odd that you're the only person in this entire thread adopting this position? In contrast to nearly everyone else here I actually feel bad for the dude and think he deserves some sympathy, but at the end of the day he was a goddamn idiot. Like yourself.

A sad story, but totally preventable had he behaved with a bit of common sense.

This being The Stranger, when I saw “missionary” in the article title, I thought it was the Dan Savage column...

Very pleased that the Pratchett quote was #2. Also, re: that bible-stopping-arrow thing, I'm reminded of the story about the pastor in the flood.

The authorities warned folk to evacuate, but the pastor said, “I trust that God will save me.”

The neighbors came by and offered him a ride out. He said “no, I have faith that God will save me.”

As he stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and said "get in." The pastor said, “No thanks, God will save me.”

The flood waters rose higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop. A helicopter spotted him, dropped a rope ladder and said, "climb on, and we will pull you up!" The pastor said, "No, God will save me!”

Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.

When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”

And God said, "I sent you a warning, a car, a canoe, and a helicopter!”

If there was a God involved in this, he sent a warning and even stopped an arrow - kid shoulda listened.

I wonder if I can hire the Sentinelese to answer my door the next time a missionary rings the bell.

@32 Yeah, this is not a new conversation in India. They've had contact with explorers, the government, anthropologists, film crews, fishermen, cargo ships, and members of other tribes nearby. We actually don't know how much contact the government has had with them, but when they officially stopped seeking contact, they said it was to respect the tribe's wishes. Anyway, they make themselves very clear.

Even with complicated kinship systems, eventually they'll either have to choose inbreeding or dying out or some combo. We could get patronizing and say they don't understand the choice they are making and certainly they show a lot of interest in outsider cargo when they can get it. But as a counterpoint, there are other tribes in the Andaman and Nicobars who have had more contact with outsiders and yet still choose isolation, even after the tsunami. Many of them live self-sufficient traditional lives just like this tribe does even though they are aware of the alternatives. They are not as hostile to outsiders- and their habitat is threatened -not by insane missionaries - but by capitalism, tourism, a highway, and also just the way the stuff of modern consumption changes culture. I think this story is just less exciting to people since it lacks the clear villain, but traditional tribes everywhere are unlikely to exist past this century.

Even though there aren't any obvious "right" answers, I'd say yes, the least wrong thing you can do is respect their right to sovereignty and leave them alone. Because what else can you do? Go in by force and relocate them?

BTW, even though my bet is that the government knows more than they release, we outsiders do not. I'm basing this on reports that there are only 15-20 or so of them left, but who knows. Maybe there are many more and they could survive much longer if left alone and I'm being pessimistic as is my wont. If they have sustainable numbers, they face less threat than the other tribes since no one has built a highway through their territory, etc.

This is how I imagine the UK, post-Brexit. Stone Age technology and murderous xenophobia.

@36, So, you think his murder is justified because you think he's an idiot.That's as sad as you are. He didn't deserve to die. Whoever killed him should face justice. But I guess people like you don't believe in things like that. I support DRILLING the Arctic. Fuck Yea! I also support the rule of law. If someone killed you, I'd expect them to be prosecuted. But if you don't want that, just let us know.

@45

1- the missionary broke Indian law by going to the island, and he did so willingly and knowingly for no reason other than his own private motivations.

2 - the tribe did not break Indian law as killing someone who trespasses on your private property and who you have reason to believe might cause you or your family harm is considered self-defense and therefore not a crime- especially if you give them repeated warnings and they repeatedly escalate the situation and refuse many opportunities to leave peacefully.

3 - even when dealing with people who live inside a society with a developed criminal justice system, we do not extend prosecution to people who can't possibly comprehend their actions in that context.

4 - and even despite all that 'rule of law' means that all people in a society are subject to the law equally, not that members of one society are subjected to the laws of another so this whole argument is irrelevant.

5 - considering that this tribe has never consented to belong to India and has no awareness that India even exists and that they are a separate society on the land they've inhabited for thousands of years, what you are actually advocating for is the right of an occupying force to impose laws on non consenting people without even bothering to tell them about it and then to prosecute them for breaking the unknown occupying force's unknown laws against their right to uphold their own rule of law in their own land.

Which if you want to make that argument at #5, then please do so. It's an argument that occupying forces have made for centuries, especially when dealing with indigenous peoples, and there's nothing new about it other than you wrapping it up in a package that allows you to present yourself as either a troll or a blooming fucking idiot.

@32 - There's a question out there as far as what to do with unenlightened peoples. Imagine if the Americans, like the Romans, were actively degrading their environment? It sounds like those folks won't survive another generation anyhow. I guess we just kinda watch?

...fixed it for ya.

@33 - The nation gets a pass because it was Christian, or Trespassing, or just didn't know any better? If a nation is allowed to kill.. Then we can't complain if that nation gets urbanized, decimated, what evs.

..WHAT EVS!

46

Awesome comment(s).

"... 'rule of law' means that all people in a society are subject to the law equally, not that members of one society are subjected to the laws of another so this whole argument is irrelevant."

Very true, but in this age of Republican Utopias, WE* decide who's above and who's beneath the Law in our unhinged desire for World Dominatioin and Profits-at-all-costs.

The US currently will not allow the World Court to hold sway over OUR illegal actions. We've made ourselves 'immune' to outside interventions while we give ourselves permission to Invade with Impunity.

For Thriller to adopt his attitude of, "We DO whatever the hell WE Want!" well, it's just another part of the NeoCon package. Where Illegal Invasions / the droning of Civilians never has consequences.

Look to Saudi Arabia's murder (and dismemberment) of US journalist/resident Jamal Kashoggi, where even our President places humanity and morality beneath War Profiteering

This shit starts at the very top and runs easily downhill...

*the U.S.
Not We, the people.