Althouse: Column bemoaning "human safaris" to photograph people of the Amazon who have lived beyond contact from the outside world...

September 5, 2014

Column bemoaning "human safaris" to photograph people of the Amazon who have lived beyond contact from the outside world...

... is illustrated by a photograph of people of the Amazon who have lived beyond contact from the outside world.

20 comments:

tim maguire said...: Well sure, isn't that the whole point of the liberal media complex? To help affluent liberals feel superior without making them actually change their habits. Conceptually, this is no different putting solar panels on a McMansion or driving an electric car to the airport for that ski vacation.; 9/5/14, 7:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: People from the East Side of Manhattan or Chicago's Gold Coast have to have *something* new to talk about, you know, at cocktail parties. Stop stifling their conversations!

Everyone and their brother has been to Antarctica now, they have to have a new and unique topic of conversation.; 9/5/14, 7:43 AM
gerry said...: Camping out 100% of the time really sucks.; 9/5/14, 8:04 AM
jacksonjay said...: How much do those red-carpet celebs pay for hair stylin? Those "uncontacted Indians" get the same look with Stone Age stylin!

Notice that swaggy Black English spice?; 9/5/14, 8:31 AM
Peter said...: It's hard to see informed consent here. How can these people truly be making an informed decision to live as they do if they know practically nothing about alternatives?

Perhaps there are greater things than dentistry, antibiotics and iPhones, but I expect it's hard to think about these greater things when one has a toothache or a chronic, debilitating disease. Nor does obtaining dental or medical care render one unable to think of these greater things.

How much of a kindness is it, really, to leave these people uncontacted and isolated?; 9/5/14, 8:32 AM
Wince said...: Doesn't this violate the "Prime Directive"?; 9/5/14, 8:58 AM
Christy said...: That is well groomed and non-sparse facial hair on the dude. He looks to have some European DNA.; 9/5/14, 9:01 AM
Nichevo said...: Peter you should step back, don't you know they'll just start shaving "you know, down there" and that can't be allowed to happen amirite?; 9/5/14, 9:03 AM
MayBee said...: A few years ago, anthropologist Glenn Shepard wrote a blog post that detailed the death of a friend who was familiar with the Mashco-Piro’s culture. The man would occasionally leave them gifts from a distance, Shepard wrote in the post, which was published in January 2012. He planted a garden and allowed the Mashco-Piro to take his crops. In 2011, he was killed in that garden by a Mashco-Piro bowman.

So many Timothy Treadwells, so little Werner Herzog time.; 9/5/14, 9:14 AM
jimbino said...: Every denizen of this world has the natural law right to approach and talk to any other one without asking permission of the do-gooders.

If I were a young tribal guy there, I would be pretty pissed off if denied the right to meet others and perhaps gain a useful pocketknife!

Who died and gave these do-gooders the right to determine where and how everyone should live and relate?; 9/5/14, 9:31 AM
Unknown said...: that guy reminds me of a current movie star, name's on the tip of my tongue....; 9/5/14, 9:35 AM
lgv said...: Violating the "prime directive". Oh wait, that's fiction.

Yes, elitists and academics want to keep them as they are. They can be a wonderful control group. Introducing anything modern would be bad for them. God forbid we should keep them from their strict organic, non-GMO, farm to table existence. Too bad they aren't natural vegans, too.; 9/5/14, 9:53 AM
Fritz said...: "We're journalists. We get to do the things you don't get to, like bother the natives, spill government secrets, and keep our own secrets."; 9/5/14, 10:26 AM
Dave D said...: So, some want these peoples to be left alone with no outside contact. Are these the same people that want to let the planets population, fueled mainly by Islam and Hinduism, tip 10 trillion unchecked, because those two goals are NOT compatible.

I really think it's just a bunch of career anthropologists and their buddies trying to protect the only thing left that is interesting in their field? LOTS of things go the way of the dodo each day. It's a fact of life in this (overcrowded) environment we all share.; 9/5/14, 10:57 AM
Rusty said...: Big deal you can do the same thing at any college faculty lounge.
Save yourself a bundle.; 9/5/14, 5:11 PM
The Godfather said...: It's just a question of what kind of a zoo you want to keep them in. One that only you and your "kind" can visit, or one that rich yuppies can also visit.; 9/5/14, 8:33 PM
The Godfather said...: And by the way, check out the movie "End Of The Spear".; 9/5/14, 9:00 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: So they killed people for simply trying to talk with them? Pardon me if I am not so concerned then with their preferences.; 9/5/14, 11:26 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Plus, how can they actually know that every person in that tribe wants no outside contact. What if that's only true of a few overbearing tribal leaders?

Additionally, people are people, not beasts. You don't get to keep a special preserve of pet people.; 9/5/14, 11:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Uncontacted?
Who gave them the stylish perm and the banged hair cut?; 9/6/14, 5:30 PM