Jump to content

American missionary shot full of arrows on remote island


bolverk

Recommended Posts

What the fuck.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/us-tourist-john-chau-paid-fishermen-rs-25-000-for-fatal-trip-to-sentinelese-island-1951387

Quote

The fishermen who ferried John Chau to the island late on the night of November 14 told police that they anchored their boat about 500 metres from the beach. Early the next day, the American rowed to the island in a canoe he had brought along. He was also carrying a Bible, Andaman & Nicobar Director General of Police (DGP) Dependra Pathak told NDTV. The fishermen saw the Sentinelese shoot arrows at Mr Chau, but he kept going forward.

dirrigo

North Sentinel Island is home to the Sentinelese who reject any contact with the outside world.

That afternoon, Mr Chau returned to the boat with some non-fatal arrow injuries. He applied medicines, had some food, wrote of his first contact with the Sentinelese in his diary and then -- in the dead of night -- set off for the island again in his canoe. That was the last time the fishermen saw him alive.

Early on November 17, the fishermen saw some Sentinelese tribals drag a body resembling that of Mr Chau to the beach and bury it in the sand. Petrified, they returned to Port Blair and gave the diary to a Port Blair resident known only as Mr Alexander.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, threesheets said:

Wait wait wait wait wait.... he was shot with arrows to the point of injury and then went back, in the middle of the night?

2018 Darwin Award Winner

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

That's fascinating. Just the fact that a group of 50 - 150 people could survive 60,000 years is amazing. You'd think a piece of trash with some random virus on it would've washed up at some point and wiped them out.

Weird to read the story of the attempted rescue of fishermen though. An army helicopter was repelled by arrows...I mean, haven't we figured out a way around such advanced weaponry? 

Maybe it was an Apache helicopter and felt some simpatico so didn't retaliate

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:

a guy dies and manages to get under the skin of a bunch of people who never knew him.  

We kinda do know that he was bit of dick given that he was on a mission to tell others how THEIR way of living is wrong vs his own. 

So he was sort of a sanctimonious bitch.

  • Like 3
  • Fuck You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read the book Sapiens a few years back, and one of the mind blowing metrics is that human in a hunter/gatherer tribe 10,000 years ago would have been worldly indeed if he had encountered 150 people in his lifetime.  Those clans usually consisted of a few dozen people, and the intimacy of their relationships was incredible.  All the men in the tribe mated with all the fertile women, so each child called all the men dad, since they couldn't usually identify which man's sperm did the job.  Each member had a close, intimate (not necessarily sexual) relationship with every other member.  When they needed new DNA they would trade/kidnap someone from a neighboring clan.

Fascinating stuff.

I often wonder how many people I've interacted with in my life, whether a server at a restaurant or someone I've talked to in line waiting to board a flight.

Edited by BearSchlong
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, and said:

We kinda do know that he was bit of dick given that he was on a mission to tell others how THEIR way of living is wrong vs his own. 

So he was sort of a sanctimonious bitch.

they can't speak English obviously and can't read the damn bible. So wtf was his plan? Besides infecting them with germs and causing a genocide as Jesus wished. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BearSchlong said:

I read the book Sapiens a few years back, and one of the mind blowing metrics is that human in a hunter/gatherer tribe 10,000 years ago would have been worldly indeed if he had encountered 150 people in his lifetime.  Those clans usually consisted of a few dozen people, and the intimacy of their relationships was incredible.  All the men in the tribe mated with all the fertile women, so each child called all the men dad, since they couldn't usually identify which man's sperm did the job.  Each member had a close, intimate (not necessarily sexual) relationship with every other member.  When they needed new DNA they would trade/kidnap someone from a neighboring clan.

Fascinating stuff.

I often wonder how many people I've interacted with in my life, whether a server at a restaurant or someone I've talked to in line waiting to board a flight.

I read a book just like it.  Called "Life as an NBA Player."

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

South North Sentinel is absolutely fascinating to me. I used to spend hours combing over it on Google Earth just to see if I could find something. As someone posted, they don't use fire. There's speculation that they wait for lightning to strike and then try to keep any embers that result burning as long as possible. 

When the 2004 tsunami hit, the island was completely submerged. Afterwards, the Indian government sent someone to check on the Sentinelese because, hey, they've GOT to be dead, right? When the helicopter was flying low over a portion of the jungle, the Sentinelese came running out of the jungle to shoot arrows at it. Nobody has any idea how the fuck they made it through that one, but it apparently didn't put much of a dent in their population.

Anyway... fuck this guy. One poorly placed sneeze and he could have wiped everyone on the island out. I'm actually worried that something like that might happen anyway, because they dragged his body off into the forest. Hopefully, he wasn't carrying anything.

Edited by campcrunk
I'm getting old and easily confused.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, campcrunk said:

South Sentinel is absolutely fascinating to me. I used to spend hours combing over it on Google Earth just to see if I could find something. As someone posted, they don't use fire. There's speculation that they wait for lightning to strike and then try to keep any embers that result burning as long as possible. 

When the 2004 tsunami hit, the island was completely submerged. Afterwards, the Indian government sent someone to check on the Sentinelese because, hey, they've GOT to be dead, right? When the helicopter was flying low over a portion of the jungle, the Sentinelese came running out of the jungle to shoot arrows at it. Nobody has any idea how the fuck they made it through that one, but it apparently didn't put much of a dent in their population.

Anyway... fuck this guy. One poorly placed sneeze and he could have wiped everyone on the island out. I'm actually worried that something like that might happen anyway, because they dragged his body off into the forest. Hopefully, he wasn't carrying anything.

Sounds like they shot holes in the "they all must have died" theory.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Horn Dog said:

So how isolated is this island exactly?  Like only 1 Starbucks isolated?

Honestly, not as far out in the middle of nowhere as you might think. And it's fucking TINY. The neighboring islands, the Andamans and Nicobar, show why people shouldn't go anywhere near this place. The British brought all kinds of diseases and now there's only a handful of indigenous Andamanese left. Every now and then, someone leaves "gifts" for the Sentinelese on the beach. They usually respond by urinating or deficating all over the presents. They do seem to like stuff made of metal, probably for cooking and weapons.

5bvjuh.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, campcrunk said:

South Sentinel is absolutely fascinating to me. I used to spend hours combing over it on Google Earth just to see if I could find something. As someone posted, they don't use fire. There's speculation that they wait for lightning to strike and then try to keep any embers that result burning as long as possible. 

When the 2004 tsunami hit, the island was completely submerged. Afterwards, the Indian government sent someone to check on the Sentinelese because, hey, they've GOT to be dead, right? When the helicopter was flying low over a portion of the jungle, the Sentinelese came running out of the jungle to shoot arrows at it. Nobody has any idea how the fuck they made it through that one, but it apparently didn't put much of a dent in their population.

Anyway... fuck this guy. One poorly placed sneeze and he could have wiped everyone on the island out. I'm actually worried that something like that might happen anyway, because they dragged his body off into the forest. Hopefully, he wasn't carrying anything.

it's actually the North one which has people, the south one is uninhabited. But i share your wonderment about this place and people. I was thinking about starting a thread on this place and i'm kind of glad the guy died JUST SO we can talk about it on Surly.  Do they fish? Why don't they venture out like a 1/2 mile or something? It's fascinating that their language can't be interepreted. As we can talk on a plastic piece to anyone in the world they are from the time machine we see in sci fi movies. I'm not kidding about have a government lfy a nightvision heat sensing drone, just to study them.

wild stuff below

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, NowThis said:

it's actually the North one which has people, the south one is uninhabited. But i share your wonderment about this place and people. I was thinking about starting a thread on this place and i'm kind of glad the guy died JUST SO we can talk about it on Surly.  Do they fish? Why don't they venture out like a 1/2 mile or something? It's fascinating that their language can't be interepreted. As we can talk on a plastic piece to anyone in the world they are from the time machine we see in sci fi movies. I'm not kidding about have a government lfy a nightvision heat sensing drone, just to study them.

wild stuff below

 

Got dangit. I always get confused about North vs. South. But, yeah, I'd be completely on board with sending a drone with heat vision. What kind of structures do they live in? Religion? I'd assume animism, but it could be anything - maybe there's giant stone altars to horrible Lovecraftian deities somewhere in that jungle. And where do they get potable water? There's got to be groundwater for wells there, right? Rainwater only? Because there's no streams going in or out of the jungle. Fascinating stuff.

Edited by campcrunk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, NowThis said:

looks like India sent a drone.  If the place is the same size as Manhattan, surely it can support more than 150 people . If all they do is get laid , wouldnt' they have like 10+ kids per woman (like in other tribal societies)?

Infant mortality rate is probably astronomical 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How's the TV reception here? Excellent or- - T V? - You don't have TV? But what will I watch while I'm sitting on the couch? - Couch? - No couches either? Oh, man, I need a beer. [ Questioning Look ]
[ Gasps ] Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God! [ Together] Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!

http://www.simpsonsworld.com/video/317659715960?episode=310458435665

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, NowThis said:

looks like India sent a drone.  If the place is the same size as Manhattan, surely it can support more than 150 people . If all they do is get laid , wouldnt' they have like 10+ kids per woman (like in other tribal societies)?

They probably do, but most of them probably don't make it past 1, and a large percentage of those probably don't make it to 10, much less adulthood.  That was/is the case in other tribal societies.  They do have the advantage of not having other tribes around to get into wars with, so they probably don't lose many people to violence. 

Always eating uncooked food is a recipe for a short lifespan too.  Especially if they are eating fish that were swimming near Thai beaches when Rocko was over there.

  • Like 3
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, FondrenRoad said:

They probably do, but most of them probably don't make it past 1, and a large percentage of those probably don't make it to 10, much less adulthood.  That was/is the case in other tribal societies.  They do have the advantage of not having other tribes around to get into wars with, so they probably don't lose many people to violence. 

Always eating uncooked food is a recipe for a short lifespan too.  Especially if they are eating fish that were swimming near Thai beaches when Rocko was over there.

I was thinking the same thing about child mortality - it must be seriously off the charts.

As for uncooked meat, hopefully: 1) there was lightning around for the use for fire; and 2) they got the missionary guy to an internal temperature of at least 185° before they ate him. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So are these people like humanity's pets? They somehow managed to make it this long doing their thing, so they should be intentionally left in the dark ages? Like don't even give them a choice? I understand not wanting to wipe them out with disease and stuff, but to intentionally deny someone the knowledge that could lead to a better life and maybe more than one out of ten of their kids surviving into adulthood just because you think it is fascinating is kinda dickish.

  • Like 1
  • Fuck You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

So are these people like humanity's pets? They somehow managed to make it this long doing their thing, so they should be intentionally left in the dark ages? Like don't even give them a choice? I understand not wanting to wipe them out with disease and stuff, but to intentionally deny someone the knowledge that could lead to a better life and maybe more than one out of ten of their kids surviving into adulthood just because you think it is fascinating is kinda dickish.

Its the Prime Directive, Mr. Spock.  They have a choice.  They made it.  They can get in a canoe and decide to join the world whenever they want.

Why is their life necessarily worse?  Maybe they live and love and don't waste their lives on facebook and surly pretending that they are going to live forever like we do.

Edited by FondrenRoad
  • Like 7
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

So are these people like humanity's pets? They somehow managed to make it this long doing their thing, so they should be intentionally left in the dark ages? Like don't even give them a choice? I understand not wanting to wipe them out with disease and stuff, but to intentionally deny someone the knowledge that could lead to a better life and maybe more than one out of ten of their kids surviving into adulthood just because you think it is fascinating is kinda dickish.

Well go on over there and rescue them, bro

Edited by immortal13
don't forget your shield
  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

So are these people like humanity's pets? They somehow managed to make it this long doing their thing, so they should be intentionally left in the dark ages? Like don't even give them a choice? I understand not wanting to wipe them out with disease and stuff, but to intentionally deny someone the knowledge that could lead to a better life and maybe more than one out of ten of their kids surviving into adulthood just because you think it is fascinating is kinda dickish. 

I get where you're coming from, but they've made their position on the matter very clear to people like the missionary. They know we have things like helicopters, boats, and planes. Even so, they've literally pissed and shit upon attempts to help them.  Maybe they don't know we could extend their lives by decades and increase their quality of life a thousand fold. But at the same time, what are they going to do if we try to integrate them? Where would we even begin with vocational training? Or maybe they would even prefer living in a close knit family unit to the relatively disconnected modern world regardless of the trade off. And there's a really good possibility that just being near us could be fatal for them - it's not even guaranteed that integrating them wouldn't shorten their lifespans.

With all that in mind, basically all we have to go on is that they really, really do not like outsiders. And, not only do they not want us around - they distrust/dislike/fear/hate us enough that pissing and shitting all over our attempts to help apparently seems like the best way to express their feelings.  So I think just leaving them alone (except for maybe sending a bunch of drones with  thermal cameras to see what's in that jungle because it might be awesome) is really the best guess we've got.

Maybe it's not exactly right to let them live in the Stone Age, but I feel like it's less wrong than forcing the modern world on them.

Edited by campcrunk
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

The 3,000+ Google reviews for North Sentinel Island are pretty amazing.

thanks for the tip.  Indeed the 4,075 reviews are impeccable satire. I'm amazed that so many people kept the comedy chain going without exception. Here are a couple of samples

a week ago-
Once in a lifetime experience. People aren't that friendly as you assume them to be when you see them smiling on the shore. They do that for a different reason.
You get to know a lot about universe.. Like.. human body can't outrun a spear, money is nothing, you can't win a hide and seek game from a group of hungry children.
Language will be an issue but for only initial 5 minutes.
Kids play with human skull shaped toys which sometimes appear real. Don't get panic when they start traditional wild dance before the dinner.
Women are (as expected) creepy there too. I remember a lady laughed at me when I asked for what this water is boiling for ? I wish I could bring some photos, stones, my hands, my wife from there as a token of memory. Great place.
 
 
 
-----
 
 
12 hours ago-
Went here with my girlfriend for a holiday, I loved it. She wasn't impressed. Very poor choice for romantic get away. Great choice for anyone who like to rough it up a bit.

She thought it was hard to get a free table for dinner, then didn't like how when we got one we kept being interrupted by arrows and death threats from the waiters. I loved it. Girlfriend didn't like that so much.

The meal was okay. Not sure what it was but it tasted like chicken or pulled pork, possibly human.

Very peaceful once we got away from the locals, who insisted on trying to spear us to death but will say that outside the village there's no noise, so I slept like a baby under the stars. 5 stars. Would 100% go back. Girlfriend isn't speaking to me tho.
 
 
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

So are these people like humanity's pets? They somehow managed to make it this long doing their thing, so they should be intentionally left in the dark ages? Like don't even give them a choice? I understand not wanting to wipe them out with disease and stuff, but to intentionally deny someone the knowledge that could lead to a better life and maybe more than one out of ten of their kids surviving into adulthood just because you think it is fascinating is kinda dickish.

Brah, are you forgeting the prime directive ?  Did Star Trek teach you nothing  ??!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...