Missionary contacts highly vulnerable uncontacted Amazon tribe

[Potoooooooo]

I fucking HATE missionaries
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10418
A highly vulnerable uncontacted tribe in Peru’s southeastern Amazon has been contacted by a missionary, raising fears that the Indians have contracted fatal diseases which could wipe them out.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I'm sure it's God's will they be contacted,
and if they all die from the contact, that'll be God's will, as well.
But if the missionary is prosecuted for eaten by the tribe, it's Satan at work.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

So, does that mean that the missionary himself gets the mining rights to this newly unclaimed land or do they go to the church that he works for?

 

[Mageth]

Well, I'm pretty much compelled to post this quote here, although it's not precisely applicable in this case:

“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already.”

― Edward Abbey

In this case, perhaps a modification is in order...such as

“The missionary went forth to infect the tribe - as if the tribe weren't in enough danger already.”

― Mageth, channeling Abbey

 

[Clivedurdle]

Are not people who do this obviously insane? Going to unknown places, taking the common cold with them, taking mad ideas, telling other people them?

 

[Tigers!]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

 

[dystopian]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

It's different in that the missionary goes there with the aim of "saving" them... only to doom them.

Reminds me of an old joke;

When the first christian missionary finally met the eskimo tribe he was looking to convert, he told them about hell and how only those who knew Jesus and believed in him would be spared. A clever eskimo asked what happened to babies who died without knowing Jesus, which the missionary thought long and hard about until he finally decided that in that case the babies would be saved because they couldn't have known Jesus and thus couldn't believe in him. Then the eskimo asked what happened to people who grew up having never heard of Jesus, and so like the babies couldn't believe in him. Reluctantly, the missionary was forced to admit that they too would be saved like the babies. Finally, the eskimo asked; "So why'd you go and tell us about Jesus?"

 

[Keith&Co.]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

How many tourists typically visit an 'uncontacted' tribe?
And is it maybe to be expected that a government making 'first contact' or an anthropologist, might try to minimize the damage they do during that contact?

Is there anything different the missionary might have done to minimize the possibility of damage in his efforts to bring these people the glory of his god? Preferably before the contact/

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

I still hope they eat the fucker.

 

[Malintent]

nope no difference... except that "businessmen, journalists, government officicials, etc" aren't as selfishly dumbfucked in the head to go and do something so harmful to others as the piece of shit christian terrorist engaged in bilogical warfare with them... OK, maybe the businessmen are.. but there is no money in it so they don't. Still doesn't exactly put missionaries in good company, does it?

 

[Tigers!]

nope no difference... except that "businessmen, journalists, government officicials, etc" aren't as selfishly dumbfucked in the head to go and do something so harmful to others as the piece of shit christian terrorist engaged in bilogical warfare with them... OK, maybe the businessmen are.. but there is no money in it so they don't. Still doesn't exactly put missionaries in good company, does it?

I do love the presumption of guilt given to the missionary.

 

[dystopian]

nope no difference... except that "businessmen, journalists, government officicials, etc" aren't as selfishly dumbfucked in the head to go and do something so harmful to others as the piece of shit christian terrorist engaged in bilogical warfare with them... OK, maybe the businessmen are.. but there is no money in it so they don't. Still doesn't exactly put missionaries in good company, does it?

I do love the presumption of guilt given to the missionary.

No presumption whatsoever; the missionary went there to contact them, with the contact having been documented. It is well known that said kind of contact is highly dangerous for these tribes due to the spread of diseases, so guilt is a given even beyond the immense arrogance of thinking these people need to be converted to begin with. Whether he knew the risk or not isn't particularly relevant to the matter of his guilt.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I do love the presumption of guilt given to the missionary.

Really?
You have some reason to believe he should be absolved of any guilt?
Like, maybe he contacted them accidentally? He got confused in the jungle and knocked on the wrong lodge?

Or maybe he wasn't aware that they were an uncontacted-tribe?

Or he thought he had coordinated all necessary permissions with the authorities to be the first of all out-side-world contact, before anthropologists, before journalists, before businessmen?

Sure, sure, clear up the presumption, here. Seems to me that the most likely story is that he went to a lot of trouble to be the first contact, probably thinking he was adding to God's glory at the cost of niggling little government policies, but i could be wrong.
You have some reason for your presumption of his innocence?

 

[Valjean]

The "knowledge" missionaries bring can be as pernicious as the diseases. -- both the intended religious instruction and the inadvertent cultural memes.

 

[Tigers!]

I do love the presumption of guilt given to the missionary.

No presumption whatsoever; the missionary went there to contact them, with the contact having been documented. It is well known that said kind of contact is highly dangerous for these tribes due to the spread of diseases, so guilt is a given even beyond the immense arrogance of thinking these people need to be converted to begin with. Whether he knew the risk or not isn't particularly relevant to the matter of his guilt.

You are assuming that the missonary (ies) go in without any preparation. It is that (sometimes) unwarranted assumption that I take umbrage with.

 

[Cobalt]

No presumption whatsoever; the missionary went there to contact them, with the contact having been documented. It is well known that said kind of contact is highly dangerous for these tribes due to the spread of diseases, so guilt is a given even beyond the immense arrogance of thinking these people need to be converted to begin with. Whether he knew the risk or not isn't particularly relevant to the matter of his guilt.

You are assuming that the missonary (ies) go in without any preparation. It is that (sometimes) unwarranted assumption that I take umbrage with.

Please feel free to better express that umbrage by explaining what preparations were made in this particular case to prevent the transmission of illnesses to which the previously uncontacted people may have had no resistances. Beyond the disease-risk aspect, also please explain why these people needed to be arbitrarily contacted by an emissary of any religion.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Whether infecting unprepared tribes with illnesses, or trying to change laws in 3rd world countries to imprison or execute homosexuals, Christianity has a lot to answer for, even in the modern era.

 

[il Palazzo]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

It's different in that the missionary goes there with the aim of "saving" them... only to doom them.

Reminds me of an old joke;

When the first christian missionary finally met the eskimo tribe he was looking to convert, he told them about hell and how only those who knew Jesus and believed in him would be spared. A clever eskimo asked what happened to babies who died without knowing Jesus, which the missionary thought long and hard about until he finally decided that in that case the babies would be saved because they couldn't have known Jesus and thus couldn't believe in him. Then the eskimo asked what happened to people who grew up having never heard of Jesus, and so like the babies couldn't believe in him. Reluctantly, the missionary was forced to admit that they too would be saved like the babies. Finally, the eskimo asked; "So why'd you go and tell us about Jesus?"

"...and that's why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight."
Terry Pratchett

 

[Underseer]

No real difference to the journalist, govt. official, tourist, business man etc. who goes. Any of these could carry a disease.

It's different in that the missionary goes there with the aim of "saving" them... only to doom them.

Reminds me of an old joke;

When the first christian missionary finally met the eskimo tribe he was looking to convert, he told them about hell and how only those who knew Jesus and believed in him would be spared. A clever eskimo asked what happened to babies who died without knowing Jesus, which the missionary thought long and hard about until he finally decided that in that case the babies would be saved because they couldn't have known Jesus and thus couldn't believe in him. Then the eskimo asked what happened to people who grew up having never heard of Jesus, and so like the babies couldn't believe in him. Reluctantly, the missionary was forced to admit that they too would be saved like the babies. Finally, the eskimo asked; "So why'd you go and tell us about Jesus?"

But wouldn't that be the ideal outcome?

If the missionary saves them, then they all die, then they all go straight to heaven. It's a win-win for everyone!

At least, it's a win if you believe in Christianity. If you care about human lives, then it's not much of a win.

 

[dystopian]

You are assuming that the missonary (ies) go in without any preparation. It is that (sometimes) unwarranted assumption that I take umbrage with.

Are you seriously expecting us to entertain the notion that christian missionaries take full biohazard suits with them when they go preaching to the natives? Because that's the level of preparation one would have to take to not be an irresponsible asshole here.