Sometimes, when I walk through international airports, I get a little sad about the homogeneity of homo sapiens. I guess it's an inevitable by-product of globalization and modernity, but I can't help but wish that we didn't all drink Starbucks and wear Nike shoes and listen to Rihanna on our iPods.
So when I see pictures like this (and you better click on that link) I'm utterly shocked. The world isn't all flat: somewhere, somehow, members of my own species are living a completely different sort of life. And then I wonder what the people in red body paint were thinking. Did they just discover a new God?
Check out the rest of the site while you're there. It's awesome. Via kottke.
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I think I read elsewhere that the majority of these tribes are aware of at least the existence of the industrialized world; however, there are also some tribes that are truly un-contacted.
Mind boggling. Now I want to rent the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. Isn't it funny that an image like this fills us with hope. Hope for what, exactly? That this precarious hold we have on the things that are so near and dear to us - technology, fashion, money, food, indoor swimming pools - has a backup plan? It's nice to know that, somewhere, people exist without the technological and scientific crutches of the modern world.
Don't worry, I don't do any of those things.
I had seen these pictures earlier this week and have to agree with what Rachel posted. I am filled with some sort of hope and happiness, but sadness at the same time. The sadness stems from my desire for these people to live their lives in peace. I hope they can evolve undisturbed by our crazy ways. I'd just assume that researchers are going to want to go interview them and observe them or worse, some reality tv program goes and corrupts them...
It would all be terribly fascinating but at what expense?
When I hear about such 'remote tribes' I usually imagine how I would feel if I were in their place. I would certainly want to be rescued, freed from the ignorance, poverty and isolation that they've suffered for so long.
I cannot imagine why some people believe that some of our fellow humans are better off with virtually no scientific knowledge, no knowledge of other cultures, effectively no medicine, and no opportunity to experience the wonder and richness of humanity. Would they want to live such a life? Consign their children to such an impoverished existence? Of course not.
The existence of these isolated tribes is not romantic. It is not a reason for us to wax nostalgic about the past. It is an ongoing tragedy for humanity - but most of all for those poor souls who must endure it.
Unfortunately, our discovery is a beginning of their end...