I guess it's always sad when people die....

[conuly]

but there is a reason North Sentinel Island is off-limits. “I have been so nice to them. Why are they so angry and so aggressive?” I don't know, maybe because you were trespassing? They've made it abundantly clear that they don't want visitors.

According to The Washington Post, he did at least get to holler at them (his words, not mine) that Jesus loves them, so I guess his trip wasn't a total waste. (He presumably yelled at them in English. He certainly could not have been speaking their language, because none of us knows what that sounds like.)

With any luck, he didn't get a chance to pass any novel pathogens to these people and the deaths will stop with him.

Edit: Friends are calling him a martyr. I'm not going to say what I think, out of respect for his grieving family, but he's not a damn martyr. He didn't even have a freaking plan.

Comments

[kengr]

As soon as I heard what part of the world he was in I knew it was going to be that island.

Somehow I see him arriving before the pearly gates and getting taken aside by Jesus who will gently explain all the things he did wrong.

Sort of "yes, you are supposed to spread the word. But you need some sort of plan..."

[siderea]

You understand he may be the death of some or all of the people on that island? We usually term people like that "mass murderers".

"But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’"

I dunno, he's your Jesus, not mine. But the version I heard about is pretty clear that he did all the explaining he's gonna do, and pretty clear about what was gonna happen.

[ayebydan]

These were pretty much my thoughts when I saw the posts floating around. He was a damn fool.

[siderea]

"Fool"? If he had released anthrax into an office building or a school, because (he claimed) his god told thim to, would you have called him a "fool"?

[calimac]

A martyr? A martyr for what? You can't be a martyr unless you have a cause.

As I alluded to in my own post linking to the news, this reminds me startlingly of the story of the White Rock Tribe, and I'm still waiting to see if anyone else remembers that story.

[conuly]

I suppose he thought he had a cause. It was just a dumb one, and poorly executed.

[cactuswatcher]

There is always somebody who can't leave well enough alone. Undoubtedly he learned of the place and the tribe the same way most of us have. But couldn't get it wrapped around his head that they don't want outsiders, period, end of story. They ain't bothering the rest of us. Why bother them? Yeah, I know he thought inflicting his religion on them was supposed to be a blessing. But somehow he didn't understand that that was tried many times before there by people (from more than just one religion) who were better prepared? And he never got the message that a sudden immersion in modern international culture would be as likely to wipe them out as 'save' them?

He chose poorly.

[siderea]

And he never got the message that a sudden immersion in modern international culture exposure to the pathogens the rest of us have that they have no immunity to would be as likely to wipe them out as 'save' them?

FTFY.

[malkingrey]

Martyr. Hah. No.

Oscar Romero was a martyr. Mychal Judge was a martyr. Not this guy.

(And I just learned while composing this reply that Romero was in fact canonized this year on 14 October. You'd think there would have been more about it in the news at the time.)

[silveradept]

I cannot call him a martyr of any sort, or anything else other than a damn fool. Even if it's supposed to be a good thing to spread your religion, it's also a good thing to not throw away your life trying to preach to people who very clearly aren't interested.

[siderea]

Worse than that. Way worse. Part of their isolation was to protect them from common pathogens they had no immunity to.

Dude may be a murderer yet.

[low_delta]

What a moron.

[siderea]

What a monster.

Part of their isolation was to protect them from common pathogens they had no immunity to. That's why he had to evade the police and the navy to get there.

He may be a mass murderer for Jesus.

[wpadmirer]

Darwin Award.

[siderea]

Do we give the Darwin Award to people who take others with them?

[konsectatrix]

Yet another casualty of the belief that one can FORCE Jesus to come back if every single person on the planet has had a chance to accept or reject the gospel (At least it was the missionary this time and not the would-be converts).

It's really no surprise that they just don't get the concept of boundaries in general.

[monanotlisa]

Your icon is great.

[monanotlisa]

Thanks for posting this; I'm unreasonably angry. Not only do the people of the island clearly not want to be contacted; they are likely to DIE a horrible death from encountering modern-day humans exposed to a million different diseases. The Americas were not conquered as much as contaminated, after all.

How sick of a soul do you have to have to willfully ignore facts and figures and the will of the people themselves?

[thewayne]

Bingo. Apparently this is the type of person who would happily hand out blankets to Native American Indians in the 19th century and ignore the box label that says 'Warning: possibly contaminated with measles and small pox'. Gotta preech the Jeebuz! I hope if he gets to the Pearly Gates that after doing a face palm that St. Pete pulls the big lever that opens the trap door that sends him down the giant slid to The Good Place. Maybe Michael can have some fun with him.

[agoodwinsmith]

I believe he has committed elaborate suicide, and is guilty[1] of involving other people in his death.

I am sorry for his family, but not much, since he got his ideas from somewhere.

[1] also of other things like self-satisfied stupidity and priveleged arrogance.

[monanotlisa]

Yes! See my comment above.

[heron61]

I heard about this, but only in passing so I thought he was just an intrusive idiot rather than a missionary. My feelings about intrusive idiots are somewhat more positive than towards missionaries and I hope the people there continue to treat missionaries with the respect they deserve.

[conuly]

He was both.

[maju]

I *so* agree with you! He had no business going anywhere near that island.

[conuly]

Seriously.

[chasing_silver]

He's a colonialist asshole. Not surprised he got what was coming to him, and no, I don't feel sorry for him. I do feel bad for his family.

[conuly]

IDK. Given that they're praising him and "forgiving" his killers, I think they missed several chances to talk some sense into him.

[lavendertook]

Nope not a martyr. I did not realize he made it onto shore--that's horrible. Yes, he may have brought illness and death upon all the islanders. He and his church who encouraged proselytizing "adventure" and fostered his worldview are wrong, and deadly so. And if they seek any investigation of his death on the island or propose any prosecution of the islanders, I support all international efforts to utterly prevent their thoughtless and arrogant butts.

[siderea]

I support all international efforts to prosecute them as accessories to attempted murder. Or, heavens forfend, if any of the Sentinelese die, actual murder.

[greghousesgf]

Martyr, no, fool, yes.

[jessie_c]

Like any other white cis Xtian male, he suffered from the delusion that Rules Are For Other People. Such men quite often learn the contrary with a fatal lesson.

Good riddance. The Human race just became a small bit better.

[wolby]

Don't think he's white, for once. Otherwise I agree. Missionaries and evangelists are emotionally abusive scum at best, and the scale quickly slides into the genocidal. I just hope this guy didn't manage genocide.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yay, we got one!

[alex_antonin]

I'd call that guy a tool, but he's not even that useful. The best thing he did in his life was die.

[jessie_c]

The Sentinelese do seem to have read Pterry.

The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that's where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won't do if they don't know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight.

Re: Divine Comedy

[nodrog]

>  so people only go to hell if that's where they believe,
>  in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go

I hadn’t read that, but in a case of parallel evolution I was working on a story that included it:  The Powers That Be want you to be happy, but lack human judgment, so they take your word for what that involves.  If you’re of a particularly masochistic Christian bent, as are some people I know, well, whatever floats yer boat…  So Danté's Inferno is just down the street from Archie Comics ‘Riverdale,’ which is a pretty good Heaven if you think about it!  - The comics, I mean, not the “Twin Peaks Redux” TV show.

[Did you know that according to medieval theologians, one of the “joys of Heaven” was to be able to look down on the sinners roasting in Hell and gloat?  “Neener neener, sux to be you!  My, this water tastes good!  I think I’ll have more.  Haw haw haw…”  Imagine the reaction of a modern Westerner to this “joy.”  That might be an interesting story idea in itself:  If Heaven is horrifying, now what?]

[spikethemuffin]

"I have been so nice to them. Why are they so angry and aggressive?" he said.

:rubs temples:

[author_by_night]

Who did he say this to, anyway? I'm confused about that. Was he somehow able to text from the island? Was it to the boaters who took him there? I don't know if it's that there's been conflicting info, or that I've had company all week so only really gotten snatches of the story. (Said company's also kept me blissfully detached from the news. It's... telling how nice that's been. Not that I don't think knowing what's going on is important, but some days I'd spend way too much time reading every article and comment section related to this.)

[altamira16]

Here is an interesting Twitter thread on the topic about the people of the island, and their encounters with colonialists.

[imhilien]

Arrgh. I read an article where apparently he thought the island could be 'Satan's stronghold' and therefore Needed Saving. I mean, there's no way the islanders could have possibly found their own way to god? Their own religion? Nope, they needed saving.

[conuly]

If he believed that, he couldn't be a missionary.

[chez_jae]

Yeah that...was ill-conceived. And yes, stupid.

[thornsilver]

Yeah, I feel sorry for his family's loss, but the guy got exactly what he asked for, and here is to hope that he managed to not expose them to something they have no immunity for.

I feel that he should have been in jail after his first attempt.

[siderea]

The son-of-a-bitch worked very hard to evade capture by local law authorities. It was illegal, and if he had been caught, he would have been jailed.

A Hindu Indian commenter made a very interesting, elliptical comment over on Metafilter, from which I gather that American conservative Christian response to this incident is... not going over well there. That is it being seen in light of being brown people "with perfectly good religions" who were conquered and subjugated by white Christian English-speaking invaders, and are still not too pleased about it.

The thought brings warmth to the heart, does it not? That all those Hindus and Muslims and Buddhists and Sikhs and whomever all else who have been busy killing one another in sectarian violence are willing to drop their weapons and stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity to protect a little unknown population of their fellow brown people who worship who knows what against the depredations of white Christian colonists, because fuck those guys.