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

[monanotlisa]

At least the White folks who contacted Native Americans were not all aware of the pestilence the blankets carried (though of course a lot were) -- this guy had the knowledge of the modern world at his fingertips but ignored it because he thought it would bring him glory. "Adventurer-missionary"? Yeah, no. I will accept that some missionaries do good, but that's the subsection that focuses on selfless serving of long-contacted populations.

[thewayne]

I really hate the "Christian" who believes so strongly that since their God is on their side, anything they do is correct and they can do no wrong.  I'd love to see Jesus go to Congress, hand out a copy of the Beatitudes and the Woes, and then lash out with a 2x4.

[siderea]

I'd kick in for the 2x4.