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Comment by aaron695 | Hacker News Reader

This sort of comment is exactly what is wrong what the world.

What is your expertise in this area? Are you a anthropologist??

I suspect you are just one of these sick people who like the idea mini zoos with humans in them.

These are human beings. They deserve access to modern medicines like the rest of us of the world even if you lose this precious zoo.

How are their women treated? That is the ones who don't die in child birth? Going off other primitive societies probably not great no matter what the Hollywood idea of how these societies operate and everything is great.

This sickness of how the majority of the population would never ever want to live like this if they had a choice but somehow the people living it are having the time of their lives is bizarre.

For all we know this island is just another North Korea and although I respect nations statehood I don't pretend it's somehow a moral decision not to get involved.

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You do realize that there are massive amounts of people who are part of our world that are living in worse conditions than this tribe is? How about we focus on them first before we decide that our way of life is so superior just because a minority of us have regular access to modern medicine...

I'm positive you don't need to be an anthropologist to realize this.

I don't even understand the zoo reference. This is not a man made entrapment, it's their home. "Leave them alone" doesn't mean starting island tours.

This world cop attitude is incredibly egotistic. It assumes that we've found the superior way of life. Evidence points to the contrary when you consider the number of species we've played a key role in extinguishing and endangering with our super amazing society.

>You do realize that there are massive amounts of people who are part of our world that are living in worse conditions than this tribe is? How about we focus on them first before we decide that our way of life is so superior just because a minority of us have regular access to modern medicine...

Why should we focus on them? Your logic is that modern medicine is not an improvement or a factor in relieving suffering, but is only an illusion of our egotistical viewpoint. Why would it help those who are 'part of our world' that have insufficient access?

I think your comment is what's "wrong" with the world. You are applying your western values onto a completely foreign culture. Modern medicine? I'm sure after having survived for that long, they are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. You want to give them jeans and t-shirts too? Maybe the gift of starbucks?

It's the opposite of a zoo that the op is talking about.

For all we know this island is just another North Korea

For all we know this island is a tropical paradise.

Reading further down the comments on the linked page (you did read the whole thing, right?) there's an additional encounter described which, shall we say, indicates they're quite content.

I'm all for providing guidance and assistance to the poor, and intervening when serious moral problems are systemic (abuse, wanton violence, diseases untreated, etc.). I'm also all for leaving people alone when they make it very clear they've got things under control, are content with their situation, want you to leave them alone, and there is no indication of moral problems.

they have survived there for 65000 years, what are you going to bring themthat will ensure they are still there in another 65000 years? Nothing.

You want to bring them medicine, but with that comes illnesses they have never been exposed to, you want to bring them food, excellent take along obesity with you. You want them to have access to modern amenities that they have never required but could become dependent on.

Tell you what go drop a couple of crates of jack daniles and few 1000 packs of marlboro and some mcdonalds just so they know what they are missing out on.

There is a vast difference between these people and their society and North Korea. In NK the ruling elite have access to everything youmention and the general population do not. On this island they all have equal access to the same stuff, sure some tribal leader may get the "big bit of chicken" or first choice when it comes to games night, but there is not the inequality that exists in NK.

That's a little presumptuous, don't you think? What gave you the impression that these people need to be saved, and from what? You're absolutely right. These are human beings. Treat them like human beings, not pitiful beings that you need to save because they don't have C-sections and cars and Xanax and lawyers. Stop acting like you know what is best for them. What is your expertise in this area?

If you are concerned about their health, then it is best that we stay away anyway. History (and even this article) has taught us that isolated cultures are incredibly susceptible to our diseases (a.k.a. diseases they have never had contact with), and often times the results are fatal.

And this sort of comment is exactly what's wrong with HN. You could have made these same points more effectively without baiting the person you're replying to.

All you have to do is issue a decree that encourages people to upvote civility and downvote incivility, as opposed to the current standard which says upvote agreement and downvote disagreement.

People upvoted this guy because they agreed with his fundamental points despite the baiting, and in turn he received positive feedback. I think maybe you underestimate the effect karma has on posting behavior; it's not just about pushing comments up and down the page.

>All you have to do is issue a decree that encourages people to upvote civility and downvote incivility, as opposed to the current standard which says upvote agreement and downvote disagreement.

This doesn't matter. Doesn't work on reddit, doesn't work on StackOverflow, and won't work anywhere else.

I'd be interested in reading more about that if you have a link. Reddit says to "moderate based on quality, not opinion" whereas PG said explicitly to do the opposite. (I can't remember how to find the link atm, but it was a comment in some thread on HN that I've seen people refer to.)

http://www.reddit.com/wiki/reddiquette

I also found this discussion, which says that in practice there will always be a middle ground between moderating based on quality and moderating based on opinion:

http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/1g14yo/is_th...

because our ego bias is to moderate based on opinion. However that's why a guideline to moderate based on quality pulls things towards the middle.

It's almost like you didn't read the words the parent wrote, he never advocated sailing on over and starting tours...

These people want to be left alone and should be left alone. They've survived for 65000 years on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. I'd say the rest of the "developed" world has something to learn from the way these people sustain themselves without, looking from the outside in, destroying a beautiful tropical island.

For 65000 years

Are YOU an anthropologist? Because the men in many primitive societies had to be taught by the colonists to treat women as inferiors, and that's well-documented by anthropologists. It sounds like you have a single caricature of what "primitive societies" are like, and using that as a basis for a lot of assumptions about the Sentinelese.

You live in a dream world, my friend.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/what-happen...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024011/Uncontacted-...

You just want them to be part of (y)our own zoo.

> How are their women treated?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaPYwlXOTzQ Just fine it would seem

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