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American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

nytimes.com

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Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#71

Post by swatkat »

oh_sigh wrote: post #60
swatkat wrote: post #13

What he did was illegal. Access to the island is restricted for a reason. >>> But Mr. Chau pushed ahead in his kayak, which he had packed with a Bible. After that, it is a bit of a mystery what happened. Also, can these evangelists take a break? It's not 1600s anymore.

He was an adventurer. He would go to remote and weird places all the time, usually without any kind of primordial tribespeople to convert. Odds are he was just on another adventure, rather than him feeling that these people really needed jesus.

The 27-year-old American, identified as John Allen Chau, came to India on a tourist visa but came to the Andaman and Nicobar islands in October with the express purpose of proselytizing, Dependra Pathak, Director General of Police of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told CNN. "We refuse to call him a tourist. Yes, he came on a tourist visa but he came with a specific purpose to preach on a prohibited island," Pathak said. Chau did not inform the police of his intentions to travel to the island to attempt to convert its inhabitants.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/21/asia/andaman-nicobar-us-missi...

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#72

Post by projectramo »

98codes wrote: post #62
projectramo wrote: post #38

The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mistaken and misguided. But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), woul…

Intentions don't matter if your actions prove otherwise. He invaded their land in order to enact his beliefs, that the people there have repeatedly shown they want no part of.

"Don't matter" in what sense?

Should his intentions render his actions legal? No.

Should his intentions elicit sympathy in fellow humans? Yes

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#73

Post by Symmetry »

xutopia wrote: post #23

I'm fascinated by these people. They must have one heck of a culture to immediately resort to killing any stranger that lands on their shore. I wonder what religious beliefs they have and what kind of society creates what seems to be extreme and violent xenophobia to us. As fascinated as I am I would double check that I have something to row with if I take a motorboat out to see the island from afar. No way in hell I…

That isn't horribly uncommon for people living in non-state societies when encountering people who don't speak the same language. It's really easy to dehumanize people you can't talk to and consider them giants or dwarves or goblins or whatever.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#74

Post by cma »

projectramo wrote: post #38

The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mistaken and misguided. But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), woul…

They fired arrows on him on his first attempt that didn't hit, he fled, and kept coming back to trespass over several days because an imaginary man told him to.

The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child, but I don't know that for sure.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#75

Post by projectramo »

beat wrote: post #44
projectramo wrote: post #38

The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mistaken and misguided. But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), woul…

If it was actually against the law to teach Rails to the homeless, in order to protect them? Yeah.

You're making a legal argument about whether the action should be allowed, and I am making a moral argument about whether this person deserves sympathy rather than scorn.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#76

Post by projectramo »

cma wrote: post #74
projectramo wrote: post #38

The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mistaken and misguided. But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), woul…

They fired arrows on him on his first attempt that didn't hit, he fled, and kept coming back to trespass over several days because an imaginary man told him to. The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child, but I don't know that for sure.

With that last sentence you are making my argument for me.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#77

Post by facistsSuck »

JPKab wrote: post #36
deanCommie wrote: post #12

> Mr. Pathak said Mr. Chau, believed to be 26 or 27 and from Washington State, may have been trying to convert the islanders to Christianity. Right before he left in his kayak, Mr. Chau gave the fishermen a long note. In it, police officials said, he had written that Jesus had bestowed him with the strength to go to the most forbidden places on Earth. A perfect storm of Christian and American arrogance.

Please explain to me how the fact that he happens to be American is proven to be causal here? I guess you make a good point. After all, the missionaries who converted indigenous populations all over the world were all from the USA. Oh wait, no. The vast majority of the Christian missions were founded by Europeans. Arabs converted millions to Islam hundreds of years ago. But yeah, they were all infected with American…

Great point. Nowadays if you dare to criticize evils done by people in the name of Islam, you will be called islamophobic and racist.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#78

Post by monocasa »

JPKab wrote: post #36
deanCommie wrote: post #12

> Mr. Pathak said Mr. Chau, believed to be 26 or 27 and from Washington State, may have been trying to convert the islanders to Christianity. Right before he left in his kayak, Mr. Chau gave the fishermen a long note. In it, police officials said, he had written that Jesus had bestowed him with the strength to go to the most forbidden places on Earth. A perfect storm of Christian and American arrogance.

Please explain to me how the fact that he happens to be American is proven to be causal here? I guess you make a good point. After all, the missionaries who converted indigenous populations all over the world were all from the USA. Oh wait, no. The vast majority of the Christian missions were founded by Europeans. Arabs converted millions to Islam hundreds of years ago. But yeah, they were all infected with American…

As someone from the deep south (the largest baptist church in America was walking distance from my house as a kid) there's a huge push for third world mission work among evangelicals. The only reason why you don't see the focus on explicit conversion is that they don't feel like there's many pagans left to convert.

For an example of the US evangelical effect on the third world: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/how-uganda-w...

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#79

Post by throwawaywhynot »

xutopia wrote: post #23

I'm fascinated by these people. They must have one heck of a culture to immediately resort to killing any stranger that lands on their shore. I wonder what religious beliefs they have and what kind of society creates what seems to be extreme and violent xenophobia to us. As fascinated as I am I would double check that I have something to row with if I take a motorboat out to see the island from afar. No way in hell I…

xenophobia? You're attributing 20th century concepts to a tribe with no hint of modern civilization. The history of humans is bloodier than you think.

Re: American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

#80

Post by malmsteen »

JPKab wrote: post #36
deanCommie wrote: post #12

> Mr. Pathak said Mr. Chau, believed to be 26 or 27 and from Washington State, may have been trying to convert the islanders to Christianity. Right before he left in his kayak, Mr. Chau gave the fishermen a long note. In it, police officials said, he had written that Jesus had bestowed him with the strength to go to the most forbidden places on Earth. A perfect storm of Christian and American arrogance.

Please explain to me how the fact that he happens to be American is proven to be causal here? I guess you make a good point. After all, the missionaries who converted indigenous populations all over the world were all from the USA. Oh wait, no. The vast majority of the Christian missions were founded by Europeans. Arabs converted millions to Islam hundreds of years ago. But yeah, they were all infected with American…

I think he implies americans are more stupid than europeans nowadays #trump #mormons #altright #bigots. We dont really have that in europe

Edit: "some" americans of course.

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