The tribesman who Facebook friended me
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The tribesman who Facebook friended me
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Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#2Good story. Where did the tribesman log into facebook?
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#3Good story. Where did the tribesman log into facebook?
Internet access of some kind or another can be found almost everywhere in the world now. It might have been from a cell phone or a shared computer at some nearby town. The point is, I don't think it matters where or how any more.
That's insignificant in light of the real sea-change, which is that almost anyone in the alive can.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#4Good story. Where did the tribesman log into facebook?
Internet access of some kind or another can be found almost everywhere in the world now. It might have been from a cell phone or a shared computer at some nearby town. The point is, I don't think it matters where or how any more. That's insignificant in light of the real sea-change, which is that almost anyone in the alive can .
i heard in some talk that feature phones account for the largest segment of status updates to facebook
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#5For anyone who hasn't seen it, the documentary he talks about is mesmerizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7a-OJ7IVw
Two standout scenes for me. First, gazing out from the London Eye over a skyline filled with incredible feats of engineering, the chief is bemused - because our money houses are so much bigger than our spirit houses.
Second, entering the main spirit house itself (St. Paul's cathedral) - after establishing that their women won't be struck dead for entering such a holy place - the tribespeople encounter, seemingly for the first time, the glories of neoclassical Western sculpture, art, architecture. They caress the faces carved from marble and stone, dance with pure delight between the soaring Corinthian columns. They explain how such impossibly beautiful things could only have been created by God, and have obviously been part of the world from the very beginning.
Ever since watching this series, I've tried to look at my city with the same combination of cynicism and amazement.
There's also a bittersweet segment where the chief of the tribe is dumbfounded that he's not allowed to drop in on the "big chief" - Queen Elizabeth II.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#6> when they boarded the plane back to PNG, we were the ones racked with envy – envious of their joyously interdependent community, their clear understanding of what mattered in life, their rock-solid roles, simple pleasures and ample leisure time, their lack of mortgages and debts, their indisputable “goodness.”
I call BS. This is not an honest appraisal but just a good line to spew forth at cocktail parties. Anyone who really believed this stuff would find it relatively easy to join one of these hunter gatherer tribes. (For instance, Napoleon Chagnon lived for decades amidst one of the fiercer tribes [1]. Read the first pages of his book and you'll see he wasn't much prepared for it, either. But a few iron utensils go a long way towards acquiring tribal goodwill.) Any relocation inconvenience would certainly be over-compensated by the very fundamental benefits described.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#7Good story. Where did the tribesman log into facebook?
The last time I heard, people in New Guinea do regular trading with outsiders to acquire living-essential goods such as guns, machetes and VCDs. This is globalization.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#8> when they boarded the plane back to PNG, we were the ones racked with envy – envious of their joyously interdependent community, their clear understanding of what mattered in life, their rock-solid roles, simple pleasures and ample leisure time, their lack of mortgages and debts, their indisputable “goodness.” I call BS. This is not an honest appraisal but just a good line to spew forth at cocktail parties. Anyone…
I couldn't agree more. They don't have mortgages and debts, but my god, they put their life on risk every day. The homicide rates in New Guinea during 1960s to 1980s were really high.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#9I think we can learn a lot from tribal societies. While it's unfeasible to have it in modern society, there's a lot to like from them including their focus on social relationships. I bet all the mental illnesses we have right now are partially cause by effects of the modern world: long commutes, demoralizing and meaningless work, less social ties, less people to confide in, overpopulation
Seeing strangers most of the day leads you to subconsciously believe you're just a insignificant cog in the wheel.. while being in a tribal community leads one to feel they're an integral part of the whole because everyone needs each other. There's a stark identity difference because of our perceived relationship to everyone else.
Re: The tribesman who Facebook friended me
#10The myth of the noble savage isn't dead yet, apparently.
Do you have two kids? Fancy both of them living to five? Right answer: you want to live in your world, not your history.