We're the phakarwee !
Its interesting that there are places in the world with tribes of people that have little or no contact with civilization. Such an anomaly is getting rarer and rarer as civilized man pushes himself further into the unexplored reaches of the planet – i saw a documentary the other day with an explorer fellow who had tracked through the jungle to meet a tribe and make first contact only to be sorely disappointed by the first natives he met – wearing plastic jewelry.
There are people out there who specialize in adventure holidays to make first contact with a civilization, and i can’t help but wonder about the morality of it all. imagine if your a tribe living in the jungle when suddenly you come across a bunch of american tourists, your peace and quiet, your perception of reality all come into a new light – suddenly you are touched by the modern world – what would a true native make of a digital camera? even clothing is something some tribes know little about and theres something seriously wrong about seeing a native dressed in a football shirt – it strips away the innocent nakedness of it all.
i think people that make first contact with natives have a responsibility to do so carefully as such meetings can be damaging to culture, and easily result in loss of life – i don’t think its stuff that should be organized by tourist people!
Its crazy to think there are people out there that have never seen a TV or even tap water – but there must be! not that being removed from civilization doesnt guarantee they will be good people. I mean there could be cannibals out there, and people with really bizzare rituals and habits indeed.
Its possible we could wipe out entire civilizations of people just by talking to them – they wouldn’t have had the vaccinations we take for granted, and a common cold to us could kill off someone with a lesser immune system.
Still the explorer in me can’t help but think meeting a new civilization for the first time could be kind of cool.
