The Last True Punks

[Mankini]

While driving taxi one morning, I encountered a young Asian-American woman who worked for Mac and was importing laptops and wifi into tiny SE Asian villages. She was extremely proud of herself and was bragging to me about her ''humanitarian'' work until I stopped her short by asking "Why in Hell would you import this worthless crap to people who have done just fine for 5000 years without it?" She was angered and didnt talk to me anymore...

So what do people think? Should people be left alone? Or is civilization beneficial for them?

https://news.vice.com/article/should-society-start-contacting-the-amazons-uncontacted-tribes

<edit> I tossed some of that link out in the open. Oops forgot - signed Tude

In June 2014, seven members of the Chitonawa tribe emerged from the Amazon rainforest. Naked except for loincloths, they began communicating across a river with people in the tiny village of Simpatia, part of a protected region in Brazil inhabited by a settled indigenous group called the Ashaninka.

In a video one of the locals took of the encounter, the Chitonawa initially appear cautious. One awkwardly brandishes a rifle he may have taken from a logging camp across the border in Peru. But a man from Simpatia wades into the water, offering the Chitonawa bananas, and the tribespeople eventually enter the village.

The Chitonawa complained of "quarrels among them," according to local media. Described as "very, very scared," the Chitonawa, who appeared to have traveled about 60 miles from their home in the Peruvian jungle, also said they had been "constantly persecuted and killed by whites" — likely drug traffickers and illegal loggers encroaching on their territory.

 

[Tude]

I've been reading about another tribe totally isolated and there was talk of contact (forget where). Not only is it a change of their present culture (potentially) but the exposure to our diseases has to be bad too.

Not sure why they are punks?

 

[Art101]

This one is a double edge sword for sure.

 

[Mankini]

More in an ironic sense because they live out there, and dont give an F-- what the rest of the world is doing. (I assume) I love them because they have purity and true independence. For as long as they can stay untainted from civilization; and unmolested by Brazil and the US; entities who want to rape them or co-opt them. "Freedom'' is a word I hate because its overused by hypocrites who want nothing more than to commodify and take everything, material or spiritual.

 

[Matt Derrick]

as much as we all like to glorify tribes and cultures like this as being some kind of utopia that always gets ruined by the white man, the reality is much more benign. just because a culture is isolated or 'uncivilized' doesn't necessarily make it inherently good; keep in mind that archaic cultures often still cling to ideas like the subservience of women, and hold other beliefs that have no basis in reality/science that are harmful to themselves.

let's not forget why and how mankind has evolved over the past few million years, and how much of that evolution is not just of the physical variety but also cultural and philosophical evolution. one of my favorite sayings is that evolution did not end with us growing thumbs; rather, we continue to this day to evolve our way of thinking and attitudes towards others. another example is how gay and trans people can walk the streets (mostly) freely in a way that wasn't possible as little as 30-50 years ago.

so again, it's important to remember where we came from and how we got here before we jump onto the 'things were so much better/simpler when we lived in the forest' bandwagon. 'the last true punks' is a bit overreaching in my opinion.

that said, to answer the question of whether they should be integrated into society or left alone... in a perfect world they would be given the choice, and have that choice respected. unfortunately due to the symptoms of moder society that DO suck, such as capitalism, it's extremely unlikely that will ever happen for these people.

 

[Mankini]

Yes, but please define "evolution''...and how can we differentiate it from devolution....Technology is praised but all it has done is make things complicated. One can only kill so many things with a bow and arrow or club.
Simplicity in all things is good. The more morality and culture become complex the more hassles for humans.
Medicine has lengthened our lifespans: but to what end? Noone wants to develop bedsores and while away their last decade in an Alzheimers induced stupor...I'd rather live and die young vibrant and healthy. ...???...

If I'm starting to sound like a Social Darwinist or eugenicist, I swear to you I'm not! But people like Ed Abbey, Malthus, and Linkola do make thought-provoking points.