"In Their Language, Arrows Mean Hello."

So this topic may be considered insensitive, but hear me out until the end before lighting the tiki torches. (ed note: I'm allergic to fire)

Aren't tiki torches racist now? Is this worse?

 A couple weeks ago, a would be missionary named John Chau set out on a pilgrimage to the North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian Ocean. He was attempting to contact the tribe to spread Christianity, and, ostensibly, convert them to followers and members of modern society. Upon arriving, he was shot at with several warning arrows and forced to leave, however, he returned later on in the week, and was no longer warned, being killed with multiple arrows on the spot. Now, I feel I don't have to tell anyone of the dire ramifications of trying to march up to people currently shooting arrows at you, but nonetheless, he did, and is no longer living due to this action. While it may sound cold, the further problems with this story will reveal why exactly I, as well as many others of various ideologies around the world, have similarly cold receptions to this event.

First, a little backstory. John Chau was a 26 year old missionary who belonged to the All Nations Family missionary group. This group, based out of Kansas City, has a pretty simple mission statement: Bring the teachings of Christ to ALL nations of the world. Simple right? No. Not really. But I digress. Those who knew Chau outside of this church group, said that he very much believed in the above statement, and that he had long been planning to bring the word of Christ to the small and remote North Sentinel Island, home of the Sentinelese, one of the last truly non-contacted groups on the planet.

What does non-contacted mean? Easy, its exactly how it sounds. The tribe who lives on the island, estimated to be about 50 or so people, has no ties whatsoever to any outside nation or people. In fact, we don't even know how to translate their language, or even what etymology or lexicon they use. They are about as close to Aliens on earth as possible with how foreign they are to every other culture in the world. It is for this reason that India officials and various world heritage groups are EXTREMELY protected of the island and its people. It is expressly forbidden to go anywhere near the island, even for fishing, and there can be absolutely no contact with them at any point, for any reason. This has a number of reasons obviously, such as disease, destruction of culture, and/or uprooting of their way of life. To put a long story short, we protect their human rights, because they deserve them. Also, they generally don't like visitors.

Pictured: Their usual greeting.
(Indian Coastguard/Survival)

So, back to John Chau. He had to literally bribe a fishing boat to take him to this island without alerting any authorities whatsoever, and was pretty much dropped off without so much as a goodbye. This is obviously because the fishermen knew EXACTLY where and what they were doing, and how well things usually turn out for people who stray too close to the island itself. True to form, John Chau was killed, the fishermen bugged out, and the only reports we have at the moment are that the body has been left undisturbed on the beach.

Now this has caused an uproar in several more extreme evangelical groups. Many are calling for the Indian government to go and retrieve the body. Many others are calling for the extermination of the tribe for what they deem "murder". And others are hailing John Chau as a modern martyr of the faith, extolling his virtues as saint-like and encouraging others to follow in his footsteps. But no. NO ONE should be following in his footsteps. In fact, they should be walking the other direction from his footsteps entirely. This is due to the fact that, for as well-intentioned as he seemed to be, he may have doomed the tribe forever.

Going all the way back to Christopher Columbus's pillaging of the New World, settlers and missionaries have tried to make contact with indigenous peoples. Most of the time, this ends badly, although not always for malicious reasons. We, as a people, carry so many diseases and bacteria on us at any given moment, we may as well be living Petri dishes. Many of us will never fall prey to these ailments due to our natural resistances built over the many years of use having lived with them. But a non-contacted tribe who has no resistances against them? The results can be catastrophic. One of the theories as to why the Mayan culture declined seemingly overnight is due to the exposure of European diseases, such as smallpox and the flu. These things we take to granted in our cultures can wipe out a group that has never experienced them. And now, there is a possibly disease ridden dead body right on the shores of North Sentinel Island.

Furthermore, many groups of evangelicals and right-leaning religious groups are now claiming that the need to "convert" the heathens on the island is greater than ever. Only by forcibly converting them to a religion they do not know exists, and presumably, would not care for, can they be "saved". This poses even more problems. The Indian government, as said before, prohibits any travel to the island, but they can only allot so many resources to the effort. It would be nearly impossible to keep a large group of people off the island, without resorting to violence. Now, obviously no groups have yet to form like this, but what if the message they are trying to convey reaches 10 more would-be John Chau's? What if more people are inspired by this reckless and ill-advised act?

Thankfully, there is a silver lining to this whole situation. The vast majority of people the world over, think this guy was a dumb-dumb head. Ironically, outside of a scant few, pretty much all religious organizations have condemned the act as one of supreme naivete and shortsightedness. Many feel, rightfully so, that Mr. Chau, while possibly believing his intentions to be good, knew that the story would receive publicity, and would bring pity and support for his chosen organization. But thankfully, that has been far from the truth. The All Nations Family mission is now being looked at rather harshly, and is in general, being criticized for not stamping out the behavior that lead to John Chau's journey.

At the end of the day, this story is one where there are no winners. A man is dead, and his family grieves. A tribe, who only wishes to be left alone, is thrown into an unwelcome spotlight. And a religion, that already has plenty of detractors, is further put through the ringer of controversy. The only thing that John Chau succeeded in, was damaging lives. It really is sad to think of it in that way, but that is the only way we can. I have spoken harshly of the situation because it NEEDS to be spoken that way. Spreading your chosen faith is fine, but breaking laws and endangering not only yourself, but the people you wish to "save", is very much not fine. At all. This is the issue with so many in the world these days. Whether you are Christian, Catholic, Atheist, or other, the lack of thinking before acting is the real devil in the details.