Puzzle Description:

This kayaker should be remembered as a terrorist instead. (See comment 1)

#1: Joe (infrapinklizzard) on Feb 16, 2019 [SPOILER]

Remote Community Faces Biological Terror Threat From U.S.
Religious Extremist Killed by Local Authorities.

https://thewalrus.ca/where-not-to-travel-in-2019-or-ever/

Sad. Sad that a person who seemed to have at least had some education, should be so ignorant.

Oh, and for a long time I thought that the adventurer was on a magic carpet.

Thought provoking!

Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

It sounds to me like the islanders were terrorists. It's fine not to welcome outsiders, but to shoot first and ask questions later is not acceptable in my book. And I don't buy the idea that he would be carrying diseases that would be a threat. That was the case with Europeans carrying smallpox and wiping out the Native Americans, but in these days of immunization, I doubt that that would be a problem.

"...the Sentinelese, an Indigenous tribe that aggressively resists contact with the outside world. Save for­ sporadic visits from an anthropologist with India’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the 1960s to ’90s, and two Indian fishermen who were killed in 2006 for venturing too close, the Sentinelese have rarely interacted with outsiders over the past century, making them immunologically vulnerable. "

They have not been immunized. Even if he was immunized he still has had many diseases that they have simply never been exposed to. If he had a cold it could hit them with the force of the Spanish Flu (a virus which killed 50-100 million people in 1917-1918).

The Sentinelese are living the lifestyle they have lived forever. They do not live in the modern world with its respect for human life (which even so is not as universal as we in the rich world would like to think). This is how they protect themselves, how their ancestors protected themselves, and (if their society is to survive) how their descendants will protect themselves.

It is easy enough to leave them alone (which is all they want). We should.

That may be, but it's still extremely unfair to call someone a terrorist who's intentions are not to hurt anyone. A terrorist is someone who intentionally harms people to make them afraid. That describes the islanders, not the kayaker.

It may not have been his intention, but it certainly was his effect. Look at it from their perspective: all they want is to be left alone. Instead they get invaded by a screaming alien. And neither 'invaded' nor 'alien' is too strong a word.
They live on an island. People do not just wander through. In their tribal history and lore, anyone arriving would be an invader. Also, most tribes' word for themselves is the same word for 'people'. Outsiders are not people -- they are unknowable, alien.

He is invading their island arrogantly assuming that he knows better than they how they should live, and going to any length (including his own death) to destroy their society. He may think this is for the best, but this is exactly what terrorists believe, too.

They are defending their homeland. Any country's army will kill invaders.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Christian missionaries are all evil, whatever their "intentions."

Does that include Mother Teresa? You sound more closed-minded than the missionaries.

My view of Christianity embraces respect for and protection of other humans. This individual used his misguided belief to justify an act that was legally and ethically wrong.

Thank you, Joe, for an excellent puzzle and interesting article and for shedding light on this incident.

It most certainly does include Mother Teresa. Her misguided beliefs actually increased the misery of the poorest in Kolkata. Christopher Hitchens wrote the definitive book on her work: https://christopherhitchens.net/mother-teresa. It's an illuminating read.

I've heard that Mother Theresa believed that suffering led to holiness, so yes, her wards suffered far more than they needed to.

There have been quite a few articles claiming that Mother Theresa was anything but a saint. One journalist reported visiting one of her hospitals where he found conditions less than ideal. It was not clean, it was understaffed, and the staff that was there had little or no training. Patients with contagious diseases were not isolated.

Comment #6 about immunization nearly held up for a year :)

In Portland, we have kayaktivists, who may as well be terrorists... All they do is cause trouble/hassles, and I don't see how that helps attract sympathy to their causes.

Portlanders will protest for any cause, but we also have idiots like proudbois and other neo's who infiltrate the protests and vandalize/cause damage that gets blamed on the earnest protesters.

If you don't know the story, it is a very nice image.

And here we are today!

Goto next topic

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