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I thought this was going to be another drunken mistake like the two fishermen who died in 2006. No, apparently, this guy thought he was going to bring Jesus to
by PhasmaFelis 8y ago
I thought this was going to be another drunken mistake like the two fishermen who died in 2006. No, apparently, this guy thought he was going to bring Jesus to a bunch of famously xenophobic murderers.
Any death is a tragedy, but it's hard to feel terribly bad about this one.
- runjake 8y ago"Murderers" is in the eye of the beholder. From their perspective, they are defending their land and people from invaders.
- lightbyte 8y ago>From their perspective, they are defending their land and people from invaders. In this case that is what it looks like from my perspective as well
- classicsnoot 8y agoI wonder if your generosity in interpretation extends to modern cultures and their borders.
- Jtsummers 8y agoBy "modern" I'll interpret that to mean "a nation generally participating in the global community": I'd say, they have every right to defend their borders from invaders. But they also have knowledge that these islanders don't have. They have an understanding that outsiders are not all belligerent and to be feared or non-entities to be killed (though some will act counter to that knowledge, see the stoked fear in the US about the migrant caravan, or the way North Korea treats many outsiders). So it's easier to cast judgment on "modern" nations and cultures who kill on sight, because they really should know better and be better able to discern true threats from mere nuisances.
- verroq 8y agoI don’t believe in moral relativism. They don’t get a pass for not knowing better. Just as their victims didn’t get a pass for not knowing better.
- Jtsummers 8y ago> I don’t believe in moral relativism. Good for you? The homeless, penniless child should never steal the loaf of bread when all other, apparent, options are exhausted. > They don’t get a pass for not knowing better. They get a pass because it was already decided a long time ago that they were too dangerous for outsiders to be allowed near. They're contained, and by the survey numbers their population is dwindling. In another century the island could well be uninhabited. A small speck of isolated land that no one has any need to go to is easy enough to leave alone. > Just as their victims didn’t get a pass for not knowing better. Except their victim (in this case) certainly did know better. They even chased him off multiple times before finally killing him.
- verroq 8y agoI don’t see how a single homeless child is comparable. This is more like justifying North Korea’s methods because the poor country is just trying to survive. The victim should have known they were murderous savages but gave them the benefit of the doubt anyway.
- dang 8y ago> murderous savages Racial flamewar is not allowed on HN either. Please don't post this kind of thing again.
- verroq 8y agoHow is calling them murderous savages racist? It makes no generalisations of their race. Even if one interperts it as a generalisation of their race, how is it prejudice or discrimination when it is an accurate description (given the previous murders commited by them)? Genuinely curious.
- swasheck 8y agoBased on the rest of the context of the post, I read "murderers" as extremely tongue-in-cheek.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Apocryphon 8y agoOne man's delusion is another's deliverance. Some may snicker of Darwin Awards and all that, but this man died in a misguided and naive attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone. I'm sure his family and friends feel terribly bad about this tragedy.
- swatkat 8y ago>>>but this man died in a misguided and naive attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone. May be he wasn't doing anything good from islanders' perspective.
- Apocryphon 8y agoThat's what made it so misguided and naive.
- stock_toaster 8y ago> not to exploit or harm anyone Isolated tribes often do not have the same built up immunities to common diseases. It may not have been intentional, but he could very well have killed them all, regardless of his motives.
- Apocryphon 8y ago"Ignorant" is another descriptor that should be applied to his actions.
- Myrmornis 8y ago> attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone Well, he wanted to instill in them a belief system based upon irrational faith. One could argue that attempting to change the contents of their minds/belief systems for no good reason is "harm", and especially so when the new belief system is so flawed.
- setquk 8y agoI certainly wouldn’t shoot them with an arrow but when religious door knockers come to spread the word they are chased off my property pretty rapidly. They’re not good people. They are brainwashed people selling conversion to an ideology which needs to die, sometimes even under duress from superiors and nothing more. This entire notion and behaviour is not appreciated!
- flocial 8y agoWhat they did is defend their territory and made it very clear that if he came any closer they would shoot. This is what any nation's coast guard would do. Of course, they would most likely not shoot to kill but this not exactly unreasonable.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoI'm curious if people are downvoting because I was blasé about the death, or because I used the word "murderers."