Survival, really?

An intriguing article came out today about a newly discovered, uncontacted tribe. And, apparently, there is an organization that is campaigning to protect this uncontacted tribe and others like it. This is an interesting topic that raised some strange questions in my brain that, until this very moment, had no reason to occur to me.

Regarding this group that is campaigning to help this tribe, how do you “help” and uncontacted tribe? In order to help them, don’t you have to contact them? And, by virtue of that act, are you not destroying the one thing you’re campaigning to protect? It’s like buying a brand new car that’s only new for the first second you step on the gas. And, yes, for all you analytical people, I realize this rational is a bit flawed. But, it’s intriguing still.

Also, how do you become an “Uncontacted Tribes Expert”? Spend your whole life not contacting tribes? What a tedious position. Imagine this scenario:You’re studying uncontacted tribes in the bush. You’re hiding, lurking, researching….and, bam, you’re caught. Now you’re screwed. Why? Because you’ve just been caught by a tribe of wild, unknown people – and you’ve lost your job because you just contacted your uncontacted tribe. Nobody wins.

And, donate to the “survival campaign”? So, where exactly does this money go? I realize that there are things to be done – contact the legislature, slow logging, stop habitat decimation – and those things are all great…but, really! I’m all for protecting “uncontacted tribes”, but consider this. These tribes have existed possibly for hundred or thousands of years (I’m no uncontacted tribe expert, so give me a break here). They have successfully inhabited their land and survived for longer than the white man has been on this continent. They’ve obviously done a pretty good job with this whole survival thing because they’re still around. And we, the civilized, find them and suddenly deem it necessary to “protect” them.

My guess is that they don’t even know they need protecting. They’re protecting themselves from that big gray bird in the sky with loud wings just fine with their own bow and arrows, thank you very much.

That’s an all-together different but interesting point. This is a tribe of people that is surviving without the concept of hand-up, hand-out…there is no Salvation Army, there is no disability, there are no food stamps or excuses to be hand. I would image that if you don’t work or if you’re too lazy to live or don’t have the support of a family, you starve. I’m sure that in order to survive they help each other, but in the end, your own survival is in your own hands.

I mean, hey, we’re all endangered right? That’s kind of the nature of life. I’m in danger of falling down and twisting an ankle. You’re in danger of having a car wreck or getting struck by lightening. I’m in danger right now of losing my job because I’m blogging on myspace at work. And, who’s protecting me? Or you? It’s survival of the fittest, people. Who’s quick and adaptable enough to not get caught? Or struck? Or hit? Who works hard to pay their bills and who takes hand-outs?

As a matter of fact, I’m taking donations right now for my own campaign…www.iwontdoitbecauseyou’lldoitforme.com.

But I digress, as that is a whole different line of thought…

Before you think unkindly of me, much of what I’ve said is in jest or playing “devil’s advocate”, or simply thinking outside of the box, just to make all three people that bother to read this think.

And, it just goes to show you no matter how educated we get as a society or how much research we do, we can’t know everything. And, if we did, it would get really boring because there would be no wonder left – and that, my friends, reminds us, whether you agree, disagree or don’t really care a’tall about undiscovered tribes of Brazil, that discovery and wonder are really beautiful things.