Uncontacted Indian Tribe in Amazon Jungle, 1 of 100+ Worldwide

[jlt080405]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — One of Brazil's last uncontacted Indian tribes has been spotted in the far western Amazon jungle near the Peruvian border, the National Indian Foundation said Thursday.

The Indians were sighted in an Ethno-Environmental Protected Area along the Envira River in flights over remote Acre state, said the Brazilian government foundation, known as Funai.

Funai said it photographed "strong and healthy" warriors, six huts and a large planted area. But it was not known to which tribe they belonged, the group said.

"Four distinct isolated peoples exist in this region, whom we have accompanied for 20 years," Funai expert Jose Carlos Meirelles Junior said in a statement.

The tribe sighted recently is one of the last not to be contacted by officials. Funai does not make contact with such tribes Indians and prevents invasions of their land to ensure their autonomy, the foundation said.

Survival International said the Indians are in danger from illegal logging in Peru, which is driving tribes over the border and could lead to conflict with the estimated 500 uncontacted Indians now living on the Brazilian side.

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Brazil Spots Uncontacted Amazon Tribe There are more than 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, most of them in Brazil and Peru, the group said in a statement.

"These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," Survival director Stephen Corry said.

"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,360361,00.html

[swivel]

I'm a little torn over this. It is a moral quandary.

On the one hand, I think it is important to not destroy cultures forcibly. On the other hand, I think it is wrong to assume that the primitive culture wants to remain that way.

Ideally, we should educate them regarding their options, but it is impossible to do this without impacting their culture, hence the quandary.

If they knew about medical advances, about our diversity of foods and spices, about American Idol, air conditioning, and Lay-Z-Boys would they not choose to recline in front of the TV with a pizza? I think they probably would choose this. Which means, knowing all, they would exercise their freedoms in a manner that would not suit us.

And why wouldn't it suit us? Because we have an evil desire to see people remain "backwards" for our amusement and cultural edification. We want to know that these primitive people exist out there, preserving a "natural" existence of high infant mortality, short life spans, brutal violence, and female subjugation. It tickles our fancy like animals in a zoo.

Both options seem unethical to me. I teeter on a fence.

[impqueen]

You never violate the Prime Directive, dude!

As an aside, those guys kind of remind me of the aliens in Earth Girls Are Easy. Pre-shave.

[swivel]

Star Trek is not my moral authority.

[ImmortalOne]

Look what happened when white people settled in the USA. The damage and diseases we brought to the native tribes. The way they were treated and such. Who makes us the appropriate authority to interfere at all? More over, perhaps we have more to learn from them than they do from us. *shrug* I vote to leave them alone.

[impqueen]

Star Trek is not my moral authority.

Could have fooled me. That lime helmet looks distinctly Romulan from here.

[TheMorningStar]

Miramani!!!!!

[CPL CHUD]

Time will absolve us from having to make any decision at all. Eventually space issues and increased human contact will impede the ignorance of their particular culture. Curiousity will slowly lead many of them to enter the fold of a bigger society. We can't force them to be educated. No doubt their tribe is full to the gills with religious rhetoric, so obviously some will choose to stay in the jungle, living the same way they have for thousands of years. There are tribes that know that there is a bigger society out there, one with many more comforts of living, with people who choose to stay back on their native land while their sons and daughters leave the forrest in search of a better life.

What is up with that red dude!?

[ImmortalOne]

The picture is fake, it has to be. LOL