An Impudent Letter
May I share with you an unsolicited letter I received via email today from the NGO Survival International?
I found it so incredibly irritating that, had I had the resources, I think I might have been tempted to charter a private army, head straight to the Amazon basin, find the nearest undiscovered, pristine, stone age tribe and wipe them off the atlas. Luckily, I don't have the resources. And besides, on reflection, I think the better response is a catty little blogpost.
See what you think:
Dear James,
I'm writing about your recent review of Looking For Adventure by Steve Backshall. Thanks very much for writing the review. Raising public awareness about tribal people is integral to securing their rights, so thanks very much for helping us do that.
I did want to clarify your usage of the terms 'stone age' and 'pristine' in the description of the Papuan tribes. The idea that tribal peoples are 'pristine' or 'stone age' is incorrect. While tribes that exist outside of mainstream life do have different ways of living, they are evolving peoples that adapt to their surroundings and circumstances. They are 21st century people like any other people.
It would be great if you could refrain from using such terms to describe tribal people in future. A longer explanation of the problems of terms like 'stone age' is available on our website at:http://www.survivalinternational.org/stampitout. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. Thanks again for publishing the piece. Best,
Christina Chauvenet
Christina Chauvenet
International Media Department Coordinator
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Comments :
May '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
If they are 21st century people like any other people, why are they so deserving of the solicitousness of Christina Chauvenet, International Media Department Coordinator, Survival International?
And when can 19th century people like me expect some love?
Feb '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
Hardly seems worth being irritated about, if you ask me.
Oct '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
It is always amazing that there is a class of people who are so concerned that people groups, aka; tribes, remain in their primitive state. These ardent believers in Darwinian evolution seem to believe that "primitive" means blessed. There is a reason civilization grew beyond the primitive state, and keeping tribal people back there insures, not innocence, but ignorance, illness, fear and drudgery into the future, until one by one they escape the firm embrace of their betters. In time, the quaint old fellows vote with their feet, until only the Disneyland set remains.
Aug '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
Why blame the not-capable-of-working-metal indigenous tribe-persons who are unlikely to be very clean?
If Ms. Chauvenet has raised your ire, raze her work instead - this is one case where you should blame the messenger.
Apr '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
Yes, 21st century BC.
Jul '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
James -
I think you should write back and apologize. You should start with retracting the use of the word "stone age" and replace it with "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". I think that being about 4500 years behind warrants that. You should also replace the term "pristine" with "undeveloped", "primitive", or "archaic". Other options may be "backwards" or "hick". What do you think?
Reductio ad absurdum for the absurdly reduced, I say.
Jan '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
If the Papuan people read your review (perhaps while surfing the internet), then maybe they're not "stone age" at all. However, if they can't read your review, how would they know they've been insulted?
Apr '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
A comment that strikes to the heart of our contemporary dichotomy.
They say they believe in Darwin but Darwinism implies evolutionary change hence modernity. A Rousseauian leftist reactionary abhors modernity. The contemporary fruits of human evolution: capitalism, globalism, GMOs, the Green Revolution, high energy civilization, free trade, corporations, modern transportation, metrics, consumer goods, Austrian economics, efficient integrated agriculture and food production, the capitalist pharmaceutical revolution, scientific method, improvements in education, individual liberty, nuclear power, the hydrocarbon revolution, the rule of law are attacked, subverted, resisted and marginalized. Those so called Darwinists hate evolution. And those so called defenders of "science" hate the scientific method and it's implications.
Sep '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
(I went to the Survival International Stamp-It-Out web site--it's really spiffy. Here's how you can use it to make a difference!)
Dear Editor James Deligpole,
Your recent article, "Times Atlas to Print New World Map Without Tuvalu, Maldives, Manhattan, etc."
dated 20 September 2011
referred disparagingly to Trustafarians
as "focused on 'emotional truth'."
Terms like 'Roller-driving eco-twits' and 'Prince Charles' have been used to describe tribal Trustafarian people groups since the colonial era. They reinforce the idea that these peoples have not changed for generations. But this is not true. All societies adapt and change - not just ours. Trustafarian people groups are no more 'savage' than the rest of us--their culture is simply different. Did you know, for instance, that Trustafarians have 21 different ways of saying "we have to take the LearJet to Majorca, darling--we drank all the Dom Perignon in the G5 wine locker"?
The idea that Trustafarian people groups are backward leads directly to their persecution. For example, it is claimed that forcibly developing Trustafarians is 'for their own good', and helps them 'catch up' with the 'reality-based' world. The results are almost always catastrophic: Australian table wines, stainless steel flatware, even having to fly commercial--or worse, EasyJet.
I hope you will refrain from using such hurtful and divisive terms in the future.
Signed, Tom Roll
Edited on Oct 5, 2011 at 6:01amEmail address troll@windgap.com
Dec '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
Barkha Herman: James -
I think you should write back and apologize. You should start with retracting the use of the word "stone age" and replace it with "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". I think that being about 4500 years behind warrants that. You should also replace the term "pristine" with "undeveloped", "primitive", or "archaic". Other options may be "backwards" or "hick". What do you think?
Reductio ad absurdum for the absurdly reduced, I say. · Oct 5 at 5:27am
Some people choose to live in a more simple world. Have you ever heard of the Amish? Are they "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged".
Oct '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
Foxman
Barkha Herman: James -
I think you should write back and apologize. You should start with retracting the use of the word "stone age" and replace it with "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". I think that being about 4500 years behind warrants that. You should also replace the term "pristine" with "undeveloped", "primitive", or "archaic". Other options may be "backwards" or "hick". What do you think?
Reductio ad absurdum for the absurdly reduced, I say. · Oct 5 at 5:27am
Some people choose to live in a more simple world. Have you ever heard of the Amish? Are they "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". · Oct 5 at 6:08am
To be utterly unaware of a world beyond the valley you live in is not the same as the Amish decision to live an exclusive lifestyle. The Amish have DECIDED their lifestyle, the Papuan tribal groups are being shielded from the knowledge of that choice.
Re: An Impudent Letter
James, I think you have to write back and concede the point -- "stone age" and "pristine" are not really the correct terms. Please refer to the tribesman as "savages."
Oct '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
John Murdoch:
Dear James Delingpole,
[drollery excised]
Signed, Tom Roll
Email address troll@windgap.com · Oct 5 at 5:54am
Love it!
Aug '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
The worst part about this mindset is the desire to keep these primitive people groups primitive and not give them modern luxuries. Must keep them pure and untouched lest they be tainted by coming into contact with, for example, clean water. It's as if people have convinced themselves that Roddenberry's "Prime Directive" was a real piece of legislation.
If the way of life for a people group is nasty, brutish, and short, then shouldn't we be helping move them out of that rather than insist they remain that way?
Jun '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
Her web link doesn't even work!
The perfect modern business memo. No information, lots of jargon, no point. As Rob said in a podcast, there's probably a macro on F3 to churn one of those out.
Sep '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
NEVER, and you better darn well be happy with that!
Re: An Impudent Letter
Ha ha! I like all your suggestions. Makes me feel much better. I'm always getting into trouble with politically correct NGOs. You should have heard the stick I got from the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) after I wrote an article about how I had released my kids' vicious, bite-to-the-bone, feral hamster into the wild crying "Run free little Hammie, run free!" because the pet store wouldn't take him back and he was no use as a pet. I think, if they could have done, they would have had me locked up. But hey: I'm sure that time will soon come.
Sep '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
James,
They want you to say "Nascar" instead of "Stone Age".
PseudoD
Jul '11
Re: An Impudent Letter
Foxman
Barkha Herman: James -
I think you should write back and apologize. You should start with retracting the use of the word "stone age" and replace it with "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". I think that being about 4500 years behind warrants that. You should also replace the term "pristine" with "undeveloped", "primitive", or "archaic". Other options may be "backwards" or "hick". What do you think?
Reductio ad absurdum for the absurdly reduced, I say. · Oct 5 at 5:27am
Some people choose to live in a more simple world. Have you ever heard of the Amish? Are they "very, very, very slow", or "extremely developmentally challenged". · Oct 5 at 6:08am
What raycon said...
Jun '10
Re: An Impudent Letter
James,offer to sent them sugar coated cereals and coca-cola, which they will reject on account of their being too sweat to be healthy.