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> Too many photos To use a totally overkilled cliche - every picture tells a story and the images that went along with the article were, in many respects as bizarre as the notion that there is a tribe of people who hang out with their dead. The people in the images were not aboriginals. They were wearing western clothes including t-shirts and jeans. They had eyeglasses and sunglasses, watches and smart phones. Many of the dead were wearing good looking western clothing. One fairly well dressed woman was taking a selfie with one of the dead.

Most of the images appear to have been taken in the vicinity of a church and one of the landscapes showed a large satellite dish as well as a cable (power line ?) running to the building next to the dish.

A lot of the living people were wearing surgical masks when they were handling the dead as well as plastic gloves. I still want my flying car but I'm really, really glad we don't have Smell'o'vision !

This article did contain several inaccuracies. I married a Toraja woman 35 years ago, and all my kids are half Torajan. I have been there many times, and we have several houses there. I have seen all of the activities depicted in the article, but have never detected any untoward stench. These people seem to rot in a most unobtrusive manner; my missus says it is because their chili, which they seemingly cannot do without and is one of the most powerful in the world, alters the putrifaction process, though I have never been able to ascertain her claim. Could be, I dunno.

To Torajans, there is absolutely nothing weird about their custom, though with the intrusion of the modern world, many are staring to see it as a bit extreme. Most have travelled outside of Toraja, and many internationally. They form a tight community here in Jakarta, and tend to succeed pretty well in modern businesses. By no means rich or sophisticated, most Torajans lead surprisingly modern and comfortable lives, with complete mobile ‘phone coverage and high speed internet connections. The satellite dish is only for reception of the domestic television programs, although cable connections are available in the larger towns.

Torajans are nearly all Christians, ~80% Protestant, and quite devout. Muslims have never been welcome there. Eye of the beholder, of course, but the topography of Toraja, of which no mention was made in the story, is probably the most splendid in all of Indonesia.

The photographer/reporter is NOT a neutral observer.

He attempting to create a narrative that can be sold, whatever it may take.

And that is why ‘news’ has always been slanted, but long ago you selected your ‘news’ source with an understanding of the views of the publisher.

Today, all ‘news’ is produced by TOTALY NEUTRAL scribes and publishers, hell, even the Pressmen are neutral.

I suspect that a Turing test would typically show bias.