“On the other hand, if they truly are an “uncontacted” people, do you think the civilized world might, for once, do the right thing and leave them alone?”
Bit of a National Geographic Mindset. NGM teaches us that the “savage” peoples of the world should be kept in a state of savagery -— living in huts, dying young, having a generally brutal life -— so they can be (IMHO) studied and examined by enlighted ecotourist who love to regail from the safety of their Aspen homes their times among the savages.
“Shame,” they say, that said savages “have been now contaminated by Western society; but now, let’s go look at my blue period Picasso.”
Well, has anyone ASKED SAID SAVAGES? Why do savages, on contact, move to farms or towns, watch TV, and drink Coca-Cola? Why do their grand children buy a Toyota and work as accoutants?
Could it be because Western society and life is easier, better, and generally more pleasant — even western society of the third-world nature in little towns in Brazil/Peru? (No worse than America circa 1870, and, like us, on the way up.)
Said savages (and I am using the term “savages” for effect) have a right to self-determination.
They are not there for our study purposes.
If they don’t like Western society, they will stay where they are. If they do, well, more power to them.
As for savages moving to a Western form of life, you are not talking about savages. You are talking about the rural poor. In Africa and south America, the rural poor always move towards urban centers as they seek higher income as well as better access to goodies (e.g. electricity, tv, etc). Most do not get what they are looking for and end up in slums, but that does not stem the flow of people from the rural centers to urban loci.
However, those rural poor have the skill sets to at least survive. They have a modicum of education (even if it is simply being able to speak the general language and know that the bus fare is this-and-that amount of currency). Also, even though they are often exploited in terms of wages and the like, they are still street smart enough to put things together, live a frugal life, and even scrape enough to send home to educate their younger siblings.
However, the Amazon people are NOT the rural poor. They do not know anything about TVs. They have no CONCEPT of currency. If they drank coca-cola it would make them sick (you'd be surprised the things that made other 'discovered tribes' sick due to what their stomachs have been acclimatized to ...in the same way you drinking tap water in Mexico would drop you in your porcelain throne like a tackle from a 350 pounder). They have NO economical skill-set whatsoever apart from sex and cheap labor (again, based on what has happened to other tribes ....apparently a vagina for the women and two strong arms for the men, at below market prices, are viable economic options). Their living areas would actually be worse than a hut (at least there are no open sewer lines). And life expectancy is actually worse.
Comparing these true savages (and they are savages from our modern point of view) to the rural poor is not accurate.
See post 70