My comment, to which you replied, was one that was meant as a sarcastic retort to the "rotting in the jungle" comment. Actually I think you and I are on the same page.
I am also reminded of something that happened some 10 years ago or so. I was involved in a mining project in Chile, one of the goals of the project was to hire as many local natives as possible. During construction, many locals were hired and were to be trained on various jobs. They would all work for about three months then quit. This was repeated over and over. After some frustration and some interviews (through translators) it was figured out that the reason they were quiting was that they had received enough money, through the very high (to them) salaries to last them for the year, so they quit.
The solution to the problem was termed both simple and brilliant. These local natives, who mind you had been dirt poor, were sent catalogs, Sears Roebuck sort of stuff. These were intended for the wives. Low and behold after some time the men came back, because now they needed to pay for the things their wives were ordering.
Brilliant?
Actually, I found it rather sad because a market was created where no need previously existed.
We’re on the same page, most definitely. It’s part of how we destroyed the Native Americans in this country. They survived and flourished with what they had around them. We showed up and they ‘needed’ iron pots and guns and cloth and bullets.
It’s fascinating to think that there are civilizations that modernization hasn’t touched. Not because of poverty or corrupt governments or dire circumstances but just because they are living the way they always have, in isolated areas. They have their society, their place in the world, their niche. They are right where they should be. Let’s not introduce them to iPods and modern medicine (both a plus and a minus), to measles and chickenpox and McDonalds, to cars and pollution and greed. Who are we to say they are ‘missing’ anything? Who are we to judge that ‘our’ way of life is so much better? Their biggest stressor is probably whether or not they fill the gamepot that night. In a way, I’m very sad that these pictures were even published. Now they’ll probably be hunted down to be ‘studied’. Ever heard of the Tree People of West Papua, New Guinea? Another ‘lost people’.