The concept of the at-one-with-nature Noble Savage, and the challenges presented by the outside world, aren't new. If humanity follows the path envisioned in the mid-blowing movie Avatar, we will continue to wreak havoc on such "less civilized" races, whether on this planet, or others. And when these cultures do clash, it frequently leaves us asking the question "Who are really the 'civilized' people"?
Perhaps you have never heard of the "uncivilized" island of Tanna. It is part of the small scattering of South Seas islands that comprise the 30-year old nation of Vanuatu. Although its history goes back about 4000 years, it has enjoyed rather limited "progress" by Western standards, having been shunned by visiting missionaries because of the natives' penchant for cannibalism.
The inhabitants still live in huts, grow their food (vegetable variety, not other Tannese) using centuries-old techniques, and wear few clothes. Some still worship an American World War II sailor they call Tom Navy, who is said to have taught the inhabitants to live in peace and harmony with nature, and each other.
Many villages are still "kastom", or traditional, where modern inventions are restricted, the inhabitants wear penis sheaths and grass skirts, and the children do not go to public schools. According to anthropologist Joel Bonnemaison, who has studied the Tannese extensively, their resistance to change is due to their traditional world view, and how they "perceive, internalise, and account for the dual concepts of space and time".
So, obviously, the Tannese are the backward folks, and we are the civilized nation, yes? Maybe? No?
Last year, The Travel Channel brought five Tannese tribal "ambassadors" to the U.S., showing them five different states as part of a remarkable documentary called "Meet The Natives". They even met with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to see "if the spirit of peace and harmony taught by Tom Navy lives on in President Obama". (No word on whether they favored the public option on health care, or agreed with the AIG bailout). And despite their total unfamiliarity with almost everything they saw, the tribesmen were far more intuitive about our culture than we would be about theirs.
The first stop was a ranch in Montana, to see how modern-day cowboys raise cattle. As they watched a truck pouring manufactured feed into a long trough, one of the Tannese suggested to the rancher that the cattle would taste better if they ate green grass instead. And when a veterinarian inoculated the cattle using a syringe, the tribe's medicine man wisely commented that he was not sure that he would want to eat an animal that had been treated with chemical drugs, rather than the herbal medicines he administers.
In New York City, one of the islanders perceptively observed that the hole in the ground left by the 9/11 World Trade Center bombing was caused by "envy over political power". At the New York Stock Exchange, they noted that "no one is smiling". The medicine man offered that his people know much that Americans don't - because these Americans spend all their time running after money, whereas in his village, they have all the food and housing they need, and spend most of their time raising their children, and teaching them essential customs and traditions.
Later they witnessed a large factory in Peoria, Illinois, billowing smoke across the sky. Their reaction was to unite in a prayer to the nature spirits that this smoke will not drive away the clouds and the sunlight forever. It was remarkable how they instinctively sensed the imbalances and dangers of the modern world with their innocent eyes - somewhat like the small boy in the Hans Christian Andersen story who recognized that the emperor was stark naked.
Good to know someone is still seeing clearly on this planet.