Summary
Images from automatic cameras reveal the first detailed glimpse of the isolated Massaco community in the Brazilian Amazon, estimated to have doubled in size since the 1990s to 250 people.
Despite threats from ranchers, loggers, and miners, the Massaco remain resilient, using strategies like spikes to deter outsiders.
Brazil’s no-contact policy, initiated in 1987 to protect isolated Indigenous peoples from disease and exploitation, has led to population growth among similar groups.
However, chronic underfunding and illegal encroachments continue to threaten these communities and the forests they protect.
First glimpse?
So uncontacted is a highly temporary state.
Personally I’m pretty divided on uncontacted tribes - I’d like everyone to be able to chose their own lifestyle including highly traditional lifestyles… but to make an informed decision you need to actually know what other options there are. Like - everyone raised in insular communities deserves a Rumspringa when they can experience other ways of life.
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Our culture sucks, their ignorance is a blessing in this case.
That’s fucking bullshit because they’re unable to make an informed decision. I’m not praising modern culture but there may be individuals living there that’d make a different choice if given the freedom.
Ignorance is never a strength.
Even the Amish know this and give young people a chance to leave the community to explore the outside world and decide for themselves what values they hold.
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I would never be sadder to know something. I reject the idea that ignorance is bliss.
Knowledge can hurt in the short term but knowing what’s possible is motivating.
They are more than welcome to contact their nearest modern day neighbors, they’ve chosen murder everytime instead.
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Usually armed with a canister of gasoline and a lighter :3c
Like really there’s a reason these tribes in the Amazon that kill white people on sight are the only ones whose way of life hasn’t been completely wiped out yet.
Keyword yet.
There won’t be an amazon jungle for very long, and they’ll be all out of places to live in unmolested.
Okay, but if you were even slightly informed on the situation they’re presented with or read the article, you would know that this Rumspringa you want to introduce to their society would kill them. They don’t have immunity to common illnesses like influenza and it has previously decimated about 85% of other indigenous peoples.
Not just that, they’re in contact. They have an agent of Funai that they are able to contact if they so choose. They’re offered metal gifts to prevent them from stealing metal from farms and putting themselves at risk. They’re aware of outside presence and actively lay wooden spike traps to dissuade people from seeking contact. Funai protocol is to only allow communication if it is initiated by the indigenous people.