# Tribe meets white man for the first time (video) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620 "2011-06-23T22:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/21 "2011-06-24T20:05:22Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I’m not saying this video isn’t bullshit, but it does look genuine to me, and your points don’t refute it, in my opinion. I can’t refute it either but it does ping my bullshit meter. First the leader seems way to scared. He’s armed, with a bigger group and he has no reason to think the whites are armed. When shown the matches the leader seems to already know how to hold them. And finally the strongest evidence, imo, is the mirror. An adult has never seen a reflection before? Like in the river? Surely natives could understand a reflective surface without being terrified by it. At least I doubt they would look behind it. They’re humans not kittens. . ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/22 "2011-06-24T20:16:42Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Huh? > > Ok, so what _would_ it look like if some modern white dudes were deep into the jungle carrying cameras? And why _wouldn’t_ they bring along a decent cinematographer? > > The locals are crossing the river “right then” because that was when the filmmakers deemed it prudent to turn on their cameras. It’s called editing for content. > > It’s not understood by the video that they were camping by the bridge simply waiting for brown people to show up. We don’t know that they weren’t on a month-long, concerted effort to make contact. They could be hundreds of miles into the jungle for all we know. > > There are a handful of remaining cultures who have had little contact with the outside world, namely on New Guinea and in the Amazon. Take a look at those areas on Google Earth. They are vast and difficult to penetrate areas which remain essentially unexplored. New Guinea is the most linguisitcally complex area on earth due to its isolation within and without. > > As far as essentially uncontacted peoples go, The North Sentinelese are a leading example, although they live on an island in the Indian Ocean. There are a couple of similar videos out there showing the North Sentinelese and those are definitley genuine. We essentially know nothing about each other. > > I don’t believe that there are any remaining peoples who have had literally no contact with the outside world, although it would be very difficult to learn of them without consequently contacting them, a sort-of anthropological Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. > > And what counts as contact, anyway? Does a giant, noisy, metal bird overhead twice a year count as contact? > > I’m not saying this video isn’t bullshit, but it does look genuine to me, and your points don’t refute it, in my opinion. > > By the look of the image quality and the style of the slr cameras show in the video, I’m going to guess this video is much younger than 1976, though. I’ll guess 1990s? The people don’t talk to each other. Presumably they’ve never seen their own reflections. It _looks_ staged. Look at their jewelry and dress. Costumey, no? Finally, why give supposed undiscovered peoples all your germs?! Also, [neener neener](http://skyvington.blogspot.com/2011/06/human-contacts.html). ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/23 "2011-06-24T20:18:26Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > And finally the strongest evidence, imo, is the mirror. An adult has never seen a reflection before? Like in the river? Surely natives could understand a reflective surface without being terrified by it. At least I doubt they would look behind it. They’re humans not kittens. Agree. Reflections would be very common in jungle life. People need water to survive and without plumbing they would definately have holding areas and containers for water. Bowls, basins, shallow wells, etc. Being a predominately outdoors tribe with a bright sky behind them they probably see their reflection every day. And why were they being skitish and jumpy of sounds emanating from the jungle? They were on their own turf, not in Times Square. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/24 "2011-06-24T20:26:30Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Agree. Reflections would be very common in jungle life. People need water to survive and without plumbing they would definately have holding areas and containers for water. Bowls, basins, shallow wells, etc. Being a predominately outdoors tribe with a bright sky behind them they probably see their reflection every day. It’s not necessarily the reflection that’s spooked him, as the thing that’s reflecting. If the only substance you’ve ever known to cast a reflection is a pool of water, a hard, flat object that you can hold in your hand and see a perfect reflection in from any angle is going to be incredibly weird. Anyway, the video certainly had me fooled. Very well acted. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/25 "2011-06-24T20:58:04Z")
That was beautiful! ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/26 "2011-06-24T21:07:31Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Huh? > > Ok, so what _would_ it look like if some modern white dudes were deep into the jungle carrying cameras? And why _wouldn’t_ they bring along a decent cinematographer? > > The locals are crossing the river “right then” because that was when the filmmakers deemed it prudent to turn on their cameras. It’s called editing for content. > > It’s not understood by the video that they were camping by the bridge simply waiting for brown people to show up. We don’t know that they weren’t on a month-long, concerted effort to make contact. They could be hundreds of miles into the jungle for all we know. > > There are a handful of remaining cultures who have had little contact with the outside world, namely on New Guinea and in the Amazon. Take a look at those areas on Google Earth. They are vast and difficult to penetrate areas which remain essentially unexplored. New Guinea is the most linguisitcally complex area on earth due to its isolation within and without. > > As far as essentially uncontacted peoples go, The North Sentinelese are a leading example, although they live on an island in the Indian Ocean. There are a couple of similar videos out there showing the North Sentinelese and those are definitley genuine. We essentially know nothing about each other. > > I don’t believe that there are any remaining peoples who have had literally no contact with the outside world, although it would be very difficult to learn of them without consequently contacting them, a sort-of anthropological Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. > > And what counts as contact, anyway? Does a giant, noisy, metal bird overhead twice a year count as contact? > > I’m not saying this video isn’t bullshit, but it does look genuine to me, and your points don’t refute it, in my opinion. > > By the look of the image quality and the style of the slr cameras show in the video, I’m going to guess this video is much younger than 1976, though. I’ll guess 1990s? > [@](#): > > [Antipodes: Human contacts](http://skyvington.blogspot.com/2011/06/human-contacts.html) > > (With thanks from **CitizenPained** , because I cannot yet make technology do multiply-sourced quotes.) THAT is why I remain skeptical of videos of amazing things which seem just a little too good to be true. They usually turn out to be fakes after all, and then I don’t have to hide out for a while because I was gullible enough to believe with no real proof. If it DOES turn out to be true, I’ve never been as embarrassed by a surplus of skepticism, and am also in the position to be pleasantly surprised that something so amazing is actually real, rather than saddened and pissed that somebody took advantage of technology and people’s good will to create a believable fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/27 "2011-06-24T21:14:15Z")
Woops, Apologies to mods, thread already done. Feel free to merge, delete etc. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/28 "2011-06-25T02:41:20Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > I can’t refute it either but it does ping my bullshit meter. First the leader seems way to scared. He’s armed, with a bigger group and he has no reason to think the whites are armed. When shown the matches the leader seems to already know how to hold them. And finally the strongest evidence, imo, is the mirror. An adult has never seen a reflection before? Like in the river? Surely natives could understand a reflective surface without being terrified by it. At least I doubt they would look behind it. They’re humans not kittens. > [@CitizenPained](#): > > The people don’t talk to each other. > > Presumably they’ve never seen their own reflections. > > It _looks_ staged. > > Look at their jewelry and dress. Costumey, no? > > Finally, why give supposed undiscovered peoples all your germs?! > > Also, [neener neener](http://skyvington.blogspot.com/2011/06/human-contacts.html). Ok, so the video is fake. I’m not exactly surprised as I’ve known of these kinds of frauds. I’ve seen a “first contact” video where underneath a grass skirt you can see the waistband of a set of Joe Boxer underwear. I was simply commenting on the video at face value. In that context, sure, the leader of the tribe is armed and in a bigger group, but maybe he’s seen his fellows drop dead after white men had leveled their “thunder sticks”. Maybe he’s heard that white men are strangely powerful and dangerous. He has no reason to think they _aren’t_ dangerous. Also, when he seems to know how to hold the matches, maybe there was a jump in editing. And the mirror. Of course, he’s seen his reflection in a pond. He’s never seen it in a portable, handheld device, in perfect clarity. _Big_ difference. And why wouldn’t he look behind it? It’s magic, after all. Their dress didn’t strike me as questionable. I’m no anthropologist, but we’ve all seen images of amazing and complex native dress. Their dress didn’t seem unreasonable to me. And as for white men bombing the locals with super-SARS, what else is new? But I’ll point out that I’m in no way arguing that this video is legit. I’m only arguing hypotheticals. With the link provided it seems this video is, in fact, a fake and I tip my hat to you skeptics who were correct. Bummer. I thought it was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/29 "2011-06-25T06:34:11Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Ok, so the video is fake. I’m not exactly surprised as I’ve known of these kinds of frauds. I’ve seen a “first contact” video where underneath a grass skirt you can see the waistband of a set of Joe Boxer underwear. I was simply commenting on the video at face value. > > In that context, sure, the leader of the tribe is armed and in a bigger group, but maybe he’s seen his fellows drop dead after white men had leveled their “thunder sticks”. Maybe he’s heard that white men are strangely powerful and dangerous. He has no reason to think they _aren’t_ dangerous. > > Also, when he seems to know how to hold the matches, maybe there was a jump in editing. > > And the mirror. Of course, he’s seen his reflection in a pond. He’s never seen it in a portable, handheld device, in perfect clarity. _Big_ difference. And why wouldn’t he look behind it? It’s magic, after all. > > Their dress didn’t strike me as questionable. I’m no anthropologist, but we’ve all seen images of amazing and complex native dress. Their dress didn’t seem unreasonable to me. > > And as for white men bombing the locals with super-SARS, what else is new? > > But I’ll point out that I’m in no way arguing that this video is legit. I’m only arguing hypotheticals. With the link provided it seems this video is, in fact, a fake and I tip my hat to you skeptics who were correct. Bummer. I thought it was pretty cool. Yeah, agree. Whether it was fake or not, it looked credible to me - in actions, dress, etc. Bummer indeed. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/30 "2011-06-25T16:52:35Z")
just a comment about the videos: the link in post #5 is MUCH better than the link in the OP’s first post. (they are both cut from the same 1970’s TV show, but the first one has silly music in the background–the link in post 5 has the real voices of the tribesmen (plus a TV narrator’s voiceover). (and the link in post 5 provides additional links the 5 other episodes of the TV show. Fascinating stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/31 "2011-06-25T17:11:14Z")
It’s fake. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/32 "2011-06-25T17:18:09Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > It’s fake. I’ve never done this before – cite? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/33 "2011-06-25T17:22:50Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > It’s fake. I suspected so, too. But the yahoo link takes you to 5 other episodes of the 1976 TV documentary, and gives more context. The OP’s thread title makes it seem like the primitive men meet modern man totally unexpectedly. But that’s not the case…it turns out that the tribesmen have heard many stories about white men, and their magic powers. In fact, the tribe is suffering from disease, and is crossing the river to **actively seek** to meet these mythical men, because they have heard of their powerful medicine. By the 5th episode of the show, the tribe is happily swallowing pills for malaria, which was the whole reason for the anthropologist’s trek to meet them. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/34 "2011-06-25T17:25:38Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > It’s fake. [And it was filmed in 1998.](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4840/is-the-tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video-fake) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/35 "2011-06-25T19:35:12Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [And it was filmed in 1998.](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4840/is-the-tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video-fake) You must not have read your own link, which says: > [@](#): > > The video is allegedly filmed in 1998 (which is false). It links to an article in French that I can’t read (part of it is translated but not the part with the date), but according to Google’s humorously rough translation it looks like it’s saying it was recorded in 1993. In any case, “fake” is a strong word because it doesn’t seem to be saying that it was _staged_, just that it was not their first contact with white men. But they _are_ acknowledged as being an extremely isolated tribe, so it still would have been a rare event. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/36 "2011-06-25T19:38:23Z")
I’ve merged the two threads about this same video. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/37 "2011-06-27T20:45:07Z")
Sooo what’s the consensus? Real or fake? Slightly staged maybe? I loved this video and shared it all over the place before I saw that there were big questions about the authenticity. I’d really like to know the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/38 "2011-06-28T17:05:24Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > THAT is why I remain skeptical of videos of amazing things which seem just a little too good to be true. > > They usually turn out to be fakes after all, and then I don’t have to hide out for a while because I was gullible enough to believe with no real proof. > > If it DOES turn out to be true, I’ve never been as embarrassed by a surplus of skepticism, and am also in the position to be pleasantly surprised that something so amazing is actually real, rather than saddened and pissed that somebody took advantage of technology and people’s good will to create a believable fraud. But so what. I mean, so what if you do get sucked in. This is the exact kind of thing that it is ok to be gullible about. When you live the life of a skeptic, it can be exhausting (though very rewarding). Sometimes, you can let your guard down, because it is about something that, if it turns out to not be true, no harm no foul. If it turns out it is true, it’s awesome. Of course, a true skeptic always keeps it in the back of his mind that any random internet video is always suspect. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them at ‘face value’ when there is nothing really at stake. In other words, lighten up and go for the ride sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620/39 "2011-06-29T13:57:40Z")
The thing is, if this was just some movie it wouldn’t really be that emotionally stirring. I literally had tears running down my cheeks at one point watching this video. I’m not really a softie either. I guess more than anything I just feel like an idiot for reacting so strongly in the first place. Nobody likes to be tricked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribe-meets-white-man-for-the-first-time-video/586620.md?page=1)