Monday, June 23, 2008

Happy, Homicidal Natives


You have to love anthropologists. When you see a backward, they see a beautiful authenticity--but only if it's non-Western (eastern Kentucky is just backward). Regarding the photograph of some tribesmen in remote Peru, indigenous tribes expert, José Carlos Meirelles, exalts:

"When I saw them painted red, I was satisfied, I was happy," he said.

"Because painted red means they are ready for war, which to me says they are happy and healthy defending their territory."

3 comments:

J said...

I see that one of the three natives is painted black instead of red, and he is not defending the territory. Does it mean he is unhappy?

Anonymous said...

I guess this pic was faked, I wonder if the retraction will be as big a news story as the "discovery" was in the first place.

Eric Falkenstein said...

no, the only hoax was that the natives were not totally unknown (they had been identified earlier). They're real.