linguisten:

langsandlit:

re: clark county being killed by indigenous people on remote island. do you guys hear yourselves? you’re fucking scary. people can be incredibly stupid but they don’t deserve death. “he got what he deserved” equates to sentencing someone to death for being a dickhead. look, i’m not justifying what he did, because that was idiotic and dangerous, but i’m also not celebrating his death like it was justified.

Since you almost quoted me, let me say a few things. 

I’ve got my own suggestions on what that guy does not deserve:  

He does not deserve fame.
Mentioning him or his place of origin but failing to name the “remote island” or the tribe, the Sentinelese, whose very existence he threatened, is wrong on a lot of levels which I will not touch upon here right now (think: privilege).
That guy did what he did to achieve what? To snap a few photos and brag about exactly what accomplishment? For a few likes and reblogs? He put these utterly narcissistic motives of his above the well-being and lives of a group of humans who very clearly not consented to that bullshit. This behavior does not deserve positive acknowledgement of any kind lest that inspire others to follow in his steps.

He does not deserve mitigation on grounds of stupidity.
He wasn’t just some average “dickhead” playing a silly college prank that went awry. No — he traveled halfway around the globe to pull this off and he planned it.  This is not some spontaneous brain fart. It was done in deliberation. He was not stupid. He was a selfish, reckless entitled asshole who did not care about the consequences of his actions to others and who probably thought that he would not be faced with consequences himself. That is arrogance, not ignorance and must nor be excused as the latter.

He does not deserve pity.
He chose his fate. He had been warned, he knew exactly it was forbidden, and he knew the people could eventually kill him and, worse, that he (or: the germ cocktail he’s carrying along with himself) poses a severe threat to their existence and that the restrictions were put into place to protect them. Nevertheless, he decided to repeatedly trespass there against very clear laws and warnings and even despite being shot at.
What he did was extremely selfish, idiotic and reckless and it is in no way on a comparable level to sneaking into a football game without paying or disregarding the dress code of some religious event. Had he gotten killed while trying those, I would definitely agree that his death should have been avoided by all means. Yet I do believe that there was ultimately no other way to prevent this asshole from repeatedly attempting to disrupt that sanctuary on Sentinel island.

He does not deserve benefit of the doubt. 
There is no doubt here: He went to a dangerous place knowingly and he recklessly risked eradicating a fragile and unique population who have no immunity whatsoever against any diseases he is likely bound to introduce to them. I do neither know nor care whether the Sentinelese have a concept of “infectious diseases” or not. They have been showing for years, centuries even, that they do not wish to be contacted by outsiders. They used the only defense against intrusions available to them and I strongly believe that they had every right to do so.  

I am not celebrating that asshole’s death. I am relieved the Sentinelese are safe from him.