The story of John Chau is a salutary lesson for all of us who believe things in unhealthily unquestioning ways. In the Indian Ocean there are a small chain of Islands called the Andaman's, on one of these islands is a Sentinelese hunter-gatherer tribe who are largely un-contacted by the outside world at large, the tribe is only a few dozen people large. For years the Indian government has banned people landing on the island so that these people aren't exposed to external risks such as diseases they have no resistance to and potential exploitation.
Enter John Chau who decided (along with Christian Missionary organisations he belonged to) that what these people needed was more "Jesus" in their lives! So, he payed local fishermen to land him on the island and in what to most of us would seem an obvious outcome he was immediately attacked and dragged away by men of the tribe. Predictably, and as was his want, Chau met his maker perhaps a little sooner than he'd banked on. You have to both marvel at the shear arrogance of the man and the power with which his indoctrination drove his actions, here is a man who thought of himself as the bringer of some perverted "truth" about a 2000 year old Jewish myth to these people, but, who in reality was simply being reckless and delusional! You could be forgiven for thinking that he perhaps even suffered from some kind of mental illness.
Mind you there's always an upside to every story, in Chau's case, in case he's watching us all from some ethereal realm, he can at least console himself that he won a Darwin award. These awards are given out to people who most successfully remove themselves from the gene pool in the most spectacular (and stupid) ways. If ever there was a perfect example of this, Chau certainly provided it.
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