The Most Isolated Man on the Planet

[realthog]

Thanks to Greg Frost (frostokovich; who got it from Pam Sargent) for this fascinating story; it's really worth following up the link for the full version. Not so long ago, Brazil had governments that were rightly reviled -- you know, the ones that refused to do anything about the gangs of serial killers slaughtering kids in Brasilia. That was back when South America was a hellhole of nightmare regimes supported by Uncle Ronnie. Things have obviously changed.

The Most Isolated Man on the Planet
He's alone in the Brazilian Amazon, but for how long?
By Monte Reel
Posted Friday, Aug. 20, 2010, at 7:08 AM ET

The most isolated man on the planet will spend tonight inside a leafy palm-thatch hut in the Brazilian Amazon. As always, insects will darn the air. Spider monkeys will patrol the treetops. Wild pigs will root in the undergrowth. And the man will remain a quietly anonymous fixture of the landscape, camouflaged to the point of near invisibility.

That description relies on a few unknowable assumptions, obviously, but they're relatively safe. The man's isolation has been so well-established—and is so mind-bendingly extreme—that portraying him silently enduring another moment of utter solitude is a practical guarantee of reportorial accuracy.

He's an Indian, and Brazilian officials have concluded that he's the last survivor of an uncontacted tribe. They first became aware of his existence nearly 15 years ago and for a decade launched numerous expeditions to track him, to ensure his safety, and to try to establish peaceful contact with him. In 2007, with ranching and logging closing in quickly on all sides, government officials declared a 31-square-mile area around him off-limits to trespassing and development.

It's meant to be a safe zone. He's still in there. Alone.

Comments

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that there is one holdout somewhere out there. With so much sameness in "civilized" living situations, I think that the "uncivilized" person has hold of true freedom. Yes, it is a "safe zone".
The philosopher in me asks, "Does one have to isolate in order to be in a safe zone?" or "Is there a way to 'withdraw' even while in society?"

[realthog.livejournal.com]

What I think's so wonderful is that the Brazilian authorities, who not so many years ago would have helped the greedy ranchers bury this guy, are now going to such great, and expensive, lengths to protect him. It's a real turnabout of ethics there, and a reminder that, even as much of the world careers down the slope to the hell we've made for ourselves through our greed, short-sightedness and stupidity, some people are going in the opposite direction. It may not make that much difference to the end result, but it's cheering nonetheless.