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Comment by Apocryphon | Hacker News Reader

One man's delusion is another's deliverance. Some may snicker of Darwin Awards and all that, but this man died in a misguided and naive attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone.

I'm sure his family and friends feel terribly bad about this tragedy.

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> not to exploit or harm anyone

Isolated tribes often do not have the same built up immunities to common diseases. It may not have been intentional, but he could very well have killed them all, regardless of his motives.

"Ignorant" is another descriptor that should be applied to his actions.

>>>but this man died in a misguided and naive attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone.

May be he wasn't doing anything good from islanders' perspective.

That's what made it so misguided and naive.

I don't think he deserved to die. He sounds like he was a decent and loving person, and I'm sure he will be missed; I do not celebrate his death. But when you do the equivalent of sticking your hand in a box marked "DANGER LETHAL VOLTAGE", I do think you bear some culpability for your own death.

Practically the only thing we know about the Sentinelese is that they kill anyone who comes near them, no exceptions. He tried to make friends with them because he believed God told him to. Either his god is a giggling psychopath or he was delusional. I don't see a middle ground in this particular case.

> attempt to do good, not to exploit or harm anyone

Well, he wanted to instill in them a belief system based upon irrational faith. One could argue that attempting to change the contents of their minds/belief systems for no good reason is "harm", and especially so when the new belief system is so flawed.

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