North Sentinel Island Gets Troll Reviews After American Missionary’s Death Goes Viral
No plans for the holidays? Try North Sentinel Island, a charming island about 6 times bigger than Pulau Ubin.
Google gives the island in the Indian Ocean an average rating of 3.9 stars – comparable to other beach getaways in the region.
If you weren’t in tune with what was happening in the world, you might just ask your friends if they wanted to visit this slice of “untouched paradise”.
But those might be your famous last words.
The island is getting international attention after John Chau, an American missionary, travelled there earlier this week.
Reports suggest he was there to convert local inhabitants to Christianity. He was quickly killed with arrows shortly after reaching the island.
Since his death, thousands of Internet trolls have contemplated visiting the island for the holidays.
North Sentinel Island is officially a part of India and the Indian government has declared it illegal for anyone to enter the island.
Unique island experience & hospitality galore
The Sentinelese tribe, also known as the North Sentinel Islanders, are famous for rejecting and killing outsiders.
There are estimated to be between 50 and 400 Sentinelese and they constantly reject any contact with outsiders.
Image: The Australian Sunetra Chakravartie
One user wrote that he visited the island with his girlfriend but they didn’t like being interrupted by “arrows of death”.
Another user pointed out that it was great, but her “right leg was supposed to be perfectly boiled”.
Others left sarcastic comments about “self-discovery” and thanked the locals “for the scars”.
Not surprisingly, they don’t like missionaries.
And the islanders gave the phrase “once in a lifetime experience”, a whole new meaning.
A foolish mission?
In all seriousness, many netizens say that he shouldn’t have visited the islands at all. He could have brought diseases to which the Sentilenese do not have immunity to – wiping out their population.
Others pointed out that his visit was a form of 21st-century colonialism that should be frowned upon. News of John Chau’s death has pissed off the Internet. Not because he was killed, but because he went there in the first place.
Let’s hope this story deters such missteps in the future.
Featured image from Google Maps.
