Bushcraft TV

[Moonraker]

Bambodoggy wrote the last post 3 weeks ago on this thread...

Why didn't we continue?

I would have liked to know what you guys thought of various TV programs. For instance the Monday night programs on an explorer (surname Parry, can't remember his first name).

He visited last week the Kombai people in Papua new Guinea and this Monday a forest nation in Gabon.

Quite distressing to see how close to an end these cultures are, the Kombai living in the depth of the forest just about escape the missionaries who tell them to discard their old culture and "please wear some clothes" (ever heard anything so stupid?).

And the Gabon pygmees see their forest logged away before their eyes, dream of a big raod reaching their village and fell enormous trees only to get at a bee nest (honey)...

Give me your thoughts!

All will be revealed on this thread nomade

I agree it is distressing at times but from most of what the people said themselves they positively welcomed change like the Kombai when he sad something like ' we want [electric] lights like the village and live in peace without fear of the dark [ which inferred the historic dangers of tribal attack and headhunting]

Do we have a right to say to them stay the way you are? The opening up of these tribes to our sadly consumerist ways is almost inevitable (which this series as well filmed and presented as it is makes so clear) and it is the tribes that have to decide how they cope with it.

I think what we can be pro-active on is trying to protect those habitats that are being raped by the incessant demand our society spurs on relentlessly with little regard for the actual cost of such demand (cheap priced products, now) By refusing to purchase exotic hardwoods unless they are clearly produced in sustainable methods (not easy even with the label schemes around but at least they help us) for example.

Really I can't help thinking that until we turn around our own everyday ways with inflated aspiration to ownership and convenience, then why should anyone listen to our hypocritical cries for the 'natives to remain native':?: Only when we fully accept the true costs of what we buy, consume and discard, and bring ourselves down to a more considerate and sustainable level will we deserve to be heard and perhaps then influence how such peoples consider their own futures.

Sorry for the rant; but I feel reasonably helpless and frustrated when the truth is brought home by such an eloquent and insightful programme.

 

[nomade]

Sorry guys if my post read like I was a "hypocritical Westener" telling hunting-gathering peoples around the world they should just "stay as they are".

If this is how it read, which is possible , it didn't translate my thoughts properly...

I happen to be of a generation who saw its own quality of life deteriorate and its own culture fade away over the past decades, right here in the West, and inspite of our day and age claiming we never had it so good...

And this in spite of some welcome changes which have occurred.

Younger people may not have such a clear point of comparison.

Therefore I see my brothers and sisters in the forests of Papua New Guinea, Gabon and elsewhere experiencing quite a parallel change in their own lives to what happened and is still happening here in "the West" (to give the industrial world a common name).

These questions would require more space and time then I have here writing this post. But in short, what I find the most upsetting is, not only the logging industry pulling the rug under these people's feet, literally...but very active and financially powerful protestant missionaries who continue to force our own religion, or rather a particular and questionable brand of it, down everyone's throat in many parts of the world.

I was raised a Christan and a protestant. I would describe my own set of values largely "Christian" in spirit.

But I don't approve of missionaries because, particularly in the documentary on the Kombai people in P.N. Guinea, as they were misleading the forest people into thinking that they would continue to "live in fear" if they stuck to their old ways and would on the other hand find peace if they embraced our ways and our Christianity (or the version of it taught by these particular protestant churches).

Aren't war and fear not part of our modern world? And as abhorrent as these people's cannibalism may be perceived by us, aren't some aspects of our world just as cruel? Come on!

The documentary showed some forest people already converted by the missionaries to their own brand of christianity (with emphasis on wearing clothes in a climate where being naked is the healthiest and most comfortable way to cope with humidity!). These converts kept saying how wondeful it would be if all forest peoples renounced their ways and beliefs, they would then be in peace ever after...this showed clearly that the missionaries made the forest people believe that our world was a world of constant peace while theirs a world of constant tribal wars and fear...which is a lie.

I just say it as I see it. A lot of "their ways" are good and were greatly appreciated by Parry. The fact that the disappearance of their culture is perhaps inevitable doesn't make it a good thing.

There is a lot in our modern world I am unhappy with, from many different angles, so why should I wish it to people who look happy, healthy and in harmony with their environment and not more cruel than any of us? At the cost of losing forever this legacy of their ancestors?...

 

[bambodoggy]

Bambodoggy wrote the last post 3 weeks ago on this thread...

Why didn't we continue?

I would have liked to know what you guys thought of various TV programs. For instance the Monday night programs on an explorer (surname Parry, can't remember his first name).

He visited last week the Kombai people in Papua new Guinea and this Monday a forest nation in Gabon.

Quite distressing to see how close to an end these cultures are, the Kombai living in the depth of the forest just about escape the missionaries who tell them to discard their old culture and "please wear some clothes" (ever heard anything so stupid?).

And the Gabon pygmees see their forest logged away before their eyes, dream of a big raod reaching their village and fell enormous trees only to get at a bee nest (honey)...

Give me your thoughts!

Hey Nomade..... we all are talking about it...lol... Just on a defferent thread...
Do a search on "Tribe".... I think it's very interesting to hear what others makes of bushcraft tv too :wave:

 

[gillmacca]

Just to let you know that there may be some programmes I don't add, due to the calendar currently being unavailable. I will try to catch up when it becomes available again

 

[Tony]

Yep, sorry about that mate, I'll let you know as soon as we're sorted. Thanks for all the effort you put into keeping the TV Calendar up to date :You_Rock_

 

[gillmacca]

No problem. Luckily digiguide lets me look at what new programmes have been added to the database from whatever date I select, so I should have no problems bringing it up to date

 

[Tony]

:biggthump

 

[gillmacca]

Currently the tv calendar is unavailable. Hopefully it will return soon.
In the mean time, over the next few days I will be posting the tv programmes here, but just to let you know starting this Thursday (21 April) BBC 2 at 8pm, Ray Mears is back with his new series:

Birchbark Canoe.
Ray Mears explores the world of bushcraft, the art of living outdoors relying on a knowledge of the natural world. Ray builds a traditional canoe made from birchbark, cedar and spruce roots using only traditional tools. It's time consuming, requiring skill, judgement by hand and eye and patience, a true bushcraft experience.