John Allen Chau | Indigenous People Homicide Victim

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of john allen chao just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video first i'll go through the background of john alan ciao i'll talk about the timeline of the incident and then i'll offer my analysis john alan chow was born on december 18 1991 he grew up in washington state his father was chinese american he was a psychiatrist his mother was american she was a lawyer when chao was growing up he was inspired by the work of missionaries as well as explorers he liked the outdoors he would travel hike camp canoe and was active in charity work he would attend a christian high school and then go to oral roberts university in oklahoma chow was part of several different missionary trips he went to a number of places like south africa mexico the middle east and the andaman islands chow had an interest in performing missionary work with the residents of north sentinel island the people on the island are called sentinelese this 20 square mile island is one of the andaman islands it is part of india the indigenous people on the island remain in voluntary isolation they are considered to be among the most isolated people in the world it is believed they have inhabited that island for thousands of years there are only somewhere between 50 and 100 of them on the island they are vulnerable to microbes that could be brought in by outsiders they have no immunity to ordinary illnesses that affect the rest of the world it is illegal to travel to the island people have to stay at least five nautical miles away the indian government generally recognizes the autonomy of the people on the island they don't interfere with their affairs in any way using the navy they protect them from interlopers throughout the history of the island there have been some exceptions where the indian government has allowed people to visit the islanders have a long history of tense or hostile contacts with outsiders the first peaceful contact with the people was not made until 1991 although ultimately it didn't work out in 2004 islanders attacked indian government helicopters who were sent to observe them after an earthquake so they were just checking on them to see if they're okay and the islanders attacked with whatever they had available i guess something like arrows or spears once again we see the consequences of islanders continuing to underfund their anti-aircraft programs like their politicians would be arguing about an initiative to collect more nuts and berries and some guy would stand up and say what about the surface-to-air spears when are we going to get those in 2006 two indian fishermen were fishing illegally near the island their boat drifted close to the island and the islanders murdered them no one was prosecuted for the homicides moving back to john allen chow he started preparing for a journey to north sentinel island sometime in 2017 he learned about languages and trained to be an emergency medical technician he did push-ups jogged watched his diet he didn't work a full-time job he wanted to focus on this trip he even found the company to sponsor him they made beef jerky so the deal was he was given an unlimited supply of the product in exchange for promoting their brand fueled by this never-ending supply of beef jerky he went to a three-week missionary training camp run by a place called all nations part of the training featured him being dropped off on a dirt road in a remote part of kansas he had to walk a long way before finding a mock village in the woods it's inhabited by other missionaries who are pretending to be something like the people he would encounter on north sentinel island they pretend not to speak english they were hostile some approached him with fake spears and speaking gibberish it's good to see some of the extras from gilgan's island found new jobs in 2018 chao traveled to port blair this is the capital city of the andaman and nicobar islands he did not seek permission from the indian government to visit north setno island chao paid five fishermen to take him close to the island he then used a kayak to make his way to shore as he grew closer the islanders were waiting he paddled up to them and said my name is john i love you and jesus loves you jesus christ gave me the authority to come to you the islanders raised their bows chow paddled back to the fishing boat he returned not long after this and walked up to the beach he was carrying gifts like scissors and safety pins the locals blocked in his kayak he approached a boy and started preaching to him the islanders then took his kayak perhaps the islanders played too much grand theft kayak in their spare time after this the boy shot an arrow into a waterproof bible that chow had in his hands and the bible is in front of his chest so if it wasn't there the arrow would have struck chow in the chest i guess chao should have gone with the arrow-proof bible instead the islanders then started chasing him he swam into the surf and back out to the fishing boat chao asked the fisherman to drop him off alone on the island next time he believed that the problem was that the islanders were not comfortable with the fishing boat talk about seeing what you want to see he didn't view himself as the problem he viewed the fishing boat as the problem that's what they were upset by not this guy that keeps walking up on the shore uninvited on november 17 the fishermen sailed close to the island and chow swam to shore the fishermen left to go fish in the ocean not long after going ashore the islanders killed chow the fisherman came back a while later to check on him they saw that several of the islanders were dragging his body along the beach with a rope the authorities attempted to retrieve his body but the situation became too dangerous and it was never recovered the fisherman and two others were arrested for helping chao now moving to my analysis chao wrote a letter to his parents not long before his death it was 13 pages long it described his interactions with the islanders the letter contains a few interesting items he believed that god was shielding him from the indian navy patrols he asked god if the island was satan's last stronghold about the first contact he wrote i felt some fear but mainly was disappointed they did not accept me right away this is interesting because it doesn't seem like they accepted him at all in the next contact the islanders seemed to be amused as he tried to repeat their own words back to them sometimes bursting out in laughter some people believe that chao was naive and unexpectedly slaughtered by the islanders but he appeared to understand the risks fairly well his writings indicate that he was aware he could die two days before his death he wrote it almost seems like certain death to stay here a day later he wrote you guys might think i'm crazy in all this but i think it's worth it to declare jesus to these people please do not be angry at them or at god if i get killed don't retrieve my body doesn't sound like somebody who's making long-term earthly plants in looking at chow's early years he really seemed oriented towards spending time in the wilderness alone he was an outdoorsman an adventurer a few of his friends never even heard him talk about missionary work he was focused on excitement it makes me wonder if he was not an outdoorsman first and a missionary second like being a missionary gave him a reason to have outdoor adventures there seems to be little doubt though that at some point he really did develop a high level of conviction in his beliefs it was something he talked and wrote about frequently closer to when the trip occurred many people tried to talk chow out of going to the island his family his friends and other missionaries he said he felt called to do it he believed that the people on the island were damned to the fires of hell and only he could save them he thought he could translate the bible into a language the islanders could speak even though their language was unintelligible to even people who lived on nearby islands he believed that if he died he would be a martyr perhaps this was a rationalization something that made sense of his strong desire to seek thrills as far as chow's potential personality profile he seemed to be high in openness to experience mid-range conscientiousness high in extroversion high in agreeableness and low in neuroticism so what could be happening in a case like this i think chao behaved the way he did because of a combination of excitement seeking a sense of adventure and a belief that he could save people who desperately needed him i don't think that chao meant the islanders any harm he did know that he was risking their lives as evidenced by his attempt to self quarantine in port blair but i think he believed the good he could do them outweighed the risk sometimes sensation seeking is so powerful it is indistinguishable from a death wish in this way chao reminds me a bit of timothy treadwell and chris mccandless death was the result in those two cases as well what about justice in this case no one was ever convicted of homicide no one was even arrested some believe that the islander is responsible for chow's death should have been prosecuted no one is exempt from the law others believe the chao wanted to die or the islanders were somewhat justified in their actions still others are in the middle they view what happened to chao as unfortunate but they're satisfied with the government of india not pursuing charges against anyone this is a tough issue he was murdered by these islanders and that is tragic society can never tolerate homicide at the same time the islanders are in an unusual situation they've largely been left alone they don't have any meaningful contact with the outside world they don't necessarily realize their island is within the boundaries of an established government which has the authority to enforce the law how can they really be held accountable when they are essentially autonomous what's more it's not clear if they knew chao was dangerous to them because of the microbes he could have been carrying for which they have no immunity one could make the argument that chao was using lethal force simply by being there it's worth noting though that other people have visited the island before with the permission of the indian government nobody really seemed too worried about infection during those occasions so we see a bit of an inconsistent thought process as far as the danger to the islanders when considering all the evidence this is a tough call i think india made the right decision by not launching an investigation and trying to find out who committed murder the investigation itself could have exposed the islanders to microbes it's hard to imagine how anyone could be given a fair trial i don't think they could even communicate with the islanders so it really seems impossible to have due process this brings me to the last question many people blame the evangelical movement for chow's death essentially making the argument that he was radicalized in some sense and therefore took actions that predictably led to his demise did chow believe that his religion was better than other belief systems did he believe he had the right to impose it on others why didn't he respect the privacy of the islanders chao crossed the line he was over zealous he believed that god approved of him breaking the law to communicate with these people he thought god actually helped him commit a crime this is a good example of somebody misinterpreting christian values perhaps john allen chow found what he wanted to find in the bible and from other sources and not what was really there he wanted to believe there was a sense of urgency to infringe on these people's rights perhaps converting them would have been an incredible accomplishment for chao something that would have brought him honor he was going to find a higher purpose even if he had to die to get it those are my thoughts on the case of john allen chow please put any opinions or thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis on this topic to be interesting thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

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Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021