Primitive / Civilized

In 1956, in the true trusting manner of Christian missionaries everywhere, five men walked in to some of the deepest and most remote jungles of Ecuador searching for one of the most violent and blood-thirsty tribes known – the Acuas. Perchance more than a few of you might gander in which direction the meeting finally took, but tragically not soon after first contact the Acuas brutally slaughter the five missionaries using spears and machetes. While this is unfortunately a familiar tale in regards to missionary work, it also maintains a surprising twist for the reader. Years later Steve Saint, the son of one of the slain men, travels to Ecuador accompanied by his mother and several widows of the slain men, all intent upon finishing the task set forth by the deceased loved ones. The story continues along its unique vein, resulting in Saint converting the once violent tribe to Christianity, being adopted by his father’s murderer, and the creation of a screenplay – The End of the Spear1

If you were one of the many viewers who flocked to theatres, for the film was surprisingly well received, you might have marveled – in between the not-so subtle Christian recruitment themes – at the blatant stereotypes and culturally insensitive introspective used, for all intensive purposed the Acuas were painted as backwoods, heathenistic savages that needed saving. These view points, while non-politically correct and more than likely highly offensive to a portion of the population, are neither seen nor portrayed often though, right? Wrong, out daily media is simply saturated with images, commercials, and opinions that subtly – and sometimes not so much – develop and reinforce the chasm of difference in between civilized and the primitive. The message that is sent daily into the minds of people is that if you are not one of the civilized folk out there, you had better damn well shape up and become one – if you can, that is. So why are these ideals being painted at all, why are the differences between cultures being emphasized to such a negative degree in regards to emulation across the board – one way if you will note.

One very large and predominate reason for this is that for most to all of human history, human civilization has been based on a class structure or a caste system and to emphasis the difference in between the civilized and the uncivilized helps to maintain the lines that separate the upper and lower crusts of society and civilization. Traditionally, the upper crust has possessed a detailed family background, wealth – either in land or industry, and ‘breeding’ which usually aspires to intricate manners, and connections to similar families. As polar opposites, the working class and the poor are not financially secure, do not maintain detailed family trees – read questionable parentages issue here and the manner are better left unspoken about. With this contrast ingrained in the daily life of a person, along with the implication that you had better improve yourself and quickly – it can be frighteningly effective as a subjugation tool. For every differing aspect to a person- white, black, man, woman, lord, or slave – it creates a positive or negative element indication truly how high an echelon a person can aspire to reaching within a society. A Caucasian man of blue blood and wealth more than likely has a better chance in life than a Hispanic woman of a 1st generation citizenship on food stamps simply because the Caucasian man will have more opportunities and doors open to him than this Hispanic woman.

Another reason to consider for the perpetuation of the civilized /primitive mythos is the interest in seeing the traditional and current society model continues to be held as relevant and the standard. By utilizing the civilized/primitive imagery, the population of a society is taught from an extremely young age the expectations and behaviors that are desirable and required in a