No, a Remote Amazon Tribe Did Not Get Addicted to Porn

girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to News@lemmy.world – 429 points – No, a Remote Amazon Tribe Did Not Get Addicted to Porn
nytimes.com

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During a weeklong visit, I saw how they used the internet to communicate between villages, chat with faraway loved ones and call for help in emergencies. Many Marubo also told me they were deeply concerned that the connection with the outside world would upend their culture, which they had preserved for generations by living deep in the forest. Some elders complained of teenagers glued to phones, group chats full of gossip and minors who watched pornography.

Over the past week, more than 100 websites around the world have published headlines that falsely claim the Marubo have become addicted to porn. Alongside those headlines, the sites published images of the Marubo people in their villages.

The New York Post was among the first, saying last week that the Marubo people was “hooked on porn.” Dozens quickly followed that take. TMZ’s headline was perhaps the most blunt: “TRIBE’S STARLINK HOOKUP RESULTS IN PORN ADDICTION!!!”

The Post and TMZ did not respond to requests for comment.

Similar headlines proliferated across the world, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria, Mexico and Chile. RT, Russia’s state media outlet, published the claim in Arabic. There were countless videos, memes and social media posts.

In Brazil, the rumor spread fast, including in the small Amazonian cities where some Marubo now live, work and study.

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From the very beginning I said this was typical "backward savages can't handle our modern world" bigoted bullshit that has been a staple of both news and fiction for literally centuries.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I assumed they were just like us.

They are, which is why they're not all addicted to porn despite what people might tell you about those backward savages and their unquenchable sexual appetites.

Err, I'd argue that lots of the rest of us have "unquenchable sexual appetites" and in that way it would be completely normal for a number of them too as well.

The whole "porn addiction" thing was just the latest entry in centuries of "the hot-blooded natives are sex-obsessed" bigotry about anyone who has the temerity to not adhere to a Western, Christian way of life. There's a reason this was most widely-reported on in Conservative outlets.

You're underscoring the reality we now know. I'm not disputing that. I'm saying the whitewashed view that a good chunk of America isn't also "hot blooded" and "sex obsessed" is the implied lie from the christian community.

We tend to believe what we want to without looking into it.

That sounds legit.

... wait. So that means that what you said must not be true!!

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler /s :::

Thanks for adding the sarcasm mark behind the spoiler tag, I would have been really angry if that wasn't there.

Wait, are you being sarcastic right now?

I don't see a spoiler tag, do you?

Some Lemmy applications don't display it well (like Boost).

It works fine through a browser or Voyager.

Edit:typo

I was being sarcastic, Mr Surfer. I wrestled with whether I should include the "/s" tag since I was making a joke about the spoiler tag being the indication of sarcasm. I chose neither and here we are. Hi! ;)

Hi! Yeah, probably a timing thing. I used a spoiler tag yesterday and a user mentioned that it didn't work for them. Turns out it's a known issue for Boost users, so that was fresh on my mind.

I'm on boost so perhaps im not seeing something, but what does "/s" to do with a spoiler tag? Aren't they two completely different things? If you're being sarcastic, you just put /s, right? That's what I've always done...

Hiding "/s" in a spoiler tag is a bit more satire friendly.

In some cases seeing it upfront gives away the fact that you're not serious a little too quickly and doesn't have the same "got ya" effect that some people want.

It's not necessary by any means, but it can be fun to add that extra layer sometimes.

As far as what happens specifically on Lemmy, it looks something like this:

Spoiler hidden:

Spoiler shown:

you make a fair point.

::: spoiler spoiler /s ha actually no. ::: spoiler spoiler /s ok yes :::

Everything written on the internet is meant to be taken at face value.

It'd've'bin funnier if you said: everything written on the internet is meant to be taken sarcastically cuz that'd include your own comment then

When the article was posted in news, I cross-referenced it, and every source came back with mixed or low credibility in factual reporting. The post was taken down shortly after. I’m guessing it’s still all over Facebook though.

I called it lol, just a bunch of elders echoing what other "western" elders have been complaining about for a hundred years, and then questionable news orgs running with it LMAO

Luckily, I just read comments from fellow lemmings. Thanks to them, I knew the headlines were a blatant lie.

Some elders complained of teenagers glued to phones, group chats full of gossip and minors who watched pornography.

So, exactly like every other society connected to the internet

In Brazil, the rumor spread fast

I'm so out of the loop of local gossip that I'm only aware of this now. I guess this is a good thing

This sounds like propaganda spread by a remote Amazon tribe that got addicted to porn would use to convince the sheeple who read news media that a remote Amazon tribe did not get addicted to porn even though they totally did not that there's anything wrong with that. Can I get an amen?

You are being sarcastic, but this kind of "everything is fake news" brain rot is so god damn tiring.

The New York Post was among the first, saying last week that the Marubo people was “hooked on porn.” Dozens quickly followed that take. TMZ’s headline was perhaps the most blunt: “TRIBE’S STARLINK HOOKUP RESULTS IN PORN ADDICTION!!!”

The Post and TMZ did not respond to requests for comment.

Yeah because both sites are super shitty sites and aren't interested in news, but getting clicks with outage porn.

God I wish there was a mass Lemmy feature to flag shitty websites.

I never believed it because progress wouldn't be that fast and someone certainly would've started to blame a company or organization for delivering all the hardware and installing the infrastructure. Which then would be illogical because how would tribal people pay for this? I think even in the poorest countries of the world, internet doesn't magically drop out of the sky for no money.