“You watch the news and you read the papers and you’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place,” wrote Austin during their trek. “People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted….I don’t buy it.
“You watch the news and you read the papers and you’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place,” wrote Austin during their trek. “People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted….I don’t buy it.
A naive family member (20 year old cousin) came to visit and informed us he was going to bike around Europe..alone. We advised him of some good, touristy routes through relatively safe places. No, he knew better than us and insisted he was going east then south from Germany and would bike to Turkey. He didn’t believe us, after all – we’d only lived in europe for many years, what could we know? So we asked our friends, from eastern europe, to talk to him and tell him the danger he was getting into. He said he’d changed his mind and would take the advice. It was a lie, he just didn’t want any more advice, or preaching from his POV.
After an episode in germany, where he got in trouble biking without a headlight in the pitch black, we knew he was an idiot looking for a village. Strong with the force of false confidence, ignorance, and naivety was this one.
So, he started his tour to the “west” which in fact we shortly found out from others had taken him east. We didn’t hear anything from him for many weeks until he returned by air. His ‘bike’ was in a box, he wouldn’t open it and he was sick of cycling he told us. His nice phone was gone. It was clear that he’d been cleaned out but wouldn’t admit anything. He promptly cut his european tour short and returned home to his mama.
His only real comments on the tour to us, he was very upset at all the other young people on the road. He thought only he was special enough to do such a thing. This entire trip was meant only to prop up his delicate ego, wise decisions be damned.
We have created an entire generation of this nonsense….god help us.
I was not aware that Justin Turdeau had been on a European bike tour.
Just heard on Mike Campbell: millennials want jobs with purpose, a sense of belonging, plus free food and beanbags.
[raises hand]
Uhmm… I know the address to the local recruiting station, where they can get all three of those, and some snazzy outfits in multi-hued earthtones… Plus, a reasonable paycheck.
And guns!
Don’t use the G word. Tell them that they are fluffy bunny protectors instead.
Well, they didn’t die of cancer, they chose their time and place in a way.
Well, they didn’t die of cancer.
–
Much better than all of them being raped, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, then have their heads cut off by a grinning terrorist with a dull knife.
Where the Hell does ISIS get all these Orange Jumpsuits?
I Have never seen a Target store, Old Navy, or Wal-Mart in Islamabad Pakistan?
Where the Hell does ISIS get all these Orange Jumpsuits?
Amazon….
https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=orange+jumpsuit&sprefix=orange+jump%2Caps%2C184&crid=X1N9842N9GTM
Beheadings R Us.
It’s been this way for over a hundred years – teenagers know everything there is to know, they are indestructible, they never do stupid things and bad luck is something that only happens to everybody else.
Just ask them.
This is very much why they’re all raving Marxists – it’ll turn-out perfect for them because everything else in their life has. Mark Twain put it well; when he was seventeen, his father was the dumbest man on Earth, but when he reached twenty-five he was astounded at how much the old man had learned in the last eight years.
Frenchie77, at least your cousin made it back alive; I bet he’s much wiser now. All power to him.
Years ago I had a boss who put it in much simpler terms: Everyone under the age of 26 has their head up their ass.
It’s been this way for over a hundred years – teenagers know everything there is to know, they are indestructible, they never do stupid things and bad luck is something that only happens to everybody else.
I’m reminded of a comment that the Duke of Windsor (the former Edward VIII) made when he was on a tour of the U. S. He was amazed at how well American parents obey their children.
Kids always think they know it all.
The problem is that now the education system and other idiots tell them they are right.
I found that out while I was teaching at a post-secondary institution.
After a few years, I didn’t have any students. Instead, I had “customers” of my “learning delivery”. (“Who ordered the medium learning with pepperoni and double cheese?”) I was expected to always “meet or exceed their needs and expectations” and, of course, the customer was always right.
How I managed to stay sane after that remains a mystery to me.
Yes, the “self esteem” movement has consequences. Along with the mush-headed psychology that instructs if you … “just think good thoughts … you can transform the world”. I am certain these two were RESISTing: War, strife, poverty, poor health, bias, fear, US Imperialism, inequality, Judeo-Christianity … the list goes on … but the most critical thing they were RESISTing … was … reality.
I am reminded of my Niece who spent a few months volunteering on a hospital ship which sailed along the African coast. A perfect little blonde leftist, raised by her mother to be “better” than all those “mean” conservatives. Prior to the trip, she received a thorough dose of reality from the hospital ship group who “educated” the sheltered elitist children about how to stay alive. How not to get gang raped and left in a ditch – dismembered. And why my Niece would have to leave her vegan diet at home. There wouldn’t be a cornucopia of fresh, pest-free, locally-sourced, organic salads to munch on. Her elitist diet would not only offend the natives, it would NOT be accommodated by the ship.
If it were NOT for the men and women raised in “flyover country” … our nation could be invaded and taken over inside one month’s time. There would be no RESISTance whatsoever. Nothing but “happy thoughts” for the invading forces.
“just think good thoughts … you can transform the world”
The problem appears to be that those that told them, have not told them that this is not a linear proposition.
That there are jagged lines, curves, ups and downs to watch out for.
As for example that life is a struggle, no mater your wealth or lack of it, no mater your appearance, no mater you good intentions …….
I don’t know how to tell this story without mentioning a point that is irrelevant to this board but very relevant to this thread. So here goes.
My wife and I were talking to this lady after church and her kid walked by. He’s probably in his mid teens. The lady introduced him, and told him I had a Ph.D. in Physics and if he had any questions he could ask me. I knew a little of the kid, and knew he was really a smart ass whom none of his peers liked. He thought a little bit and asked me what Avogadro’s number was. Well, I figured he was taking Chemistry and just got to it. The damn kid was not asking for advice, he was testing me! It’s funny, it’s a number that had stuck to my head since high school, and I know it to three decimal places for no particularly good reason. So I told him the number and what it meant. He was visibly disappointed.
If they were so thoughtful and intelligent why did they create such unhappy lives for themselves in the first place?
EXACTLY, Steve from Rockwood.
Getting what you want and getting what you need are vastly different things.
And getting what you deserve, even more so.
It’s hard to care about people who deliberately jump off cliffs and buildings, skate board on the interstate, climb mountains without any equipment, sky dive with free fall, etc. They do it because they want to not because anyone made them. Same for this couple who apparently never had to worry about funds either.
I’m pretty confident that all of this travel was background for a planned best seller book “The Adventures of Jay and Lauren “.
Turns out Jay was big in the “tiny house” fad. If you’re interested in the adventurers appearance and background, look here:
https://heavy.com/news/2018/08/tajikistan-terror-attack-victims-jay-austin-lauren-geoghegan/
There’s even a clip of at least part of the attack!!!
They could have saved themselves a lot of time and trouble if they had just started out their adventure on the south side of Chicago.
Sent the link to the younguns…..just to induce eye rolls.
It is incredible the amount of dumb people out there. There is a clear reason (actually many reasons) why some countries are shitholes. Security situation, threat from terror, armed conflicts, civil war, health hazards, fauna/flora hazards and climate. There are not that many places where one can go still. The world has changed drastically since the 1970s. Kidnaps for ransom are huge and white people = $$$ in 90% of the world. Even Europe is risky now. That guy was also irresponsible to take a young woman on such a trek. At least she wasn’t gang raped to death while he was made to watch.
The world is far safer now than in the ’70s outside of Iran and a few other very specific locales. You’re delusional.
It is safer now that Obama’s gone. According to ITB in their 2016/2017 report (https://www.itb-berlin.de/media/itb/itb_dl_all/itb_presse_all/World_Travel_Trends_Report_2016_2017.pdf):
“Destinations that were perceived as very dangerous lost millions of visitors, while countries with a positive safety image benefitted very heavily from this switch,” declared Freitag. Among the winners so far this year were, for example, Spain with an increase of more than 10% in inbound trips as well as the UK, which both gained business for diverse reasons. On the other hand, inbound trips to France and Turkey decreased, mainly due to security concerns of travelers”. Now that Trump let the armed forces do their job, and ISIS has crawled back under the rock from whence it came, places like France will see an increase in visitors in 2018. Without a doubt.
They were darn lucky to get through Africa alive. Should’ve quit while they were ahead.
I know a couple who didn’t. They went to do some good and have fun while doing it. They got to do that, until the end. Which the two of six in the party who escaped described as “they were on their knees trying to persuade their killers not to shoot them. ”
When I was young I visited the third world as part of a platoon of infantry. Wouldn’t go back any other way. I’m inclined to view Europe the same way since they have imported so much of the third world since then.
You didn’t visit eastern Europe. Had an offspring who studied there and – on whose behalf – I had to journey at least once a year carrying the “necessities of life” as in marshmallows, tinned pumpkin pie filling, tinned cranberry sauce, peanut butter, and various anti-histamines and cold remedies which were not then available in the local town. Must admit, my “had-to” trips were really great and I developed an appreciation of their culture.
We returned last year – a special “anniversary” at the uni. Town has changed but still the same ambiance. It was a good return.
Thousands of beige Americans die every year, driving their beige cars to and from their beige jobs and we don’t think anything of it because that’s just “normal.” I don’t have anything against people who buck the trend and choose to accept a different set of risks, even if they ultimately prove fatal. In the long run we’re all dead anyway.
On the other hand, I have a hard time finding sympathy for those beige people who die in a commuting accident because they suddenly decided to to go the wrong way on the highway and put it to the floor.
The boy is responsible for the girls death. To some extent she trusted his judgment.
Just like the idiot who took his girlfriend into the wilds of Alaska during the fall season when the grizzlies are fattening up. They camped in a tent, and, no guns were taken, of course; the idiot had a way of talking to the grizzlies and was there friend, he thought. Both of them were killed and eaten.
That was just his way; you see, he was the only one protecting those bears…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell
… and HE got HIS girlfriend savagely mauled, torn limb from limb and … eaten … to death. All because he was convinced the Grizz were his … friends, nay … buddies.
1963….went overland, (the dry spots anyway), from England to Australia, (where I was living at the time), through Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, etc.
Different world back then. Wouldn’t try it today.
First class candidates for the Darwin award.
Being vegan was a clue as to their world view.
– Feel bad for them just the same. As poor Richard put it,
“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that.” – Poor Richard
Contrary to popular belief, the wise never learn from their mistakes. They learn from the mistakes of others.
– Heard a GREAT anecdote about that – high school teacher asks his class, “If there are ten crows on a wire and you shoot one, how many are left?”
The class universally answers, “Nine”.
He tells them, “Wrong. If there are ten crows on a wire and you shoot one, there are NONE left. All the others take-off, very fast – because crows aren’t stupid.”
Ha! As Patton told his troops … “I don’t want you to DIE for your country, I want you to make that other bastard DIE for HIS country”
Proverbs 12:15 (NAS)
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel
There is/was plenty of “counsel” available for these two. They chose to ignore it. You pay your money, and you’s takes your chances.
Sad…..they grow up believing the whole world is watching Oprah Ellen and the Five
The Oprahfication of our Society.
I am certain these two fastidiously avoided; wooden cutting boards, MacDonalds burgers, alar-tainted apples … however … appeared to succumb to every “natural” parasite, bug, disease, and ailment rampant outside the boundaries of a “toxic” America. Sorry … but I am more amused by their sickly, diseased, Ill, bike tour than their death. I am guessing they boldly sampled ALL the local cuisine and water. After all, you know, all those Health WARNINGS are just due to a colonial, imperialist, unethical FDA … promoted by BIG Pharma, BIG Agribusiness, and the Chemical lobby. They had no such FEAR of indigenous native diets.
Eloi, meet the Morlocks!
At least the Tajik government appears to know how to deal with these fiends. Apparently the suspects were shot while resisting arrest.
” Apparently the suspects were shot while resisting arrest.”
We need more motivated police. Ones that don’t wait for hours while a killer dissects a victim on a Greyhound bus. Mind you, everyone who lives in rural areas policed by the RCMP know how totally useless they are but city folk have more votes and better police – but not much better.
“…city folk have more votes and better police…”
They only think their police are better, because they see them more often.
Evil is a make-believe concept we’ve invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own
I define the word “evil” as values and beliefs and perspectives that are utterly callous towards the well-being of others, and I know for a fact that it exists.
As if … psychopaths … don’t really exist. They’re just “following a different path” (if not “listening to different ‘voices’ in their heads”).
Your definition of EVIL is quite accurate.
When boomers were young we were combinations of unfocussed, lazy, opinionated, selfish, impatient and incoherent.
But not entitled – that was the failure of our parenting – our special little children. I tried tough dad too with no better success.
We are what we spawned; no getting around that one folks. Blame the apparatchiks if you want, but it all started at home.
I’m surprised that the social re-engineering students among the NYT’s readers didn’t pick up on the back story. The person who self identified as a man convinced the person who self identified as a woman to do something she was uncomfortable with. Everyone (in the progressive universe) knows that the man was more agressive in taking this risk because in “gender is a social construct” theory, paternalistic society made him this way. And the woman was reluctant to take the risk because she has been brainwashed by Judeo-Christian culture into believing she should not take risks. In the end those slack readers could have diverted the blame from the tragic cisgender protagonists following ISIS to where it belongs, uniquely paternalistic western society.
“You watch the news and you read the papers and you’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place,” wrote Austin during their trek. “People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted….I don’t buy it.”
I, too, have traveled through many countries, and through many ‘scary’ places that the vast majority of the outside world will never see. When the friendly locals there tell you plainly that you’re in danger and need to get out, trust them. It’s the height of arrogance to believe the locals are pushing a false ‘narrative’.
We had a ‘local’ pull up in a truck to warn us just a couple of weeks ago — in Yakima, WA. We had just set up pens in a fairground parking lot, at 5 pm, to let the dogs out to stretch their legs. We thanked him and left.
Wrong breed of dogs?
Wrong breed of locals. Yakima is full of gangs and methheads.
There’s another, unspoken element here. This resembles the story of that other couple, 24 – and – 26-year-old, who set-out to sail the world and made-it to the first sandbar outside their port of departure. He was “tired of working”, so he set-out to cycle the globe; and the benefit at the other end? – a book he could sell, so he’d make enough money (plus the movie rights) that he didn’t have to work anymore. This was also the big benefit of being vegan – they could eat whatever they found along the way; nevermind that what local vegetation wasn’t poisonous to their unaccustomed systems, would be guarded by angry farmers or wouldn’t provide them the fuel they needed to keep going – and get-by on a shoestring along the road.
I suspect this was the major draw for her, too; why, even after all the cr@p that happened to them before Tajikistan, she didn’t blow him off and vamoose for her home continent, sadder but wiser. Her prize was to be him, and bragging rights over her friends for having pulled it off – and oh-by-the-way, enough money from co-authoring the book that she didn’t have to work anymore.
It’d be charmingly naive, if they hadn’t both died.
bicycles are like wind mills, yesterday’s news. Why a$$hole want to bicycle around the world escapes me. But than a lot of shit does. Tho their stupidity did add to the news cycle:-))))
“People who travel in exotic locals are America-haters who should be sneered at by bad writers at PJ Media after they die in a freak accident!” -asshole at PJ Media
Order now and we’ll throw in the word ‘entitlement’ for no reason!
unDork, speaking of assholes………………….how yah doin???
People who travel to exotic locales shouldn’t be surprised when they meet exotic locals. It’s called risk management – that delicate balance between risk and expediency. In their case they decided that their aim was most expeditiously served by cycling in very risky areas.
Reality is the chrome horn.
There should be a lot of support for the entitled to take upon themselves to “know the goodness” of the world.
While world is mostly benign there are acute places where the homo sapiens is not fully developed to understand the “civilized” part.
As it is they have no necessity to understand.
It is incumbent on the “civilized” to understand them and behave accordingly.
There is this thing, if you insist on running headlong into a brick wall, don’t expect sympathy, most of the mankind knows that it’s not going to end well for you, no study needed though if you insist your demise is going to be ridiculed.