Stupid is as stupid does? Seriously people, not everyone in the world shares your ideals. Some people will kill you just because you are different.

Where this happened, these men are not considered "thugs". Where this happened, these men were administering "justice" and are admired as role models, with young men striving to emulate them.

What really kind of infuriates me about this situation is that somebody, somewhere, "educated" these young people. They did not develop their dangerously naive outlook on that area of the world and its people in a vacuum. Somebody, somewhere, was feeding them this hopelessly uniformed, unrealistic view that ultimately led to their deaths.

I'm thinking somewhere like our own Evergreen "College", right here in Washington. It was one of their grads who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer when she foolishly thought she could lay down in front of it and halt its progress. Like our cycling couple, I bet she was rather astonished to learn that she was not nearly as special as she had been led to believe...

Peddling once utopic ideals to the bitter ironic end. Tragic indeed.

its sad that people are so stupid.
sorry, cant feel any sympathy for being that stupid.
have they not seen people get their heads cut off over there.

you really have to wonder if the parents supported this journey.


yea, wasting their lives working. I love it. :rolleyes:

Even a minimal amount of research shows what ISIS is capable of. Videos that they post themselves show the brutality.

What were they thinking? That ISIS was some kind of misunderstood youth group?

Yesterday when I read about this for the first time I looked up the country they were in, mostly by doing an image search.

Almost all of the images were of either the countryside (mountains and lakes) or of some really cool looking flat beard.

Most of these images were from travel blogs and articles on travel.

I also looked at a few maps as I had no idea where this country was.

I guess if that's all you go off of before heading out for adventure you may end up with a few unexpected surprises.

I bet they saw some cool scenery and ate some interesting bread before getting themselves killed.

Probably not worth it.

Just Darwin proved right again.

My cousin when on world trip when he got out of high school. We are taking the 1970s. A different world now. He spent a four months in Iran and loved the place. He went all over Europe, and traveled for over a year in India. He would get local jobs to get enough money to get train ticket and go as far as that took him.

He finally came back to the USA and started a business and is very successful. As you can imagine, he is comfortable talking to anyone and has never met a stranger.

30+ years ago, I used to do some work in south Central Los Angeles, my car broke down at about dusk, a very nice older Black women who ran the dry cleaning establishment in front of where I broke down, invited (actually insisted) that I come inside and wait for AAA. She said bluntly, "you don't want to be outside hanging around".

I didn't read about the killings and don't want to. As a general matter, I think "dark tourism" is dumb.

It is easy for us old geezer armchair quarterbacks to look down on bike tourists that go off the beaten path. That country is on the fringe of what I'd call a civilized place, but not an ISIS hotbed. As stated before, you can get killed over $50 anywhere, including the US. And you can get run off the road by a truck in the US as well, by some angry ******* that thinks roads are for trucks only. Just talk to some avid road bikers.

G

Maybe if their teachers made them read the time Machine by Wells, they'd learn that Eloi will fall prey to morlocks.

You can't change human nature by closing your eyes and singing kumbaya.

I've posted it before, but years ago when Pete Carrol was the coach at USC he made a habit of going to south central LA past midnight to intentionally approach what most would consider bad guys and counseled them, even found many of them jobs.

But he understood and accepted the danger. He once told a reporter who wanted to accompany him to put on a different colored shirt or he'd get shot, and said that even he never knows if he'll come back alive.
When I read about it I admired his convictions but thought him a fool.

And south central isn't anywhere near as bad as chicago, Juarez, or much of the middle east.

Nothing on the level of what they did, but people thought we were foolish for taking a month to randomly drive around Mexico. "You'll be killed by drug gangs!" Maybe. But I wanted to do it. There was a dicey episode or so, but I'd do it again. Nobody is going to live forever- if you never do anything interesting it just seems like forever.

"Ships are safe in harbor - but that's not what ships are for."

But you don't take an old wood flat bottom boat down class 5 rapids, or over a waterfall.

No, just keep them tied to the dock until they rot. In the end it's all the same - dead.

The difference is that Pete Carroll was a god in LA during that timeframe and instantly recognizable. Nobody would have even thought about touching him, he was a symbol of the better life that most athletes in the ghetto are aspiring to. That’s like Tom Brady visiting the projects in Boston, he would be a freaking hero.

Our daughter (mine by marriage to her mom) did an internship in India.

I got all the stories about women getting gang raped and beat to death in the streets.

I won't lie... I was very concerned.

But the organization that sent the group was very organised, gave the kids training before going over there. They were stationed in a hospital complex far from any city. They did some sight seeing on the weekends but always in a group with an escort. It was a great experience for her.

But obviously a very well planed and thought out trip.

I guess it's easy for "old geezer armchair quarterbacks" like you to assume the rest of us must be as well, and thereby dismiss our opinions on the foolishness of what these two have done.

Well, sorry, but you are dealing with at least one "old geezer armchair quarterback" who, in the course of my career, spent a good deal more time in really dicey, dangerous places like where these two met their fate than I care to remember. It is precisely because of my background that I feel I can so clearly see the utter foolishness and recklessness of their ways.

And yes, I do look down upon these two. There was absolutely no reason outside of their own stupidity for what happened to them. Information abounds concerning the realities of places like this, from authoritative sources such as our own State Department and many, many others. They chose one of two things: either not to even look at it, or, for whatever reasons, not to believe it. And it cost them their lives.

I can't see that result with Brady.

I could be wrong, I just don't see it.

I think it has more to do with the person than the status.

You can only see it with respect to your background. Theirs was different. It may not have looked foolish to them. You need to widen your perspective.