Let's quit our jobs and go on a bike tour near ISIS to prove 'evil is make-believe'

[hurley842002]

Agree, it's completely impossible to not have seen it coming. You have entire regions there, cut off from the world, that are run by warlords/cabals. Some may have certain allegiances, others not but can't control their people. Even if a region isn't formally known to be controlled by ISIS it is very possible that the leadership shares the same values.

And as Americans, you could suffer the same fate.

The friends I have are quality people. If they raised a concern with my planned trip I wouldn't fire back with "evil is make-believe concept." I would think about what they say/experiences.

I checked State Dept warnings just for kicks. They've added an interactive map since I've been there last...

https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap/...24,41.56610399


Tajikistan is categorized the same as China (and most of Europe), which isn't what I'd expect.

Looking at the map, it's pretty sad that there are places deep in the heart of Mexico that are safe'ish to travel, yet parts that are right next to TX are to not travel zones.

[Irving]

I think that's why they added that correction on the article, because people were saying that it was about the same "dangerous" as most of that part of the East/Asian part of the world. Anyway, I'm done splitting hairs.

I think a lot of the objections people would have put up would be centered around, "You can't quit your JOB!!" Most people can't imagine a world without a 40-hour work week, as we can see from Cha-lee's post where he assumes that they'd all the sudden become a tax burden. I'm not sure how, since they weren't even in this country.

[Skip]

I think that's why they added that correction on the article, because people were saying that it was about the same "dangerous" as most of that part of the East/Asian part of the world. Anyway, I'm done splitting hairs.

I think a lot of the objections people would have put up would be centered around, "You can't quit your JOB!!" Most people can't imagine a world without a 40-hour work week, as we can see from Cha-lee's post where he assumes that they'd all the sudden become a tax burden. I'm not sure how, since they weren't even in this country.

I see what you're saying... Maybe they had saved up enough to cover expenses?

That piece isn't nearly as crazy to me as biking through a *stan. I've had friends totally change their lives, do "sabbaticals" and whatnot. Know a couple that gave up his promising legal career to live in France for a couple years on one (smaller) income. It can work.

[68Charger]

I think that's why they added that correction on the article, because people were saying that it was about the same "dangerous" as most of that part of the East/Asian part of the world. Anyway, I'm done splitting hairs.

I think a lot of the objections people would have put up would be centered around, "You can't quit your JOB!!" Most people can't imagine a world without a 40-hour work week, as we can see from Cha-lee's post where he assumes that they'd all the sudden become a tax burden. I'm not sure how, since they weren't even in this country.

Cha-Lee made the comment "when their fantasy trip was over", so perhaps he was assuming that they would likely be tax burdens when they returned due to their liberal nature.

Before they left, they were technically a tax burden because they worked for Gov't (HUD) and a publicly funded university... that's a fault of bloated gov't and misguided funding, but their salaries were indeed paid by taxes indirectly.

They didn't seem overly political in their blog, but it did have a decidedly left slant. (and I'm not talking about reverse Italic fonts)

I totally support their choice to go on a trip, I'd love to go kayaking & camping in Alaska all summer (both months of it )... But I have children and others depending on me. They didn't have that responsibility (AFAIK), so it's up to them what they do with their lives. I just took issue with (and found irony in) their naive belief that everyone is good, and evil doesn't exist.

[Singlestack]

So many worthy contestants for the Darwin award!

[theGinsue]

Well theres two delusional "Utopia" believers that had to learn the hard way.

Sadly, there are millions more - in this country alone - who think the same way and won't learn a thing from this lesson.

i see two sides to this. At least they died trying to live free and do what they loved. Some day i may get eaten by a bear while sitting in the woods somewhere. I'm sure a lot of people would say it was stupid of me to die that way since it's a lot safer in front of a video game console in your living room.

When you go into bear country, do you go knowing there is a risk and do you take something along as protection against those risks? THat's the big difference here.

Certainly not.



Where do you see that? They didn't specifically seek out this risk. Instead, they decided to ride their bikes across the world with the acceptance of the risk that comes with it. Slight difference, but a difference nonetheless. If they just wanted to prove that evil didn't exist, they didn't even have to leave the country to test their theory. Instead they carried out a life dream. I could make assumptions about the guy's statement that evil doesn't exist, but then I'd just be assuming I know why he said that, which is the same as assuming that he specifically sought out risk from ISIS.

Horse hockey! They didn't accept the risk because they honestly didn't believe there was any risk - contrary to volumes of evidence to suggest otherwise. They were fools; plain and simple.

[Irving]

Horse hockey! They didn't accept the risk because they honestly didn't believe there was any risk - contrary to volumes of evidence to suggest otherwise. They were fools; plain and simple.

If they honestly didn't believe there was any risk, then how exactly did they seek it out to prove that it didn't exist?

[Irving]

I regret bringing any of this up. It's all 100% manufactured bullshit by the writer of the article to tint the story so people will view the completely out of context quote to mean that this couple was out to prove how safe the world was, when it's pretty clear that they just wanted to quit their jobs and explore the world. Not worth arguing over. If people want to take a single quote from a blog and use it to shit all over their already horrible deaths and pretend that they deserve it in anyway, fine.

[68Charger]

I regret bringing any of this up. It's all 100% manufactured bullshit by the writer of the article to tint the story so people will view the completely out of context quote to mean that this couple was out to prove how safe the world was, when it's pretty clear that they just wanted to quit their jobs and explore the world. Not worth arguing over. If people want to take a single quote from a blog and use it to shit all over their already horrible deaths and pretend that they deserve it in anyway, fine.

Cool, glad you're fine with it now... about time you came around.

[68Charger]

If they honestly didn't believe there was any risk, then how exactly did they seek it out to prove that it didn't exist?

This doesn't make any sense... they weren't seeking it out, because they didn't believe it existed.
I'm beginning to think you weren't sincere about being fine with it.