Beriallord Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 (edited) https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/us/otto-warmbier-north-korea-dies.html My opinion: I would say he was an idiot, but that would be an understatement. Damage to his brain wasn't done by North Korean activities, because he was clearly brain dead before he got there. I'm not really sure what could have been going through his head when he thought it would be a good idea to visit North Korea? Maybe he was another college liberal who thought North Korea was a Socialist utopia, and he was going to visit the mother land? There were several complete failures in decision making that led him to his fate. #1: Why would he go there to begin with? It's a brutal regime, up there with some of the worst examples in history. Stalinist Communism, basically. #2: He's 21, and likely had to borrow money from his parents or his church to make this trip. Are they as dumb as he is? #3: Stealing a political poster in North Korea. Honestly, what the hell did he think was gonna happen? With regards to number 3, I'm not sure if anyone knows whether it's a fact that he stole something, or not, or if this confession was obtained by torture. But that seems like a really specific accusation, and in a country where they can arrest you for saying anything the regime doesn't like. And not everyone who goes there gets arrested. So he had to do *something* while he was there that they didn't like. Which brings me back to point #1, why go there? And this is how you win the Darwin Award. Edited June 21, 2017 by Beriallord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aijung747 Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Many liberals refuse to listen to the facts that North Korea is a despicable country who has THOUSANDS (if not millions) of human rights violations on its side. I find it very odd that some liberals defend North Korea when the people there hate everything the US stands for. They wake up every morning praising Kim il Sung, Kim Jung il and Kim Jung Un. There are school children and workers who sing songs of how the US will burn and how much they despise America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurielius Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 As much as I feel the pain of his parents they should have not enabled his trip to NK. What I cannot fathom is what he intended to accomplish with his trip, it is not as if the repression in NK is any secret or that their methods of interrogation are akin to the defunct Pol Pot regime. It is impossible to travel anywhere in NK without 'minders', so any interaction that they deemed inappropriate would have very severe or fatal consequences as he unfortunately found out. I know that we have travel advisories for traveling to NK though IMO it should be upgraded to a actual travel ban. Why give Kim any more hostage taking opportunities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 As much as I feel the pain of his parents they should have not enabled his trip to NK. What I cannot fathom is what he intended to accomplish with his trip, it is not as if the repression in NK is any secret or that their methods of interrogation are akin to the defunct Pol Pot regime. It is impossible to travel anywhere in NK without 'minders', so any interaction that they deemed inappropriate would have very severe or fatal consequences as he unfortunately found out. I know that we have travel advisories for traveling to NK though IMO it should be upgraded to a actual travel ban. Why give Kim any more hostage taking opportunities?It's a method of culling the gene pool. The truly stupid folks that go there, get arrested, and die, (hopefully, before they breed) are removed from the gene pool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iXenite Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Jeffrey Fowle, the one that left a bible in North Korea, is likely not a "liberal". I'm not so sure how political beliefs have anything to do with visiting North Korea and getting arrested there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurielius Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Jeffrey Fowle, the one that left a bible in North Korea, is likely not a "liberal". I'm not so sure how political beliefs have anything to do with visiting North Korea and getting arrested there.Agreed, being a US citizen is the only requirement, being Liberal or Conservative makes no difference to the NK's. Stupidity is not the sole province of one side or the other. Though in this case sadly, it was terminal stupidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kvnchrist Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 What does the political affiliation of a person have to do with the the dignity due to a human being. Does one have the right to screw up and make bad decisions without having to end up in a vegetative state and loosing their life in the manner this man did. As many people have noticed by reading my posts here, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact I consider myself lucky to have such intelligent people to talk to, on occasion and that's not me trying to suck up to anyone. It's me giving your due for having the cognizant abilities you have. I envy that more than anyone here will ever know. As We've all experienced in our daily interactions intelligence does not necessarily impart wisdom and I think this is what was the case with this young man. This young man stretched the envelope a bit to far in his sense of fairplay and ended up in a place where that sensibility doesn't exist. I have no clue what made him think this move was a good idea, but I don't think it was anything more than a young mans need to see for himself what actual was out there, in this world filled with partisan rhetoric and ideological bigotry. i don't think this person was stupid any more than I think the college student who was caned for defacing property in Indonesia a couple of decades ago was stupid. I think he was a young American with the privileged mindset of one accustomed to being an American who assumed too much, too far away from our shores. He got his answers in a manner that no one deserves to get them and paid the price for the worlds reluctance to deal with tyranny, much the same as those who were devoured despots in the past. My mind goes back to a time where a man called Nevil Chamberlain stood in front of the press, waving a piece of paper and proclaiming "Peace in our time." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 This was Darwinian selection at its best. This young man made a series of bad decisions (starting with visiting NK in the first place), and it cost him his life. I wouldn't be surprised if his adventure to NK started off with "Hey Ya'll, Watch THIS!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGMage2 Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 His story is tragic... what we know of it at least. We will probably never be sure of what actually happened to him, or if he was guilty of anything or not, but we do know that it was his own flawed judgement that put him in that position. I'm not a heartless person, or devoid of empathy or compassion, but when I see people who are obviously oblivious to reality, going into dangerous places in the world, whether it be for adventure, curiosity, thrill seeking, or religious do-gooder-isim, and then they get taken hostage, or robbed raped and killed, or beheaded on a YouTube video, it taxes my willingness to care. However I do still care. It's emotionally painful to see these things happen, but what I feel for them is accompanied by a very large portion of disbelief that they could be so stupid as to do the things that they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandalftw Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/us/otto-warmbier-north-korea-dies.html My opinion: I would say he was an idiot, but that would be an understatement. Damage to his brain wasn't done by North Korean activities, because he was clearly brain dead before he got there. I'm not really sure what could have been going through his head when he thought it would be a good idea to visit North Korea? Maybe he was another college liberal who thought North Korea was a Socialist utopia, and he was going to visit the mother land? There were several complete failures in decision making that led him to his fate. #1: Why would he go there to begin with? It's a brutal regime, up there with some of the worst examples in history. Stalinist Communism, basically. #2: He's 21, and likely had to borrow money from his parents or his church to make this trip. Are they as dumb as he is? #3: Stealing a political poster in North Korea. Honestly, what the hell did he think was gonna happen? With regards to number 3, I'm not sure if anyone knows whether it's a fact that he stole something, or not, or if this confession was obtained by torture. But that seems like a really specific accusation, and in a country where they can arrest you for saying anything the regime doesn't like. And not everyone who goes there gets arrested. So he had to do *something* while he was there that they didn't like. Which brings me back to point #1, why go there? And this is how you win the Darwin Award. I would say that you're an idiot for commenting about someone you know nothing about.I would say you're a fool for actually believing you have something of substance to say about an event that has not yet been fleshed out.I'd say you're an unemphatic ass that has a desire to see yourself as superior to others and will do anything it takes to project your pathetic ego for accolades you don't deserve. Other than that be free brother. Edited June 28, 2017 by gandalftw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts