Otto Warmbier, American Student Released From North Korea, Dies

[JimboUK]

That's enough of the name calling, if you can't discuss things in a civilised manner then don't post.

[HeyYou]

 

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.

 

Well, lets detail what we DO know:

 

1. He went to a communist country, ran by a megalomaniac, that is KNOWN to be hostile to americans, on Vacation. He had no other purpose there. That, in and of itself, isn't the brightest.

 

2. He attempted to steal something trivial while in said country, KNOWING he would be watched like a hawk. Strike two.

 

3. He got caught. Wow, big surprise.

 

4. The folks there essentially killed him for his stupidity.

 

Was it deserved? Nope, not in the slightest. Should he have expected anything different? Nope. Not in the slightest.

 

He made a series of stupid decisions, and died for it. The very definition of a darwin award recipient. An no, I have no empathy whatsoever for folks that do this kind of crap to themselves. He was stupid, and he paid for that stupidity with his life. End of story.

[Aurielius]

For all intents and purposes the lad went for a slack line walk on a power line then got electrocuted because he thought it would be a lark . It's a perfect fit for a Darwin Award. Unfortunate in only that it's a waste of a young life, the only up side of this sorry affair is that at least he got to die at home among family.

[gandalftw]

That's enough of the name calling, if you can't discuss things in a civilised manner then don't post.

Exactly, the blatant disregard, in all these posts in this thread, for the young man that lost his life is indecent and uncivilized.

[HeyYou]

 

That's enough of the name calling, if you can't discuss things in a civilised manner then don't post.

Exactly, the blatant disregard, in all these posts in this thread, for the young man that lost his life is indecent and uncivilized.

 

The young mans blatant disregard for common sense is what got him dead. And I am supposed to feel sympathy for him? Not happening.

 

If that makes me indecent, and uncivilized, I can live with that.

[KunoMochi]

That's enough of that. Let's keep things on topic and away from each others necks.

[Aurielius]

My first unanswered question about this whole affair which is, why did he go on the trip in the first place?

The second was who paid for the trip? It's important because if it was his parents, then why did they fund the expedition?

The third is that it requires a visa which in NK's case is a convoluted process which takes time...his plan could not have been that secret.

Not one friend to tell him.."Not a good idea Bro"

I deplore naive stupidity but I think there is more blame to go around than to just have it all sitting on Otto's shoulders .

The poor lad is dead, whatever foolishness motivated him, he's taken that secret to the grave.

[TRoaches]

From what I've read he was in a nearby country (I think it was either China or Korea I can't remember) and he went with a tour company that targets their advertising towards western students studying abroad. The trips are marketed as "The trip your parents don't want you to take!" and that sort of thing. The company apparently ceased to exist in the wake of this incident. Most people probably just do it so they can have a crazy story to tell when they get back home. Its hard for me to even feel sympathy for him. What he did was astoundingly arrogant.

[kvnchrist]

I don't see any reason to see this as anything more than an inexperienced youth that got caught up in something a more experienced person would not have. I think if any one of us wants to judge him, then they should look back at the way we all were at that age. I know if I would encounter myself today, the way I was at his age that i would probably have the desire to slap the crap out of him. Maybe, if someone would have done that to him before he had left, he would still be with us.

[kvnchrist]

 

 

That's enough of the name calling, if you can't discuss things in a civilised manner then don't post.

Exactly, the blatant disregard, in all these posts in this thread, for the young man that lost his life is indecent and uncivilized.

 

The young mans blatant disregard for common sense is what got him dead. And I am supposed to feel sympathy for him? Not happening.

 

If that makes me indecent, and uncivilized, I can live with that.

 

How much of what you call now, common sense did you have when you were his age? common sense is not as common as people put out and many times the good sense we have, today is because of the rocky road of bad decisions we've navigated in our youth. We also need to understand that the world was a different place in our youth and that the miracles of technology, today has made the world a smaller place, without granting anyone any better grasp of this thing called wisdom.