Florida teen skips school, sneaks to Iraq

[DB_Hunter]

Originally posted by: milfhunter

Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
There is always a certain understanding that soldiers in a war zone would be killed...

Wow, go ahead and degrade the sacrifice of every soldier's life then.

"Oh, 1,000+ American freedom fighters have died? So what? It was, well, in a certain understanding, to be expected. Sucks to be them. Let's just go out and recruit some more."

Don't be patronising and assume that everyone thinks that American soldiers are freedom fighters being sacrificed for a just cause.

"But wait, a high school civilian has died? Oh, hell to the fuck no! That does it. That's crossing the line! That's fucking stupid!

That's the way emotions are for some people.

"

Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
'someone's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter'

What the fuck is your point? Thanks, you have just given EpyonNext the pleasure of a hard on because he can now reference Einstein's theory of relativity, too. Good job.

My point there is not everyone is on one side.

[Carnage]

Its so funny how milfhunter is telling other people that theyre making the most useless posts when hes making posts on just bashing them. Go ahead, bash me for this post..........retard.....

***Contribution to the thread***

Theres a difference when a soldier dies and a civilian dies. A soilder is fighting, so he can expect to be injured or lose his life. But that doesnt make his cause less honorable. But when a civilian dies, the civilian is usually innocent ( Though in this case, it would be Hassan's fault if he died). The definition of a civilian is a non combatant, someone who doesnt fight, someone who shouldnt die. So yes, there is a difference between when a soilder dies and a civilian dies. The soldier chooses willingly to fight knowing the consequences. A civilian however does not wish to fight and does not want to risk imjury or death.

[The Heretic Azazel]

I love reading about "honorable" deaths in the army when the news commonly puts new photos on the air of people who didn't even make it to 20.

It's such a fucking waste.

[Assassin]

the best part about this article is that this kid is all into immersion journalism, but doesn't think to do some research and try to blend it, or learn some basics of the language. What a shitty journalist he would make.

+5 for enthusiasm, -42 for common sense.

on a totally unrelated note,

I wish that I could send all of you to the terrorists in Iraq to get beheaded as an agreement of a peace treaty.

HOLY BIASED GENERALIZATIONS BATMAN!!

[badass]

The argument concerning the fact that he could've died is stupid. He was willing to risk his life to be able to write about Iraq after getting a deeper and more personal understanding of the situation there. It doesn't matter what could've happened, it didn't. All the (should've, would've, could've, etc.) bullshit is unimportant. After all is said and done, he accomplished his goal.

[Assertn]

Whats the difference between that kid and the marines? Both willingly enter and involve themselves in the battlefield...which is unlike the common defining characteristic of a civilian. As far as I'm concerned, if that kid died, it wouldn't have been a civilian casualty.

[milfhunter]

Originally posted by: God#2
bash me for this post..........retard.....

Ok, then. You can suck my dick, faggot.

Contribution to thread:

Originally posted by: Assassin
the best part about this article is that this kid is all into immersion journalism, but doesn't think to do some research and try to blend it, or learn some basics of the language. What a shitty journalist he would make.

The whole point of immersive journalism is that the immersion is part of the research, and I'm pretty sure that he would've learned the basics of the language due to the situations he encountered such as conversing with Muslim men over politics. They probably taught him a disproportionate amount of profanity, and I'm pretty sure he can perfectly say "kill the Jews" now.

Originally posted by: Assassin
HOLY BIASED GENERALIZATIONS BATMAN!!

You'll be the first one I send to get beheaded. Where's the generalization now?

[Kraco]

Originally posted by: badass
The argument concerning the fact that he could've died is stupid. He was willing to risk his life to be able to write about Iraq after getting a deeper and more personal understanding of the situation there. It doesn't matter what could've happened, it didn't. All the (should've, would've, could've, etc.) bullshit is unimportant. After all is said and done, he accomplished his goal.

The 'should've, would've, could've' are relevant in general sense. It's obvious this kid didn't die, but if you take 100 kids and send them to a similar trip, many of them would be statistically likely to come back feet first in aluminum coffins. Would that be an acceptable price for a school paper?

Though it has to be remembered that throughout the history there have been individuals who have been joyously ready to risk their lives for endeavours that, back then, seemed utterly stupid for the general audience. Without these men (and women), we wouldn't have many great technological inventions or many parts of the world would have remained uncharted for far longer times. But not all of these adventures were intelligent or succesful, of course. So, these people are needed, but the continuation of our species requires they are the minority.

[badass]

Originally posted by: Kraco
The 'should've, would've, could've' are relevant in general sense. It's obvious this kid didn't die, but if you take 100 kids and send them to a similar trip, many of them would be statistically likely to come back feet first in aluminum coffins. Would that be an acceptable price for a school paper?

100 kids didn't go on the trip, just Hassan did. That's what should be the point of the discussion. Like I said, I don't care about what would've or could've happened, I care about what did happen.

[Kraco]

Give me a break. If somebody starts a thread with the topic: "Is turkey good meat?", and somebody answers: "Turkey is fine, but chicken is better.", do you really think the second person spammed the thread with an irrelevant opinion, because 50% of his post concerned chicken?

A thread like this begs for serious consideration of common sense. But perhaps you are too badass for such opinions...

[KitKat]

Well, all badass said was that he personally doesn't care about hypothetical situations. I think for the majority of the people that are posting in this topic though, statistics and probability play a crucial role in the discussion. To be able to evaluate someone's actions, it's important to understand the possible outcomes of their actions.

My thoughts on the issue: All issues of danger aside, I would never spend that much money on a school assignment. Seriously, that kid's parents must have good jobs. Who gives their kid that much money just to spend on whatever? I'm willing to bet that if he'd worked for that money himself, he never would have gone.

[Honoko]

you'd be amazed at what kind of money parents give to their children here =P high schoolers now in well-to-do surburbia carry their books in designer bags like LV or Prada *barf* if i ever have kids, they're gonna be stuck with one L.L.Bean bookbag for their entire educational career and even that's gonna be generous [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[DB_Hunter]

lol designer bags??? Man when I went to school I just wanted a bag that could carry my stuff, only when I was like 8 I wanted one with a clock in it or some cartoon related bag. I didn't even have the concept of a designer bag... as long as it carried my stuff and it could be used to make the goal/wicket when I played football/cricket at school it was fine.

@KitKat: Thats an interesting angle... something I would agree with I have to say. As I said before, you don't have to go into the middle of war zone to try and get away from biased propaganda, if that's what your trying to avoid.

[Assertn]

Many of the most famous and successful news reporters are the ones that dive right into battlefields....it's a risk that comes with the occupation if you want to have big ambitions in that career path. If that kid got a good scoop that many professional reporters couldn't, then his future will be set.

[badass]

Originally posted by: Kraco
Give me a break. If somebody starts a thread with the topic: "Is turkey good meat?", and somebody answers: "Turkey is fine, but chicken is better.", do you really think the second person spammed the thread with an irrelevant opinion, because 50% of his post concerned chicken?

A thread like this begs for serious consideration of common sense. But perhaps you are too badass for such opinions...

As KitKat said, I just don't see the point in debating hypothetical statements. You don't seem to understand what that is (judging from your "Is turkey good meat?" analogy), so I'll give you an example: it's like coming in last place in a race and then saying, "If I had run around the track much faster, I could've finished first." Pointless. Good job on using my nick against me though, I never imagined such wittiness could be humanly possible.

Originally posted by: KitKat
My thoughts on the issue: All issues of danger aside, I would never spend that much money on a school assignment. Seriously, that kid's parents must have good jobs. Who gives their kid that much money just to spend on whatever? I'm willing to bet that if he'd worked for that money himself, he never would have gone.

He didn't go to Iraq so he could get a good grade in his immersion journalism class. He went because he wanted to get a firsthand understanding of the situation there. The class inspired him to go, but it wasn't his incentive for going.

[milfhunter]

Originally posted by: Kraco
"Is turkey good meat?" "Turkey is fine, but chicken is better."

I like chicken noodle soup with a turkey sandwich. Two birds with one stone, literally.

Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
Man when I went to school I just wanted a bag that could carry my stuff, I didn't even have the concept of a designer bag...

Well, aren't you special. Would you like a cookie or a designer bag?

On an unrelated note, I think that Kelly Clarkson had the best album of 2005.

(Considering that a majority of this thread consists of shit posts, I thought I'd try to blend in like the Hassan kid.)

For the contribution: It's not like Hassan was a spoiled kid. Of course, his parents were financially priviledged and were able to send him to a prep school. But if you just read the CNN article, you'll learn that he understands the value of a dollar because he argued with a Muslim cab driver about the fare for a ride to Baghdad. Shit is expensive in Florida so it must've taken him some measure of self-control to save that money up. Besides, don't be jealous that instead of buying a designer bag, some people actually use their money for gaining knowledge and making discoveries. He got to travel the world and has probably absorbed more culture and global views than we can imagine in our isolated corner of the internet on GotWoot. But anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if his money came from oil profits.

[Kraco]

Originally posted by: badass
As KitKat said, I just don't see the point in debating hypothetical statements. You don't seem to understand what that is (judging from your "Is turkey good meat?" analogy), so I'll give you an example: it's like coming in last place in a race and then saying, "If I had run around the track much faster, I could've finished first." Pointless. Good job on using my nick against me though, I never imagined such wittiness could be humanly possible.

Sorry about the nick. That's always out of line. However, your analogy isn't any better than mine. You don't risk losing your life on the track, nor do you spend thousands of dollars just to risk losing your life. You should think long enough to understand the normal reaction most people always have when they read a story like that.

People compare the things they read to their own experiences, values and opinions, and then judge the whole thing based on those factor. And statistically any random guy picked from the street would say what the dude did is pretty crazy. Now you say it wasn't crazy for Hassan himself, and that's probably true. But this forums isn't made of Hassan clones.

Man, this thread wasn't even started by you. But now you know that should you once start a similar thread, you can and should expect hypothetical posts. After all, as long as we all haven't experienced Iraq trips firsthand, hypothetical opinions are all we have got.

[DB_Hunter]

Originally posted by: milfhunter
Q]Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
Man when I went to school I just wanted a bag that could carry my stuff, I didn't even have the concept of a designer bag...

Well, aren't you special. Would you like a cookie or a designer bag?

On an unrelated note, I think that Kelly Clarkson had the best album of 2005.

(Considering that a majority of this thread consists of shit posts, I thought I'd try to blend in like the Hassan kid.)

For the contribution: It's not like Hassan was a spoiled kid. Of course, his parents were financially priviledged and were able to send him to a prep school. But if you just read the CNN article, you'll learn that he understands the value of a dollar because he argued with a Muslim cab driver about the fare for a ride to Baghdad. Shit is expensive in Florida so it must've taken him some measure of self-control to save that money up. Besides, don't be jealous that instead of buying a designer bag, some people actually use their money for gaining knowledge and making discoveries. He got to travel the world and has probably absorbed more culture and global views than we can imagine in our isolated corner of the internet on GotWoot. But anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if his money came from oil profits.[/quote]

Here's a helpful rule for you... don't speak unless your spoken to.

As for understanding the value of the dollar... I think his argument with the cabbie was some good old fashioned not-trying-to-get-ripped talk... something that's common in the Middle East.

As he said,

"In one day I probably spent like $250 on taxis," he said. "And they're so evil too, because they ripped me off, and when I wouldn't pay the ripped-off price they started threatening me. It was bad."

Being evil was surely the only explaination...

[KitKat]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that Hassan was a spoiled kid. The point I was trying to make is that it's easy to spend your parents money. But when someone spends hours working for the money they have, they tend to think a little more carefully about how they spend it. When I was 16, I had maybe $1000 that I'd managed to save up by working on the farm. That money represented to me hours of picking strawberries, cutting and stacking wood, pulling weeds, etc. Spending all of it on a trip would have meant not having any spending money for small things like going out with my friends, and cleaning out my university fund. Who knows, maybe if Hassan were a farm kid like me in that situation, he still would have gone. If his convictions are that strong, all the more power to him. It probably means he'll be a great journalist.

By the way, does anyone know where to find the paper that Hassan wrote? I'd really like to read it.

In terms of going overseas and immersing yourself in another culture, I think that's something more people should do (not to Iraq, mind you, but any third world country works well). Too many people limit their world to their surroundings and see the rest of the world as an unreal place we hear stories about on the news. Once you've seen the poverty and suffering of what most of the earth's population endures on a daily basis, it's not so easy to be content with just getting by, playing video games, and watching anime. I hope Hassan doesn't just write about the things he saw, and stop with, "Wow, I'm so lucky to live in the US" but that he moves to, "What can I do to help the people I met?"

[milfhunter]

Yeah, you're right. If he had worked for that money, he would've been like, "fuck that shit. Where the hoes at." But now that you mention it, I realize that it probably goes further to speak in Hassan's favor that he didn't spend his parents' money to go on a trip to Amsterdam just so he can get laid, or a trip to Paris, or a trip to Greece, or Italy, or London, or whatever the hot spot is these days. I was born in a third-world country and I still don't want to visit it.

But anyway, you worked on a farm? That's so hot. I want to be a farmer. It's a thankless job and you live a humble, hardworking life, but you feed the world and get to feel good about what you do at the end of the day. Plus, if you're with a lady who likes to hit the hay, there's more than the field to plow.