Florida teen travels to Iraq...alone!! (1 Viewer)

[Matt Butler]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/29/tee....ap/index.html

I cant decide if hes brave or plain stupid!

OK he's stupid.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, they were talking about this on the radio and they asked an interesting question. If you were the teacher, would you give him an A or an F?

Tough Call.

 

[Joseph S]

He gets an A, the Board of Education in Florida gets an F.

 

[Ricardo C]

Stupid and irresponsible. "Bravery" has nothing to do with his extremely naïve approach to the situation.

And I have the feeling his parents won't be giving him any more money, ever again

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, too many "Fear Factor" types of shows out there that glamorize danger.

Either young people just aren't understanding what danger really is, or they are so used to the glamorization of it (through reality TV) that they don't think about the consequences of REAL danger.

 

[Ravi K]

At least his mother is a psychiatrist, so he can get in-house care

 

[AjayM]

I'd say he's brave and naive.

 

[MarkHastings]

Which just goes to show you that book smarts doesn't often translate into street smarts.

 

[Francois Caron]

Brave or plain stupid? It depends on what happens next. Can you imagine how many media outlets or even publishers would pay him for a detailed account of his experience? That could easily help cover his college and/or university tuition. And if he ever decides to go into journalism, his resume will make more than one editor sit up and take notice.

I say his stunt was insane. But it's a stunt that may benefit him greatly in the future.

 

[MarkHastings]

Stupid is stupid no matter what the outcome is - Being rewarded for a stupid act doesn't make the stunt any less stupid (IMO).

 

[Marko Berg]

I don't doubt travelling to Iraq alone is dangerous and was certainly a stupid act.

But I have to wonder why the following was considered by his teacher to be "dangerous and irresponsible:"



Link to full news article

I understand he was still in the US at the time. So it's dangerous and irresponsible to talk politics with Muslim men? Admittedly I don't know the whole story and what the situation was like, but I have to wonder if the teacher isn't overreacting.

During the recent violent rioting in Paris, France, most news referred to the rioters as immigrants of African origin. Except for Fox News, which repeatedly called the rioters "Muslim thugs." While it's likely most of the rioters were Muslim, I understand religious beliefs had little to do with the violence and crime there. I'm not going as far as to say Fox News is trying to label every Muslim a criminal, but based on what I read in the news, it looks like people are becoming (unnecessarily?) fearful if the student's teacher thinks speaking with Muslims about politics is dangerous.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This is the not the appropriate forum to discuss that issue. I'm sure there are other boards available in which politics and religion can be discussed in more depth. Thank you.





Crawdaddy

 

[Marko Berg]

Sorry. I tried to offer a critical view of the media without touching the political and religious issues themselves. I'm not interested in bringing any in-depth discussion of the issues into this thread.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Most people I know, particularly Americans already have a critical view of the media, but I'm afraid your question would allow this discussion to expand beyond that view.





Crawdaddy

 

[Chris Lockwood]

How does an underage kid travel overseas alone without being caught by customs?

 

[ThomasC]

Well, his initial travels only brought him to Kuwait (through Amsterdam). If he had proper documentation (he has relatives in Lebanon, so already having a Kuwaiti visa wouldn't be out of the question), there wouldn't have been much, if anything, to bring up a red flag, as far as I can tell.