It didn’t seem like a lecture to me, it seemed like a first person account from someone who had **different experiences than your own. **
Your own lack of close calls in foreign countries (even more statistically dangerous ones) in no way cancels out her own close calls.
Fair enough. Still, as the OP framed the question to apply to general situations then I have to stand by my stance of not blaming the victim.
I had close calls, but I’ve had close calls in the US too. I didn’t think walking around Watertown in Monrovia was any more inherently dangerous than walking around the hoods in DC or Minneapolis.
Does that not count because people get sick in the US, too?
How about this? Does that not count because there are accidents in the US, too?
Surely this doesn’t count, for the reasons you have alraedy stated. Murders happen in the US, so we shouldn’t count murders for Peace Corps volunteers.
I have a number of how many volunteers have died while on their mission. Would you like to guess what that number is?
A Peace Corps volunteer was shot and killed in Lesotho last week.
I don’t know the most recent kidnapping, but a married couple in Cameroon was attacked in their homes while I was there. They came in with AK47s, roughed up the wife, separated the couple and held them at gunpoint in different rooms for what I believe was several hours. The brave couple actually fought (and won) to be allowed to go back to their village to finish up their service, arguing that their whole village shouldn’t suffer for the actions of the thieves. I don’t think stories like this even make international news, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen.
Anyway, yes, it’s not akin to being an aid worker in Sudan or solider in Afghanistan or whatever. But it’s dangerous. I was violently attacked in a robbery and in the course of it they broke three vertebrae, which by sheer luck ended up being low enough that I lived. Then they tried to rape me. I was physically unable to walk for two days, and then I had to complete 30 hour bus/train ride, alone and partially on unpaved roads and in a mind-blowing amount of pain, to get medical attention. You can say whatever you want, but you’re not gonna sell me on the idea that it’s “risk free.”
I’m going to stand by my stance, that if an adventurer breaks international law by violating a nation’s borders, neither they, nor anyone else, should exactly be surprised when they get thrown in the clink.
Well, the OP says:
Which doesn’t say anything about breaking international law.
I know people that have died in the US too. Show me anything that indicates life in the Peace Corps is statistically any more dangerous than life in New York City.
Yes - the death of a PCV would only support the claim that Peace Corps service can be dangerous if the PCV or his killer were a True Scotsman.
Shocker. You get factual answers of people in the Peace Corps being murdered, and you move the goalposts.
ETA: although I do wonder what kind of murder would count as far as DtC is concerned. Would a blowdart tipped with that dangerous frog poison count? How about being cannibalized and getting their heads shrunken? Or how about setting off some bizarre animal trap in some God-forsaken wilderness?
Oh, that last one actually happened. So it doesn’t count. Link.
Life in NYC is actually very safe. NYC didn’t even make the list of top 25 most dangerous cities in the US in 2007. Or 2006. In fact it didn’t even make the list of 100 least safe cities in the US. We have more crime here than Podunk, Nowhere but we have a population of over 8 million people so that is to be expected. Per capita we have a lot less crime than a good number of places elsewhere in the US and a lot more hospitals, fire departments, police officers, and other resources that help keep us incredibly safe. The Peace Corps is a much more dangerous place to be than NYC. Not that you care, though.
I love the Compton comparisons.
If one lives in Compton because it is all they can afford, and they are out late because they were working, then I would have sympathy if they get jacked.
If one is passing through Compton because they want to shave minutes off of their drive or just to say that they did it, then if their foolishness tempers my sympathy. The more daring/foolish you are, the less my sympathy.
The hikers fall into the second bucket. My sympathy is fairly expensive and exclusive and does not get tossed around willy-nilly.
Adventuring, little.
Aid workers, a lot. As well as admiration and respect.
My sympathy is free, and I dispense it liberally. The hikers made a stupid move and deserved to be yelled at for a couple of hours. They don’t deserve any jail time at all.
No. Insufferable perhaps, but not necessarily a spy.
Western governements pretty much HAVE to negotiate such adventurers out of jail, eventually. If they don’t they lose face. Even if the public opinion in general is “brought it on themselves”. So a lot of money and/or political leverage is lost on such adventurers.
I’m still laughing. Perfect.
Cite?
Perhaps they wanted to make sure their cover story was well publicized
Well, not from Der Trihs, but I guess that’s about par for the course.