Four Americans killed by Somali pirates.

[MetalJunkie]

Jesus Christ. Four Americans sailing the world were taken hostage and killed by pirates.

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41715530/ns/world_news-africa/

[ReaPsTA]

I'm really tired of this.  I want one of two things to happen.  Either we start putting guns on all our ships going through the area with people trained to man them, or we send the Navy down there to take care of business.  Hopefully pirates aren't like terrorists, in that if we kill pirates we're just making more of them.  Because I want them to go away.  We can even get the CIA in on this.  If their leaders (assuming they have any, dunno how organized this is) start mysteriously dying, maybe they'll get the message.

People do to you what you let them.  We're letting them mess with us and now people are dying because of it.

[Progmetty]

I don't think they're that organized but they are unconnected mobs, but yes killing them doesn't create more of them, they're thugs.

[kala1928]

From what I've understood there are already more than 100 ships hunting down the pirates around the coastline.

[MetalJunkie]

From what I've understood there are already more than 100 ships hunting down the pirates around the coastline.

That sounds like a fun job.

[YtseBitsySpider]

the Canadians are down there, but big governments hand's are tied..you can't just start shooting at every little boat. Also, the pirates, while hired thugs are killed if they return to shore empty handed....it's a pretty nasty situation.

[TempusVox]

The Earth is damn near covered by water, so here is an idea. Stay the fuck away from Somalia. None of the other oceans good enough for you to sail on? Damn!

[King Postwhore]

The Earth is damn near covered by water, so here is an idea. Stay the fuck away from Somalia. None of the other oceans good enough for you to sail on? Damn!

It was a life goal of those 2 couples to hand out bibles to poor countries.  They were in a group of protected ships but for some silly reason they left the protection.  I for one would never hang out for any reason in those waters.

[Chino]

The Earth is damn near covered by water, so here is an idea. Stay the fuck away from Somalia. None of the other oceans good enough for you to sail on? Damn!

  They were in a group of protected ships but for some silly reason they left the protection. 

They probably figured god was on their side.

[73109]

shazam

[King Postwhore]

They probably figured god was on their side.

I would never say anything bad about one's belief even though I don't believe. I hope that wasn't the case.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

As much of a tragedy as this is, I have to agree on the "DUH!" factor here.  If you don't know that it's a ridiculously dangerous area to be in, then you've been living under a rock.  They KNEW it was extremely dangerous to consider sailing in that area and they went anyway.  This really isn't surprising at all.  Sad and upsetting yes, but certainly not surprising.  It's like turning the burner on the stove to high, knowing how badly it has the potential to burn you, then touching it, confident that you won't get burned.  Then you get burned.

[Chino]

They probably figured god was on their side.

I would never say anything bad about one's belief even though I don't believe. I hope that wasn't the case.

I'm being serious about that, not making fun. I have known religious people that truely believed stuff like that. I had a really religious English professor. He used to make these sailboat things as part of a hobby. He used to hell us all the time howhe would go into geographically risky areas because he felt as though he had the upper hand with god.

[Dream Team]

That's very sad, but it shouldn't matter if they are "Americans" or not.

[Dublagent66]

They believed in god but didn't believe in pirates.  

[Jamesman42]

They probably figured god was on their side.

I would never say anything bad about one's belief even though I don't believe. I hope that wasn't the case.

I'm being serious about that, not making fun. I have known religious people that truely believed stuff like that. I had a really religious English professor. He used to make these sailboat things as part of a hobby. He used to hell us all the time howhe would go into geographically risky areas because he felt as though he had the upper hand with god.

That sucks. That's not how it's supposed to be, as far as God being there.

It is if God leads you there. It is NOT "Derp I can go anywehrez and be safe because I believe in God." God as a form of life insurance makes faith seem stupid.

[King Postwhore]

They probably figured god was on their side.

I would never say anything bad about one's belief even though I don't believe. I hope that wasn't the case.

I'm being serious about that, not making fun. I have known religious people that truely believed stuff like that. I had a really religious English professor. He used to make these sailboat things as part of a hobby. He used to hell us all the time howhe would go into geographically risky areas because he felt as though he had the upper hand with god.

Sorry. I knew you weren't.  I was just adding my two cents.

[Cool Chris]

Two of these people were Seattleites, so this is getting a fair amount of local coverage here. Some snippets from the local paper show the absurdity of the situation.

"They did not let fear chart their life. They let themselves chart it and navigate it," said Lee Stenson, commodore of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, where Riggle and Macay met.

"She was the bravest person I have ever known. She was not afraid of death; she had some sort of spiritual wisdom." Kirkham said.

Despite warnings of piracy, the group called it "a hard decision" when the other alternatives are sailing back across the Pacific or heading to the rough seas off South Africa. "When one has set one's heart on a circumnavigation, these choices are very difficult to make," the group said.

I’m a little tired of reading about how ‘brave’ they were. There isn’t anything brave about going in to a situation you know to be dangerous, just because you are not afraid.

[jsem]

You know why the pirates exist? Because their fishing waters were fished dry by western ships, and went to feed Europeans and Americans. This is because Somalia did not have a coastguard.

Now, these pirates are kind of a private, unofficial coastguard. And if some1 intrudes in their waters, they take action - because they have families to feed.

[Dr. DTVT]

People in Libya are being slaughtered by their own government, New Zealanders are recovering from a natural disaster, and this.  Two of these things are important and news-worthy, the third is making martyrs of foolish people.  Just like the girl who tried to sail around the world, I can't feel too bad for people who willingly and knowingly put themselves at exceptional risk.

As for people expecting God to step in and save them...he didn't step in and save over 1,000 people on 9/11, what makes you think you're so special? (not directed at any DTF'ers, more at the deceased)

[chrisbDTM]

well i guess its time to kill some somali pirates..

[Gadough]

They believed in god but didn't believe in pirates.  

lol

[Chino]

You know why the pirates exist? Because their fishing waters were fished dry by western ships, and went to feed Europeans and Americans. This is because Somalia did not have a coastguard.

Now, these pirates are kind of a private, unofficial coastguard. And if some1 intrudes in their waters, they take action - because they have families to feed.

They could take action without slaughtering people.

[Dr. DTVT]

They believed in god but didn't believe in pirates.  

Not everyone listens to Dream Theater.

[jsem]

You know why the pirates exist? Because their fishing waters were fished dry by western ships, and went to feed Europeans and Americans. This is because Somalia did not have a coastguard.

Now, these pirates are kind of a private, unofficial coastguard. And if some1 intrudes in their waters, they take action - because they have families to feed.

They could take action without slaughtering people.

How? They have no government to fall back on... nothing. If they tried to protect peacefully no one would care.

Not trying to defend the slaughtering here...

[Orbert]

"Protect" from what?  These people were not a threat.  They just felt like killing them.

[Ben_Jamin]

They knew about the pirates yet sailed anyways, that's not bravery that's well, crazy.

I'm not gonna argue about the pirates intention since none of us really know, unless you've been there. Somalia is a really bad place, one step outside could mean your last.

Sad they got killed, but since they knew the risks and decided to take it and lost. Well, nothing to be praising them. 

[LeeHarveyKennedy]

Stay the fuck away from Somalia.

I have ten rules I govern my life by, and this is actually number 7.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

You know why the pirates exist? Because their fishing waters were fished dry by western ships

Similarly, I pulled this info from elsewhere:

When the Somali government collapsed, international fishing factory ships came in and basically raped the ocean, catching all the fish and destroying the habitat and leaving the local fishermen to starve. They used techniques like drag-netting in shallow water that scraped the ocean floor clean, eliminating the nooks and crannies where juvenile fish live and hide from predators. No juvenile fish means no adult fish the next year, which is why drag-netting in shallow water is illegal in every area with a functioning government. The local fishermen got pissed off and started vigilante patrols to defend their fishing grounds. Then the vigilantes figured out that, as long as they had boats and guns, piracy might pay better than fishing.

To remove the symptom of Somali piracy, you have to attack the cause: lack of any authority on land.

[jsem]

As has been said before... Somalia is libertarian heaven.


move this to P/R?

[ehra]

As for people expecting God to step in and save them...he didn't step in and save over 1,000 people on 9/11, what makes you think you're so special? (not directed at any DTF'ers, more at the deceased)

I don't think they're in a position to answer you at the moment.

[Chino]

So if we give them fish they will stop?

[jsem]

So if we give them fish they will stop?

I wouldn't be so sure about that now, cuz they're making more money off this than fishing. Once you've given them the bigger cake they won't give it back.

[Chino]

When the Somali government collapsed, international fishing factory ships came in and basically raped the ocean, catching all the fish and destroying the habitat and leaving the local fishermen to starve. They used techniques like drag-netting in shallow water that scraped the ocean floor clean, eliminating the nooks and crannies where juvenile fish live and hide from predators. No juvenile fish means no adult fish the next year, which is why drag-netting in shallow water is illegal in every area with a functioning government. The local fishermen got pissed off and started vigilante patrols to defend their fishing grounds. Then the vigilantes figured out that, as long as they had boats and guns, piracy might pay better than fishing.

To remove the symptom of Somali piracy, you have to attack the cause: lack of any authority on land.

We should just net-drag all of Samali

[Bombardana]

I had no idea the extent people went to to illegally download copyrighted material...