A DUmmy's Wet Dream? (with added nadinbrzybrzybrzy goodness)

[dandi]

woolldog (1000+ posts)     Thu Sep-01-11 10:22 PM
Original message
Bored UCLA student joins Libyan rebels on "vacation"
 lol, great story:



http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/ro...

Chris Jeon, a 21-year-old university student from Los Angeles, California,shrugging cooly, declared: “It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels. This is one of the only real revolutions” in the world.

In a daring, one might even say foolhardy, decision two weeks ago, Mr Jeon flew on a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Cairo. He then travelled by train to Alexandria and by a series of buses to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. From there, he hitched a ride with rebels heading west towards the Libyan capital of Tripoli. After a 400km (248-mile) trek across the desolate North African landscape, he was now in the town of An Nawfaliyah, the toast of his comrades and a newly anointed road warrior. (.....)

Nevertheless, the rebels have clearly taken to the mathematics student with no obvious political leanings who decided to slum it as an Arab Spring revolutionary before going back to his calculator for fall semester.

At first glance, Mr Jeon looked like someone who took a wrong turn on their way to the beach or the Santa Monica Pier. He wore a blue basketball basketball jersey emblazoned with a script “Los Angeles” and the number 44. The rest of his outfit, including army camouflage trousers, a grey-and-black kaffiyeh on his head, clear safety glasses and a bullet hanging on a necklace, came courtesy of the rebels, he said. He had been sleeping in the homes of local families or in the open air with the insurgents.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1860331

Sounds like a DU version of being a "revolutionary". Come in after the fighting is done, pick up a rusty AK, don a kaffiyeh, and claim to be "down with the struggle."

I doubt this poser heard any shots fired in anger, at least no incoming ones. At least he got off his ass and went there, though. That's more than you can say for any DUmmy.

mike_c  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 10:27 PM
Response to Original message
1. best summer vacation story EVAH....
 

"I visited my girlfriend."

"I flipped burgers in Anaheim."

"I hung out at the beach, dude."



"I blew shit up in Libya."

So sayeth the bug****er. I doubt he blew anything up, bug****er.

Pirate Smile  (1000+ posts)      Thu Sep-01-11 10:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. Oh, Lord ...
 Edited on Thu Sep-01-11 10:32 PM by Pirate Smile
'As he recalled that deliberately vague version of his itinerary, it dawned on Mr Jeon that he might be blowing his cover by speaking with a reporter on a far-flung stretch of desert more than 11,200 kms (7,000 miles) from home.

“Whatever you do, don’t tell my parents,” he pleaded. “They don’t know I’m here.”'

Oh, they will, when Daddy gets the Mastercard bill.

Poll_Blind  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 10:31 PM
Response to Original message
3. Freedom tourists. Struck me as a mockery.
 I read this story on MSNBC earlier today and as I reflected on it, something just kept striking me as wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it. I guess it's the fact that he really doesn't have much of an interest in anything- he just thought he'd show up because it seems like a cool place to be- with all that revolution and all.

I'm sure...as a human being and stuff...he's probably well-meaning, but I just finished this article and it doesn't really differ much from the MSNBC one when it comes to profiling him.

Look, the guy is basically Nick Berg. At least Nick Berg had the intention of getting a job in Iraq before he was captured and beheaded. This guy...what's he doing? Just palling around with the rebels?

It's just a weird story. I mean, it's an interesting thing to do and if he isn't captured and tortured to death or accidentally injured, why, it'll make a great story. But...I dunno.

What's the story here? It reads like an Onion satire story about Americans who are so disconnected with the reason people fight for liberty that they just decide to take spur of the moment getaways to troubled countries just to breathe the air of rebellion, drink a few mojitos (or equivalent) and consider themselves Hemingway for a few weeks, until next term starts.

PB

I think the visually impaired DUmmy nailed it.

ellisonz (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 10:43 PM
Response to Original message
5. I'm down.

Sure you are, as long as the tents are air conditioned.

nadinbrzezinski[/i]  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 10:51 PM
Response to Original message
7. There is something wrong with this story
 and I cannot put fully my finger on it. Suffice it to say... if he is just a Math major I will eat my shoe...

The intelligenceoperativedisasterreliefcoordinatornuclearphysicistclimatologistseismologistspecopsoperatormastergoogler is on the case.

nadinbrzezinski  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 11:00 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Intel type
 that is what I am suggesting... people just don't go to the front lines of a revolution for pure idealism...

Dreamer Tatum  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 11:18 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. Yeah, he's a clandestine operator for sure. Oh, wait -
 THERE'S A FREAKING NEWS STORY ABOUT HIM.

Most clandestine operators work that way, after all...

heh
 
 
 

 
 

 


 
 
 
 

 

[GOBUCKS]

nadinbrzezinski  (1000+ posts)        Thu Sep-01-11 11:28 PM
Response to Reply #11
18. Yep, I saw the picture
and I have known a few of those in my life time. Some surprisingly young. I will leave it at that.

Know-it-all nadin knows espionage. 

When a guy gives a newspaper interview and has his picture taken by the reporter, that's a dead giveaway. Deep cover for sure.

Nothing gets past nutcase nadin.

[BattleHymn]

The United States military should not come to the aid of Chris Jeon if he gets into trouble with his new "friends", nor should any other diplomatic arm of the United States.  This guy is just plain stupid.  

[formerlurker]

When most college kids think of vacation, camping out with rebels in Libya probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Not so for Chris Jeon, a 21-year-old UCLA student who has been living at a rebel outpost near the front lines of conflict in Sirte. “This is one of the few real revolutions,” he told the Christian Science Monitor. “I thought I’d just come check it out.” Jeon bought an $800 one-way ticket from L.A. to Cairo, then traveled by land across the border into Libya. His parents don’t know he’s there and he doesn’t speak Arabic, but he’s happy to be “helping” the rebels, though he hasn’t yet engaged in combat. He plans to return to California the day before school starts at the end of September.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/01/ucla-student-joins-libyan-rebels.html


I wonder if he carries his wallet with his credit cards in it into combat.   It's going to be a bitch to get back home without them junior.  Mommy can't come pick you up. 

[JohnnyReb]

Has he accepted Islam? If not, then his head is still fair game. He is among people that will hack it off just for sport.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Not really interested enough to follow down the link, but the excerpt does not mention any actual "Fighting."