Oceania Jnr bench press champion fighting isis

[maccaz]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3096290/Former-international-junior-bench-press-champion-Brisbane-travels-Middle-East-fight-against-Islamic-State.html

 

this guy travelling around europe like normal and decides to go fight isis lol

 

[Wookie]

Am I the only one who says... "Good on him"?

[Riccardo]

Young hitter handing out free hair cuts to those pigs. Can only be a good thing.

[Realtalk]

GC

[maccaz]

definite gc.

without knowing too much specifics on whats going on over there, it seems a bit shit that individuals are having to do this and potentially go untrained, underequipped, when actual armies would be able to do a much better job probably? 

[crazyfacials]

definite gc.

without knowing too much specifics on whats going on over there, it seems a bit shit that individuals are having to do this and potentially go untrained, underequipped, when actual armies would be able to do a much better job probably? 

This, gc but not sure about the lack of training when sending people to do this

[HarryB]

Well see regular people can do things that are actually useful vs within the armed forces where there is way too much political motivation attached to the areas they secure and defend. I'm not saying the soldiers that are there aren't doing anything but essentially they have don't have the same freedom as guys like this guy. Sad thing is he faces prison time if he returns to Australia.

[maccaz]

Well see regular people can do things that are actually useful vs within the armed forces where there is way too much political motivation attached to the areas they secure and defend. I'm not saying the soldiers that are there aren't doing anything but essentially they have don't have the same freedom as guys like this guy. Sad thing is he faces prison time if he returns to Australia.

yeah from what i read they may have been able to turn a blind eye when he comes back, but now various foreign ministers etc have come out publicly saying he will be imprisoned they will kind of have to follow through on that.. its a shame

[Pseudonym]

It's a tough one. While I'm sure what he's doing is good (it's hard to argue against the need to stop ISIS), I can also see the issues around letting your citizens go off and fight outside the law. Doesn't that make him a vigilante?

 

The thing is, we have laws for a reason - without them, you have anarchy. The political process may not move as fast as anyone would like, but it's still the process. You can't decide to bypass that and just go and "shoot some baddies" in a foreign country. But I'm conflicted, because I'm also aware that innocent people are dying, so it certainly seems like the morally right thing to do.

 

I notice this story was actually dated May, so it'd be interesting to know if there's any more recent developments.

 

I'd also be interested to know what your opinions would be if this wasn't ISIS, but instead somewhere less well publicised, like fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria? Or some other civil war, where the sides of "good" and "bad" are less clearcut - say the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or if the situation was more Westernised, like the Mexican Drug War? Would an Aussie or Kiwi going off to fight in any of these causes be justified? (It's a serious question - I'm genuinely curious to see what you think.)

[crazyfacials]

It's a tough one. While I'm sure what he's doing is good (it's hard to argue against the need to stop ISIS), I can also see the issues around letting your citizens go off and fight outside the law. Doesn't that make him a vigilante?

 

The thing is, we have laws for a reason - without them, you have anarchy. The political process may not move as fast as anyone would like, but it's still the process. You can't decide to bypass that and just go and "shoot some baddies" in a foreign country. But I'm conflicted, because I'm also aware that innocent people are dying, so it certainly seems like the morally right thing to do.

 

I notice this story was actually dated May, so it'd be interesting to know if there's any more recent developments.

 

I'd also be interested to know what your opinions would be if this wasn't ISIS, but instead somewhere less well publicised, like fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria? Or some other civil war, where the sides of "good" and "bad" are less clearcut - say the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or if the situation was more Westernised, like the Mexican Drug War? Would an Aussie or Kiwi going off to fight in any of these causes be justified? (It's a serious question - I'm genuinely curious to see what you think.)

I just think the act as noble as it may be is also a bit silly, you don't want to send untrained civilians to go into wars with live ammunition being used...yeah ok they'll give him a boot camp/training for what? 1 month? 2 months? 3 at most?  Having lived at a country when war broke out and seeing that weapons were being given out willy nilly (you just had to be a male to get an ak47 so you can "defend" ) I reckon it's fucking stupid, you're not trained or disciplined in a way a soldier would, chances are your militia might not have the same supply a proper army would, things like this are a disaster waiting to happen 

[GyzzBrah]

Well It depends on what his motivations are. Most of these people are just terrorists themselves, like the european jihadis fighting for all the other various factions, and the liberal media says they are gone there for democracy and shit.

If he is just a secular vigilante, he is also just naive to believe that there is actually a 'good' faction in that place. It's just liberal media bs. The FSA, Kurds, etc. All terrorists.

 

It's actually quite common and honourable for someone to go to israel and fight for the IDF. Lots of stories on their FB page, pretty cool stuff.

[maccaz]

peso sorry i linked an old article. reason this came up over here again is that some news agency lined up for this guys family to meet him over there, shed some tears and give him a hug etc, so hes still alive and still over there

[Pseudonym]

Ah, gotcha. So it is still current. And regardless of timreframe, it's an interesting issue...

[AuntMaud]

Well It depends on what his motivations are. Most of these people are just terrorists themselves, like the european jihadis fighting for all the other various factions, and the liberal media says they are gone there for democracy and shit.

If he is just a secular vigilante, he is also just naive to believe that there is actually a 'good' faction in that place. It's just liberal media bs. The FSA, Kurds, etc. All terrorists.

 

It's actually quite common and honourable for someone to go to israel and fight for the IDF. Lots of stories on their FB page, pretty cool stuff.

Nothing honorable or cool about fighting for the IOF bro.

That's like fighting for the White South Africans during apartheid.

I've got more respect for foreigners that join Hamas, and that ain't much.