WHAT YOU NEED NOW - CONTENT UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY
Jan. 2, 2006
COMMENTARY: Some European Tourists Really are Stuck on Stupid
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) --- In his latest comedy special, George Carlin says most
people are really dumb. He graciously makes an exception for the audience of
his show, which is appearing frequently on HBO. Perhaps our best comedian
and philosopher, Carlin is particularly hard on Americans, but the latest
spate of kidnappings in Islamic countries – Yemen, Gaza, etc. – show that
Europeans are just as clueless.
Take the German family – please – who’ve just been released by Yemeni
tribesmen. Juergen Chrobog and his family were kidnapped Wednesday, Dec. 28,
2005 in a bid by an eastern Yemeni tribe to win the release of a group of
detained fellow tribesmen, according to the Associated Press. They were
released after Yemen's government agreed to hold talks on the detainees,
said negotiator Nasser Ba'oum, deputy governor of Shabwa province.
Former diplomat Chrobog, 65, says – diplomatically, of course -- he still
has fond feelings for Yemen. Wow! I wouldn’t have fond feelings for a
country where people kidnap as often as Americans go to the mall – something
Carlin used his trademark wit to belittle.
According to the AP: “Chrobog told reporters Sunday [Jan. 1, 2006] that he
and his family were treated well by the kidnappers. He said the men told him
that they were not terrorists and they resorted to kidnapping because the
government failed to deal with their problems.”
Chrobog added that “what they [the kidnappers] are doing is wrong and badly
affects the tourism industry.” He served as deputy German foreign minister
in the government of Gerhard Schroeder, which left office in November. I can
see why the government left office. Too bad the Germans killed off or drove
away most of the smartest people in their country.
Now I’m not the most brilliant person in the world, but tourism to me means
going to places where I’m not likely to be kidnapped. If the plucky Chrobog
family wants to see rocks and sand – without fear of kidnapping – I’ve got
several places in California, Arizona and New Mexico I can personally
recommend. For instance, the cuisine at the Territorial House in Corrales,
NM is top-flight and doesn’t include sheep’s eyeballs.
The AP notes that “tribesmen frequently kidnap tourists in an attempt to
force concessions from the government in Yemen, a poor, mountainous nation
on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula where state control in outlying
areas is shaky. Hostages are usually released unharmed, but several were
killed in 2000 when security forces carried out a botched raid to free
them.”
George Carlin, a question: Are you planning on doing your next show in
Yemen? No. I thought that’s what you’d say.
