To Have Limited Sympathy for the Australian Vloggers Detained in Iran?

[NikeDeLaSwoosh]

Obviously I have the usual human sympathy for young people going something so terribly traumatic, but seriously, what were they thinking?

It seems from the limited information currently available that they had deliberately planned their travels to encompass counties with a 'bad rep' for tourists apparently to disprove those reputations.

Then to fly a drone? How incredibly naive.

The tensions in the Straights of Hormuz have been well-documented in the press, and the plight of Nazanin Zachariah-Ratcliffe is never far from the public eye, how could they not have been aware of this?

It saddens me so much when instagrammers risk their lives, liberty, and for women, their chance of motherhood just for the insta-likes.

That poor couple, but gosh what a foolish thing to have done.

AIBU?

Guess it’s possible the whole instagram persona/account has been a very cunning ploy and they’ve been a sleeper cell for ages planning this trip with the best excuse going!

So your basic argument is that because they failed to understand the wider political context they pretty much deserve years in an Iranian jail?

Actually, the opposite.

Had they been ignorant of the political situation, for whatever reason (level of education, socio-economic status etc) then I would have a great deal more sympathy.

It's the fact that they were fully aware of the 'bad rap' the country has for travellers (indeed that was what apparently inspired the whole ill-judged adventure) yet deliberately chose to thumb their nose at it for the 'likes'

That is why I have limited sympathy.

@Plexie thanks for that link, it was super helpful for me.

Hugh Dennis (the actor/comedian) has often talked about an attempted recruitment for spying when he was in Cambridge. My ex was convinced that his cousin (dead now) was a spy, I won't say against which country, and that he was recruited in Oxford.

@ReanimatedSGB have to agree. You have missed one thing out though - they always have someone else able to clear up their mess.

were they naive or is a massive ego thing - "nothing bad can happen to me"?

like the poster who took the Dave Gorman approach, you can't help but laugh really.

MI5 were recruiting on Mumsnet a year ago. Spies are from all walks of life.

I think everyone always thinks 'it'll never happen to little old me'. Unfortunately they massively underestimated the risk. Doesn't mean I don't feel sympathy for them.

YANBU. They aren’t very good travel bloggers if they don’t research the laws of the countries they intend to visit. There are a lot of countries where you need a local licence to fly a drone and some where the the public are banned totally from flying them. In prison due to their own stupidity.

@SleepyKat
What happened to the sailors who was captured in neutral waters by Iran a few weeks ago? Big news at the time but I’ve heard nothing since about if they were released or not? Our navy tried to get there to stop the boat being captured but didn’t make it in time?

I saw something about them on the news a while ago. I don't think it was this case www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/world/middleeast/iran-india-oil-tanker.html
but similar.

They aren’t very good travel bloggers

Did you not get the memo ? They're vloggers.

Apparently.

I'm guessing the "v" is "very", and "l" is "little" ?

I too read this and found myself having barely any sympathy knowing full well they've probably only gone into Iran to take 'the perfect selfie'

I've no idea what they were thinking. Vacuous travel bloggers it seems as there are tens of other 'safe' countries they could have ventured to instead

What happened to the sailors who were captured in neutral waters by Iran a few weeks ago?

"neutral" ?

Part of the problem is it depends who you are asking as to whether it's "neutral" or not. I have no idea who - if anyone - is right over the matter. Disputed might be a better word.

The tensions in the Straights of Hormuz have been well-documented in the press, and the plight of Nazanin Zachariah-Ratcliffe is never far from the public eye, how could they not have been aware of this? unfortunately I find it all too easy to believe that they could have not been aware of this or have thought it did not apply to them. We now live in a world where people refuse to let the news and real facts get in the way of what they have read on social media. There are many people in Britain similarly sleepwalking towards disaster at the moment.

Thing is, if travel is your career, you probably can't make much of it if you spend your life in Spain or the Lake District or something.

Flying a drone is such an irresponsible thing to do that I must admit, I read the story and wondered if they were spies. I struggle to believe that anyone could travel to Iran and think flying a drone was a good idea.

Audacity Thing is, if travel is your career, you make sure you read up fully on the places you are going, what the laws are, what the political situation is like.

I agree with Reanimated
I do feel for their families as it must be very worrying but the situation is entirely of their own making because they think they are special and that normal rules don’t apply.
I genuinely hope they get to go home soon unharmed, it’s a harsh lesson for them but maybe the next generation will realise that vlogging/being an Insta influencer isn’t always an easy route to fame and money. Doing it for the clicks doesn’t make you immune to normal hazards - ask the idiots who die falling off things while trying to get a perfect photo!!

Most spies are mid-twenties. It’s a young person’s game. It’s not like the movies with a forty-something James Bond.

They were either really bad spies or really stupid. Either way, I don’t have much sympathy & agree with you OP.

No sympathy whatsoever. These people think they're Spielberg, Hitchcock etc posting their tedious existances on the internet, the only more stupid people are those who 'follow' them!

People need to understand the ME is a complex region and not understanding the Geo-political aspects of how their visit could impact upon them and their behaviours when there, is naïve at best.

It's always worth checking the fco.gov.uk travel advice section which goes some way in guiding you to appropriate behaviours. In this case, they would have seen that electronic equipment could be misinterpreted and is best avoided.

It is regrettable but nobody could say there wasn't/isn't access to information designed to protect and avoid these situations.

I genuinely hope they get to go home soon unharmed,

The problem for Iran is that to do so will only send the message that it's open to business for vloggers (fights very hard not to dog-ear that word ...).

These are not people you want to be messing with. All the countries in the Middle East have a long standing suspicion of every country around them in a way that can't be understood unless you grew up there. And most of them worked out a long time ago how to use moronic westerners as cover for their spying activities.

OP

Then to fly a drone? How incredibly naive.

How incredibly naive and ignorant to confuse Iraq and Iran, it completely discredits any point you were trying to make OP.

Yep, because me making an early morning mistake re Iraq and Iran is exactly the same thing as making a decision to fly a drone over Tehran.

Give your head a wobble

P.s. Naive doesn't mean what you think it does.

Sorry, but flying a drone on Iran really isn’t on any sane person’s list on things to do.

Especially in today’s climate and provided they’ve done their research.