Posted on 06/12/2010 9:51:14 AM PDT by Talisker
I've found the slander and contempt expressed on Free Republic towards Abby Sunderland and her parents quite interesting. Of course, we're all supposed to believe that every post on FR is independently made, but these hate posts have been too interlocked in similiarly bizarre content for me to believe that.
Basically the hateful screeds boil down to Abby being a child instead of a young woman, unable to understand the danger of her trip, put at risk by fame seeking parents, to do something with no socially approved redeeming value, which ended in abject failure due to Abby's incompetence, and for which CPS should be called in to have Abby pulled from the family for re-education, while the parents are jailed, fined, and billed for the rescue efforts.
In short, an absolutely damning, completely collectivist viewpoint with zero acknowledgement of independent rights, which is based solely on collectivist evaluation, collectivist judgment, and collectivist punishment - fronted as family values and child protection.
Oh yeah, and also a complete and utter lie.
For there were many expert sailors as advisors behind this trip, all of whom signed off on both Abby's abilities, her equipment and her trip plan. And there was never any hint of her family not being willing to pay for any part of the rescue efforts. Entire ships have been destroyed through rogue waves, but there's no acknowledgement of that universal danger. And Abby performed beautifully as a sailor and as an adult, through storms, equipment failures, and difficulties across thousands of miles of sailing, and a crisis situation which would have had all of these naysayers pissing their pants.
But pants pissing is the point here - the very big point. Because Abby threatens the millions of families who base their concept of child rearing on the idea that childhood, literally, never ends. That children must be driven everywhere and monitored constantly, even as teenagers. That they need psych meds for growing pains. That responsibility is an injustice towards them, because they can't be allowed to develop any personal power that is not first approved by the mommy educational collective.
So pants pissing has become noble. It has become the sign of respect towards the community, of good parenting, and of normal childhood - the childhood that never ends. In fact, pants-pissing has become the litmus test of social approval itself, because it enables the protection of neurotic helicopter parents who see bogeymen under every bush so that they can justify an obsession about their children's safety that allows THEM to never grow up.
And guess which political party they ALL belong to, and HOPE to never CHANGE from?
So to them, now - now - "we" have this tiny little thumb-sucking girl child, only 16 years old and so barely out of diapers, being thrown into the ocean by greedy parents, straight into a hurricane to drown for their greed, with absolutely no approval from any group of safety parent educators or state approved parental control boards!
Do you realize what this could do to the carefully created psychological voting blocks of the pants pissers? Especially when that so-called "mom" from Alaska with the big family that hunts and fishes and camps and snow machines is running around actually threatening to run for high office?
Do you see the connection here? If Abby is praised and acknowledged for her courage and maturity, and for living life instead of just conforming to it, and especially - especially - for her individuality, her acceptance of personal risk and responsibility without the approval of the collective, people might start to remember what it means to be an American again! They might start to remember freedom, and risk for the sake of living life to the fullest, and learning through doing, and the value of learning courage in the face of difficulty, and they might start to discover their self-respect again, and build character.
And how would that effect the pants-pissing moms who scuttle through life at the end of the snapping fingers of feminist, communist, education-collective politicians? How would that effect their views of the locked-down, cop-patrolled, drug-infected, psych-medicated, fenced prison hellholes of morale-crushing subservience called public schools? How would that effect the ability of these politicians to convince these collectively-approved, latte-sucking "moms" to continue to destroy their children - by never letting them grow up - in the name of "safety"?
And above all, how would that effect the votes?
No, no, no, no, no. Call out the shills, invade the Net, and even get on Free Republic and in the name of God, parenting, sin, ego, vanity, stupidity and every other communist-studied conservative trigger-word, invoke cowardice in the name of responsibility, rip away adulthood with the insult of enforced childhood, hammer on cost without mentioning no resistance to payment, and above all sneer at parenting that is based of building courage and trust and adventure as an absolutely unforgivable violation of the sacred order of socially approved pants-pissing.
And demand wet pants! Wet pants for social justice! Wet pants for lack of guilt! And especially, wet pants for votes!
After all, it's for the children.
P.S. Congratulations to Abby and her family - you all did great. Abby sailed with competence, courage and joy, and inspired millions of people. If America is to have a future in freedom, she and people like her are the ones who will make it happen. But above all, she and her family made selfish cowards and conniving hypocrites everywhere publicly wet themselves, and for that America is truly grateful.
Let us all harken to the wisdom of one who gladly accepted his government paycheck for being a census taker and then pens a tagline as if he on the front line of the resistance.
>> People here on “Free” Republic are advocating jail time for her parents.
Straw man. I never said any such thing.
So, genius, if not for ego gratification, or money, why DID she go on the trip? What possible reason would there be? Was she carrying cargo?
You’re arguing nonsense.
It’s a “vanity.”
The best editorial I’ve seen on the subject:
http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2010-06-11&dayid=438
The question isn’t “Should you avoid all risk?”
It’s “Should you assess risks and take ones proportionate to the reward?”
Abby sailed when she did in what she did because she could get companies to pay her money by seeking a record. That is more a scam than an adventure.
Perhaps some here with Abby-aged daughters would not want them, or allow them to be in, similar circumstances, and were simply expressing their opinions to that effect.
Why are you calling me a “genius”. I don't think you mean that in a nice way. It always amuses me that if you advocate freedom in the true sense of the word it is a really quick way to get personal attacks, here at “Free” Republic.
As far as why she did it? She was given a great gift by her parents. She made the best of it. Why are you trying to demean people you don't even know? Again, you must have intimate knowledge of the family that I lack. If you do, why are you throwing your friends under the bus? If you don't have intimate knowledge then why assume the worst about them? Hell, leave them alone and thank God the Abby has survived a very nasty storm.
“It is the Leftists who are threatened by people of achievement such as Abby and her parents — people who don’t need to wait for state approval for every action, and state funding for every mouthful. It was leftists journalists who first raised the issue of “who is going to pay for the rescue?” “
Oh please. This is too much. Being critical of parents letting a 16yo sail solo around the world is not a stretch - and it doesn’t make a leftist to criticize it. You want a hero/heroine - I get that - but she isn’t one. As the original vanity poster pointed out she had a team of folks behind her - all the electronics and navigation gear at her disposal sat phones, whatever. great. Does it make her exceptional? She got into a box of electronics, talked to her mom every day, when things went wrong she called for help.
It’s interesting, and a voyage for her to remember, but is it really exceptional?
I think the parents were idiots for letting their child sail across treacherous waters of the Indian ocean in the southern hemisphere winter - in a pointless race for the calendar.
Now Mr. Leftist-thought-control freak, Do you think it is cheap to equip an A330 for a search mission? It’s a fair question - who pays - you can bet somebody pays. Oh, Mr. Lectury Leftist thinks that “government” pays for everything. Nobody said she shouldn’t be rescued. Idiots are rescued every day from themselves. I don’t blame the kid, but the parents certainly are idiots for sending their daughter on a pointless race against the calendar.
The vanity poster and you can have your opinions same as everyone else - but save the tantrums when someone disagrees with your ridiculous sanctimony.
The kid may be something special, who knows - but she is just like most 16 year olds - she’s never sailed around the world. So what? Most kids don’t have a sailboat, or “yacht” - so what? Some kids are homeschooled some are not - so what?
Yet YOU throw the term “leftist” around?
You should restate your incoherent point.
Mine is:
#1. Parents are idiots for putting their daughter in jeopardy.
#2. A kid with a box of electronics can do things that seem amazing, but doesn’t necessarily make them exceptional
Bravo I say, and Bravo I say again, to this magnificent young lady and to her parents for giving the world such a child.
“but going though the Indian ocean in the winter season when even experienced sailors have advised against it is foolhardy”
And sailing Long Island Sound in the summer can be deadly, as one of my fellow racers found out. Rough weather is rough weather no matter where you are, or what the season.
Bravo to Abby for her spirit of adventure, her bravery, and the skills she has.
“Let us all harken to the wisdom of one who gladly accepted his government paycheck for being a census taker and then pens a tagline as if he on the front line of the resistance.”
Well if it isn’t my old stalker 1raider1. Still not quite sure why you have such a problem with me being a census worker. I would think you would want someone who is NOT ACORN taking down information. The fact that I helped in the CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT of counting citizens is no shame to me, no matter how many times you want to flag me as some welfare recipient for taking a paycheck while doing a job. And my tagline is absolutely correct as working for four weeks for the census doesn’t mean that this country isn’t going to hell in a handbasket.
"In order to get into the non-existent record book — World Speed Sailing Association as well as Guiness and many others won't accept age-based records because of the risks — Abby had to start her circumnavigation at the wrong time or she would be too old. When you sail around the world, even the easy way, you do it by the seasons. That's even more important when going around the hard way. When the great maxi French mulithulls attempt around the world records, their window is always November to about March. Why? Because as Adrienne Cahalan, navigator on Playstation's record circumnavigation said, "You don't sail in the Southern Ocean in the winter." You just don't do it. Not the Volvo, not the Vendée, not The Race, not nobody. If the world's greatest sailors will wait a full year just to stay out of the Southern Ocean in winter — when there are gales 30% of the time as opposed to 5% of the time in summer — you'd think the parents of a 16-year-old minor would make their daughter do the same. But then more than a few parents have been blinded by the lure of the possibility of their child becoming famous."
Yep. Ego Gratification.
"She was given a great gift by her parents." ROFLMAO! What gift? The gift of a huge ego and all the money she might want to satisfy it? You're not only clueless, you're very deft at expressing your cluelessness.
You may also have pointed out that another 16 year old did make it around the world.I've followed both girls ventures for almost a year, and they are not the same.Australian Teen Becomes Youngest Person to Sail Solo Around the World
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/15/australian-teen-youngest-person-sail-world/
May 15: Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson waves as she sails past the finish line at the entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia, capping off a nearly 23,000 nautical miles voyage.
A 16-year-old Australian who spent seven months at sea in her pink yacht sailed across the finish line of her round-the-world journey Saturday, becoming the youngest sailor to circle the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted.
With Jessica I never had more than three seconds doubt. When Jessica was on her voyage, it was absolutely clear that this is what she wanted to do; dreamed of doing; planned to do; was capable of doing; indeed what she was born to do. A 3 day gap in her blogs was worrying, because it always meant a storm at sea, but only in the sense of storms can mean a bad outcome for the best.
Early days yet, but I suspect that Jessica is going to be this generations Aussie sailing girl legend, following Kay Cottee and Adrianne Calahan.
Abby's venture always had the aroma of impeding disaster; Hasty and ill-prepared. Yes she has guts, and that got her as far as the Indian Ocean. But you could say the same about Chay Blyth in 1968. Chay eventually learned about the sea and became a great sailor, maybe Abby will too, but this is not that time.
For there were many expert sailors as advisors behind this trip, all of whom signed off on both Abby's abilities, her equipment and her trip planI call shenanigans. Do you have names?
Australian Prime Minister K Rudd; "You may feel a little wobbly on your feet just now. But in the eyes of all Australians, you now stand tall, as our new Australian hero"Yeah she was spinning a bigger line than Kruddy here (Which in itself that is an achievement), but hey, Moxie.Jessica Watson "I'm going to have to disagree with our Prime Minister. I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream.
You don't have to be someone special to achieve something amazing. You've just got to have a dream, believe in it and work hard."
This is particularly true if the REASON I’m taking the risk is for personal gain, pleasure or ego gratification. Different criteria would apply if it was a risk required to (for example) save the life of a family member or escape from a country where I might be imprisoned or killed.
Do you think Columbus sailed to save somebody? Your sense of adventure is amazing and I find your lack of faith disturbing.Conservatives see challenges and tackle them, no group think is needed.
Same for me over on Grind TV. People think her parents are exploiting her or abusing her by ‘making’ her go out on a sailboat alone to “beat the record.”
At least she’s not sitting somewhere nodding off, or having unmarried sex, or engaging in gang related activity or criminal activity.
OH that the kids who are picked up by the police for gang activity could be placed on a sailing ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean and told to “learn the ropes” if they want to survive and given a map and compass and told to sail home.
OH that the kids on drugs were given a rowboat, oars, a map and compass, six weeks of food, and water and dropped off in the Pacific Ocean 100 miles off the California shore and told to “row home.”
Abby is a role model. Her parents raised an independent young woman with common sense who didn’t risk it all when the ‘sea’ won . . . she manually turned on the location transmitters . . . she was mature enough to know when she needed help.
People want to complain about all those who now have to “rescue” her. That’s their job. They’d rather be doing something than waiting around all day.
If EVERY inner city parent would take a lesson from the Sunderlands their children would be the better for it. And so would they.
So QUIT being so negative and mean in the discussions about Abby. Just because you have fears does not mean everyone else shares them. [One other comment . . . if Abby were a boy, would it make a difference in the comments? I don’t recall anyone getting this flabbergasted when her brother was out there doing the same thing.]
YOU DID A GREAT JOB, ABBY, AND I, FOR ONE, AM VERY PROUD OF YOU.
“No...she is a child and has no business alone on the high seas...as evidenced.”
You’re so full of crap I can smell you from here!
Just imagine if she'd been badly injured and someone was trying to take her off life support... then you'd have epic flamewars.
>> Do you think Columbus sailed to save somebody?
No, he sailed for profit. But, unlike Abby, Columbus KNEW that if the risks he took didn’t pan out, he and he alone would bear the consequences of failing — most probably, his death and the demise of those who sailed with him.
I’ve said it about half a dozen times already, but let me say it again.
I have NO PROBLEM with risk taking! Risk away!
But I have a HUGE problem with those who don’t see bearing the consequences of failure as their problem — and then take UNNECESSARY risks expecting a bailout from others when they fail.
Why don’t you visit post #144 and follow the link for another perspective?
I think it boils down to some hyper-over manic feelings of their own sense of self. She somehow theartens who THEY are and there own deeds or lackthereof.
One can disagree but the vitriol directed at this amazing girl is personal to these people. Her brother made the same trip successfully when he was 16.
“but there was no need to be insulting and offensive towards those who disagree.”
The safety first creeps here need to be insulted and offensively!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The writer of this article, which is what we are discussing, it's his thread, was aghast at the fury unleashed upon this family. I also am ashamed of it. I have stated my reasons you have stated yours. I think your wrong.
“You're not only clueless, you're very deft at expressing your cluelessness”
Gee is that a compliment? Can't really be sure. Wait... Nope, not a compliment. Lots of keyboard shouting on your last post as you are straying into emotional investment in your very wrong conclusions.
I don't think that trying to break a record counts as egotistical self aggrandizement. I heard her interviewed and she said that while she wanted to break the record, just being there was good enough. But then again she is probably a diabolical lying egotistical POS. What do I know?
So good day to you. I have had about as much of anonymous Internet board posting as I can stand for one day.
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