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In case anyones travelling to Greece

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  1. #11

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    I wonder if any of the Greek politicians or bureaucrats most directly responsible for the mess ever got a beating, or whether all the anger is directed against outsiders.

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  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    Yeah, I'll make a note of it. If I ever find myself to be a dark-skinned, unemployed trash-scavenger, I'll be more cautious when in Greece. Did you even get to the second paragraph of that article before panicking?

    I would have expected someone from "NYC" to be a little more worldly, but hey, please go ahead and repost irrelevant, fear mongering articles in really unlikely places.

    Oh, and remember not to use cell phones in gas stations, 'cause they can make the whole neighbourhood explode.
    You must be a James Bond fan .

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    The knock (from me, I don't speak for anyone else) is because I object to unthinking fear-mongering, which I will call out whether or not it makes someone feel 'turned off'.

    If the poster could objectively demonstrate the the risk of being assaulted in Athens was greater than the risk of being assaulted in, say, Detroit, then I would have treated him with more respect.

    But all he does is post an article about dark-skinned illegal immigrants being assaulted in Athens. The relevance of that to tourists is stretching the point, and I'd expect any potential tourist to Athens would already be well aware of increase in risk given that Greek unhappiness is already plastered all over the media.

    Come to think of it, it's not a valid post. The OP doesn't even distinguish that there is a difference between Athens a city, and Greece, a country. It's like saying that Washington DC has gun crime, so be careful in Seattle. (I have friends travelling in Kalymnos at the moment who are raving about how idyllic and tranquil it is.)

    Posting that article was like perpetuating those chain emails that warn about the dangers of mobile phone tower radiation or batteries exploding in cars- there is no thinking behind it.
    I think it is a relevant post, I've had a Pakistani co-worker that was attacked while in Europe a few months ago for no reason at all. A group of people came up behind him, attacked him and ran away, this was only 1 block away from his hotel!

    And as for the distinction to the exact location, you can read the article yourself, Do I need to re post the entire article to spoon feed it to you?
    We know Detroit is a dump and a dangerous place to go, NO one ever goes there for vacation.

    As for fear mongering.... it's not some rumor I heard from the lady selling fish at the wet market, nor was some chain email telling me to repost it otherwise it would be unlucky.... it's from AP news... Do you not know the difference between the sources of information?

    Yes Greek unhappiness is all over the media, but what past media/articles never talk about is the rising wave of violence on "foreigners"....
    Last edited by kmn911; 14-11-2012 at 04:51 PM.

  4. #14

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    Greeks have never been happy though, just like the French


  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by jimbo:
    Greeks have never been happy though, just like the French

    I beg to differ, if Geoexpat is representqtive i'd say the brits (with a fe exceptions: SS...) are unhappy and competig for top spot with our american friends.

    French, germans, danish etc seem rather happy folks.

    Sent from my GT-I9210 using GeoClicks Mobile
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  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by kmn911:
    I think it is a relevant post, I've had a Pakistani co-worker that was attacked while in Europe a few months ago for no reason at all. A group of people came up behind him, attacked him and ran away, this was only 1 block away from his hotel!

    And as for the distinction to the exact location, you can read the article yourself, Do I need to re post the entire article to spoon feed it to you?
    We know Detroit is a dump and a dangerous place to go, NO one ever goes there for vacation.

    As for fear mongering.... it's not some rumor I heard from the lady selling fish at the wet market, nor was some chain email telling me to repost it otherwise it would be unlucky.... it's from AP news... Do you not know the difference between the sources of information?


    Riiiight. You had a Pakistani co-worker who was attacked in Europe. That obviously makes it dangerous to travel to Athens, London, Copenhagen and that festering hotbed of criminal activity, Rjukan (Norway, pop 4000). Because it's Europe and it's the same little village rather than ten million square kilometers of land mass and seven hundred million people.

    I've only ever known people to be mugged in New York and London. None in Athens. So by your logic of using single data points, New York and London are far more dangerous.

    Get a grip, think a little bit before hitting the big red panic button. Yours is exactly the kind of knee jerk reaction that leads to ineffective DHS security theatre that cost hundreds of billions of dollars and waste tens of millions of hours of peoples' lives.

    We know Detroit is a dump and a dangerous place to go, NO one ever goes there for vacation.
    Really, and you know that... how? I've been there on holiday. It wasn't palm trees and sunset beaches, but neither was it the criminal wasteland that you might assume from your misinterpretation of the media. Some of us have a vaguely realistic sense of risk and don't live in fear of the unknown.

    Yes Greek unhappiness is all over the media, but what past media/articles never talk about is the rising wave of violence on "foreigners"....
    Uh, they have been talking about Golden Dawn for months. You should pay more attention to these media sources you are so enamoured of.
    Last edited by jgl; 14-11-2012 at 05:39 PM.

  7. #17

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    jgl .. you miss the point that posters won't come to this site as they don't like being attacked for a judgment call. It is news and to say that is fear mongering is just plain wrong.

    It is like you think HK residents don't travel or don't care about what is happening in Greece. We all can't be as discerning as you.

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  8. #18

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    Football, I generally respect your opinions as expressed on Geo. I was completely aware of your first point, I deliberately disregarded it in this case.

    I think that this could have been presented as simple news, but it was instead presented as fear mongering with no deeper thought behind it. Beware of travelling in Greece because there have been attacks on illegal immigrants in Athens by Golden Dawn. This is reminiscent of my grandmother telling me to be careful hiking because she heard on the news that someone was bitten by a snake.

    It's sort of herd fear mentality that have a strong aversion to, so I'm prepared to come across as abrasive if it reduces the amount of FUD that floats around the internet. I'd like to think that the audience here, and certainly the audience here who is likely to consider travel to Greece, is slightly more discerning than your average local, untraveled, octogenarian. I'm assuming this ability to rise above FUD is what triggered the sarcastic but more brief responses from others.

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  9. #19

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    @jgl
    Your entitled to your opinion,
    Don't like my post then don't read it, but if you have to attack others because their opinion is not like yours, than your no better than those christian nuts that hold up signs that say "God hates {insert pronoun here}"

    Last edited by kmn911; 14-11-2012 at 06:44 PM.

  10. #20

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    I read it because it's on an open forum and the title sounded interesting (I have friends traveling in Greece at the moment). Unfortunately the post was just exactly the kind of thing that manages to rile me up.

    Grow a thicker skin, or don't leave yourself so wide open to being called out for wooly-headed thinking.

    Last edited by jgl; 14-11-2012 at 06:56 PM. Reason: Because being a grammar nazi is going a step too far :)