|
?:reviewBody
|
-
In the summer of 2018, ISIS militants in Tajikistan claimed responsibility for the murder of four tourists, including an American couple, after deliberately hitting them with a car as they cycled along a rural road. The militants also stabbed and shot some of their victims. The American couple, Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan, had left their jobs in the Washington, D.C. area in order to embark on an extended around-the-world cycling trip which took them to Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Over the weekend of 28-29 July, they were killed along with two other cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands. According to the New York Times, Tajik officials announced that security forces had in turn killed four people suspected of having perpetrated that attack. On 15 August, the Pluralist web site published an article that accurately described the details of couple's trip and their deaths, but the headline they employed, which they later changed -- Millennial Couple Bikes Through ISIS Territory to Prove 'Humans Are Kind' and Gets Killed -- and other phrasing may have created the impression that the couple's deaths were infused with irony and served as a kind of allegorical warning about cosmopolitan, liberal naivety: We found no evidence that either Austin or Geoghegan set out on their cycling trip for the purpose of vindicating an existing belief about the overall goodness or kindness of humanity. Based on posts on the couple's blog, the predominant motivation behind their trip appears to have been no more than a sense of adventure and a desire to experience life in other parts of the world. In one post, for example, they wrote: After leaving his job at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the summer of 2017, Austin wrote: None of the many blog entries and Instagram posts that the couple published before and during their journey suggested that they set out with the intention of proving that humans are good or kind. Furthermore, Austin posted several times from Tajikistan, but none of what he wrote while there indicated that the couple were concerned about or cognizant of any risk of a terrorist attack. This significantly undermines the notion that the couple traveled through ISIS territory to prove 'humans are kind' (i.e. that they were aware of a risk of attack by ISIS and traveled through that particular area specifically to vindicate their views about human kindness). At the time Austin and Geoghegan visited Tajikistan, the U.S. State Department listed the country as a relatively low-risk destination for American travelers, giving it a Level 1 travel advisory (the lowest available) which comes with advice to exercise normal precautions. On the risk posed by terrorism, the State Department web site advised: (Since the fatal attack on Austin and Geoghegan, the State Department has upgraded their Tajikistan travel advisory to Level 2, warning would-be travellers to exercise increased caution.) 'By and large, humans are kind' While there is no evidence that the couple set out to prove anything on their trip, it is true is that Austin and Geoghegan appear to have been struck, many times, by the generosity and thoughtfulness of some of the strangers they encountered. In fact, Austin called it a revelation, a description that further undermines the idea that this was a fervently-held belief before the trip, which the couple set out to vindicate. Austin and Geoghegan appear to have had both negative and positive experiences along their journey, posting about cold weather, illness, bike trouble, and the occasional collision with unfriendly motorists, but also enthusing about the breathtaking views they encountered, and writing frequently about the kindness of the people around them. After being fed and shown very generous hospitality by one family in Morocco, Austin wrote: Conclusion Based on their own written reflections posted during their trip, Austin and Geoghegan were not acting as liberal, idealist missionaries, despite the impression that the Pluralist headline might have created. Like many tourists who traveled beyond their own cultural comfort zones, they appeared to have been simply struck by the generosity and thoughtfulness they encountered, just as they took note of moments of hostility or unhelpfulness.
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}