2008 World Shoot In Bali

[EricW]

Well...I'm pretty weary of the annual "Oh My God Look Where They're Having The World Shoot This Time! Oh Me Oh My! There Could Be Mean Strangers There Who Will Take My Deodorant And All My Washcloths While I'm At the Range!" threads.

I'm also tired of the "I'm not going to <fill in the blank> because of Terrorism" threads. I don't grant radical Islam the right to dictate what I say, where I go, what I do, and who I choose to freely associate with. If they don't like it, tough prayer rugs. Enough of the boogeyman hysteria already.

Edited October 17, 2006 by EricW

[Vlad]

Yup, he really is getting more bitter lately.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Vlad

[bgary]

Oh Me Oh My! There Could Be Mean Strangers There Who Will Take My Deodorant And All My Washcloths While I'm At the Range!"

Yeah. OK. Whatever. Let us know when you're done displaying your chest hair.

Here's a contra point of view:

I "generally" consider myself a prudent person. By that I mean I generally make myself aware of the various factors that make up the risk-reward equation, and make a conscious decision about whether or not the reward is worth the risk. I - like many of us - have a more heightened sense of "threat level" than the average Joe, and while I am not formally trained, I tend towards the "situational awareness" end of the spectrum, as opposed to the "blissfully ignorant" end.

In that light, I tend to pay fairly close attention to my surroundings, and *may* make choices not to go certain places (and/or may choose not to go places at certain times), simply because it "doesn't feel like a good idea". That doesn't mean I'm a big weenie. It doesn't mean I am abdicating control of my life to terrorism, or boogey-men, or anything else. It simply means that I've made a *choice*, based on my own priorities, about what risks I am willing to expose myself to. I say that having traveled slightly over a half-million miles in the last 4 years, including some Really Nice places, and some really NOT nice places.

So, if someone tells me that they don't plan to go to Bali, because their status as a "conspicuous non-local" makes their risk/reward math go upside down, I don't have any problem with that. In fact, I tend to respect it. Not necessarily because I agree with the decision, but because it is reflective of a person who chooses their path, rather than letting fate, or luck, or ignorance, dictate their turns.

$.02

B

[Chuck Anderson]

I'll be going to Bali. I've never been to that part of the world and I would like to. As far as them holding the match somewhere else. I don't think anyone else submitted a bid at the WS in Ecuador. I don't see IPSC changing their decision on the match location. It would be especially hard on the local folks who've probably already started making plans etc. for the match. My guess is it will be in 18-21 months. I'm not even sure if that's enough time to move the match. I think we're just gonna have to live (hopefully) with it.

[EricW]

Bruce,

Respectfully, how would you feel if the World Shoot was being held in the Seattle area, and there was thread after thread on the GV recounting the horrors of the Seattle crime blotters, the Green River Killer, Ted Bundy, the Aryan Nations and its efforts to blow up a gay bar, etc? In all seriousness here.

I know you travel globally, and you're a much more experienced traveller than I, but I have to look at this from the rest of the world's perspective and I'm not liking what I see. IPSC has a lot of faults, but all they're trying to do is find a nice place for a World Shoot that has more to offer than just shooting. I think they do recognize the enormous expense of attending such an event and are making a good faith effort to provide a dual match/vacation opportunity. With the 10 round mag ban, Hawaii automatically gets ruled out. And Kalifornia.

Would we feel the same if Vince's forum had 20 "I'm Afraid to Go to America Because..." threads?

And I apologize if I made anybody feel bad but sometimes I like to illustrate absurdity with absurdity. Usually it doesn't work, but I keep trying.

[shred]

FWIW, the Ecuador consular warning read about like going to downtown Detroit. Ecuador was much nicer.

A couple competitors got robbed on the waterfront late one night and they played mean cangrejo tricks on the gringos, but other than that you never had to leave the (upscale) hotel / (way out of town) range / (stuffed with guns) bus if you didn't want to. Bali will no doubt be similar.

[Neil Beverley]

I'm sure there are parts of Indonesia that are unsafe. I'm sure there are some parts of the US that are unsafe. I KNOW for a FACT that there are places in the UK that are unsafe. Hell, we have to schedule our drivers to drive 30+ minutes away from bad areas before parking up their trucks for the night. These are dreadful places.

I felt safer in Bali. In fact I never felt unsafe in Bali when I was there in 2004 and indeed in conversation with a tour guide he explained the peaceful philosophy of the Hindu religion. I kept my wits about me, sure, I was mindful of the bombing.

But guys I can tell you, the problems aren't unique. One of my staff lost his mother-in-law and sister-in-law in the Egyptian bombing a while back. One of my partner's friends lost her ex husband on 9/11. I've met way too many people cripped, maimed or simply shot or blown up in Northern Ireland.

Terrorism sucks. It sucks wherever it occurs. We've had our fair share of bombings in the UK. It used to be the IRA, all too often. Now it is Al-Qaeda.

I was in London yesterday. I had to travel on the underground train network, and yes, I watched faces, and I looked at what people were carrying. I was simply vigilant but it didn't stop me going. I used the same vigilance in Bali.

I loved Bali. I never felt threatened or unsafe. I'm going back and I intend to take the family. If I thought there was a significant risk I would not put my family in harm's way.

You can talk this up into a major life threatening risk all you like. The reality was, and is, very different.

[chuckw]

Beyond the "gun" incident that Carina posted about, how about a guy getting pulled off a bus by a mob?

How about Rodney King? What about Timothy McVeigh? Who bombed all the abortion clinics over the years? What about the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

Wrong place, wrong time and you're done, no matter where you are.

[Wakal]

Chuck, bad example. Actually a string of bad examples

Rodney King lead the cops on a drunken high-speed chase, jumped out of his car when finally forced to stop, and then went running after the short little blonde CHIP and was beat down. Watch the WHOLE video, and not just the last twenty seconds

A better example is Reginald Denny, who was pulled out of his truck and had his skull crushed by a brick during a beat-down by a mob of "gentlemen of color" for the crime of...being white...

Abortion clinics? Oh, I'll give you the last forty years. There have been...ah...two (2) deaths, the last time I pulled the DOJ statistics. That dawg don't hunt either.

The Atlanta Olympics? You went to the OLYMPICS on a Religion of Peace discussion? Thanks, I raise and call with the Munich massacre. Eleven jews and one German cop killed by...Religion of Peace terrorists.

Indonesia, were it all Hindu, would have only the usual minor problems common to Hindu countries. However, the Religion of Peace minority is trying to impose Sharia (Islamic law) by force, just as they are trying to do (with lesser success) all over the world...including the UK and the US... Not able to win at the ballot box, they are trying at the point of knife, down the barrel of a gun, or with the old standby of the Religion of Peace, the explosive belt around the waist of the homicide bomber.

Indonesia made the SecState Watch List due to DEATH. Priests getting shot in the back of the head while shopping, little girls getting their heads chopped off for the crime of (gasp) going to school, and bombs in tourist-frequented places. And it is getting worse...

It doesn't look likely that the government of Indonesia will long last in its present form.

I like a tropical beach as much as the next guy, but a country that both makes me lock up my guns when I'm not shooting and has a lengthy history of killing non-Religion of Peace members...well, OK then...

Alex

[Flexmoney]

OK...I think we have plenty of information available.

There have been good points made by all.

I don't know that we gain much more by continuing to hash things out on here.

Let's try to keep this an information thread (and opened), as opposed to an arguement thread (promptly closed).

[Note: this post isn't aimed at anybody in particular.]