[Closed] otto (couldnt find a thread anywhere else)

The bus driver from the simpsons?

Jamie - Member
The bus driver from the simpsons?

show some respect ffs! Im sure you're old enough to be allowed to watch the news on your own.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40335169

For context.

Sorry for your loss, OP. I guess you knew the poor chap?

I didn't know the people in the fire, didn't stop me having respect for the dead.

you really are a c*ck womble

To be fair an OP using just the first name (like he was the guy's bezzie mate) with no link to the story was asking for it.

To be fair an OP using just the first name (like he was the guys bezzie mate) with no link to the story was asking for it.

its been big news for the last week.

back to the real problem North Korea !!! what the F !!!!

To be fair to Jamie I had the same first thought.

No links, no context, we shouldn't be on 24hr offence alert because of a tragedy as they occur all to frequently.

its been big news for the last week.

Maybe in the daily mail. First I've heard of it and I had to search for context.

Maybe in the daily mail. First I've heard of it and I had to search for context.

Me too until today. And I hoover up current affairs (R4, broadsheets, bbc website etc). Probably bigger news in the states, especially Breitbart etc.

jam bo - Member
its been big news for the last week.
Maybe in the daily mail. First I've heard of it and I had to search for context.

I wouldn't know if its been in the daily Mail, its been well talked about on Radio 4 for the last week.

It's just needless idiocy on the part of the NK government. Keeping him didn't advance their cause, releasing him in a coma to have him die a few days later will ratchet up the tension completely. As usual it's a tragedy for his family and friends. I'd imagine in NK there are prison people and doctors getting very nervous about what their punishment will be.

All that said, in the context of "human rights nastiness that North Korea get up to", this poor sod doesn't even raise the threshold at all. It's tragic, absolutely, but when a country executes people with dogs and anti-aircraft guns and starves its population routinely, the bar is set quite high in order to be shocked.

wow didnt realise you lot dont read the news..

sorry for not keeping to stw's standards i was just a bit shocked..

here in mainland europe its been big news, maybe less so with the un-united kingdom?

guess i knew the poor chap? jamie ffs..

will know for next time... btw it is front page on the bbc..

btw it is front page on the bbc..

Today it is - not before. And the headline is 'US student sent home from North Korea dies'. I, like many, know him as 'US student' not 'Otto' (FFS- apparently we have to use this in every post now).

as i said maybe not in the uuk.. but europe its been front page bbc..

anyway as usual stw rips apart any meaning to the post for some stupid pedantic arseholes.

i thought it might be a subject that likemonded people might be a little bit appalled by with regards to how things like this (and of course much worse i know) happen..

convert - are you just trying to be an arse?

Sorry scotia. I too have been reading the news, I even read about his death at about 5.00 am when i went for a ride, but it still didn't connect for me either.
I would struggle to name any Otto other then Preminger. So in this case I'm with Jamie et al.

(ffs)

but europe its been front page bbc..

It's not front page for me fwiw

Edit, appear to have gone straight to the Scottish section

anyway as usual stw rips apart any meaning to the post for some stupid pedantic arseholes.

It's an emotive subject and I think it's worth talking about. Getting wound up at people who have no idea what you're talking about isn't going to achieve that.

I've no knowledge of this until now, are there many examples of tourists receiving absurd sentences in North Korea?

I opened the post out of curiosity at the title. Vaguely aware of some story of a student returning from NK. I wasn't aware he was ill and certainly didn't know his name. Much like many of the "celebrity death" threads, folk assume that everyone has the same interests and news sources. Daily Mail and Radio 4? Give me a break....

anyway as usual stw rips apart any meaning to the post for some stupid pedantic arseholes.

The issue was there was no meaning to your original post. No link, surname or context. My reply was not to be an arsehole (not sure pedantry can be applied in this context), it's that this was the only Otto I know.

Look upon it as a gentle nudge to provide more info, as not everyone may know what you're referring to.

.....or go off like an angry firework calling everyone an arsehole. Whatever helps the grieving process.

Wow. This pace really is occupied by some plonkers isn't it. This is the only environment where people argue more than my three kids.

but when a country executes people with dogs and anti-aircraft guns

Disproven?

Maybe in the daily mail.

haha good one! Ouch!

Well I'm pretty sure we'll never find out what really happened to him.
He could have been in a coma since he was arrested..

Poor kid, but a sombre warning to people who travel to places like DPRK not to mess about with stuff, as the punishment will not fit the crime.

To make a vaguely useful contribution........student tourist tours to countries where the US has a troubled relationship have in the past had other agendas. There might be a back story. The poster theft might not be the only act the NKs held on to him for.

It's an interesting disconnect. On the one hand we all know DPRK is probably the worst place on earth, and on the other we're shocked that they can arrest a young man on trivial charges, hold on to him for ages and hand him back dying.

They arrest huge numbers of people for crimes straight out of 1984, and they maintain a vast gulag system full of starving disappeared people. The poor blighters who get out of the place tend not to do well anywhere else because they've come from somewhere so fundamentally, terrifyingly odd.

Into this wander young travelers on an exciting novelty North Korea excursion as part of their 3 months doing Asia. I'm not clear whether we assume that their status as foreigners makes them untouchable, or whether we're all just not quite taking the murderous lunacy of the place seriously.

I was worried for a minute there. My account is named Otto....

Might have explained why my tax return was late this year.

touchy or what

Wow. This pace really is occupied by some plonkers isn't it. This is the only environment where people argue more than my three kids.

That's the interweb for you.

BigDummy - their status as foreigners makes them untouchable

I expect its an extension of the role of voyeur. Much as I think v highly of this book (and a must read for anyone even remotely interested in North Korea) I know I do so mainly from a place of inquisitive nosey-parker, but safe behind the pages:
[img] [/img]

If some were to take it a step further and actually go to DPRK, they might take with them the misplaced comfort and safety of the voyeur. Not realising that theyd gone through the fourth wall and were interacting with the protagonists of the piece.

but when a country executes people with dogs

So dog owners aren't allowed? And I thought Singapore was bad with its anti chewing gum policy.

To be fair the thread title 'otto' was a bit of an odd choice. I've been aware of the story but had no clue what the guys name was.

Guess we'll never know the full, or even partial, truth here.

The most important Otto in my life is my friends' dog. He nearly died when he was attacked by a bigger dog a couple of years ago. It was very sad, but not unbelievable. He got better, which was nice. Then there's another fried's dog called Otto, who was fine last time I heard. Then there's a technical expert at my company in Switzerland called Otto who is very opinionated and has a funny voice, but is very good at his job. Then there's a barman who I met in Madonna di Campiglio at a hotel I was staying in with my friends (the firsts ones) with their dog. He was a lovely chap, and he was loving the Otto/Otto combo as much as anyone else in the bar.

I'd be upset if anything happened to any of those Ottos, so I'd imagine that people who know and care about this Otto are pretty upset too.

*contemplates a thread with title...

'Joe'

Such a waste.

The most-important Otto in my life...
[img] [/img]