Interesting side note to the earlier killings. It was mentioned in passing that the hostages were killed and an RPG fired at an American warship AFTER the two pirates sent to negotiate had been detained. Could their deaths have been a colossal blunder on the part of US negotiators?

Yes, fright is sometimes the appropriate response.

The problem with this is you assume that those older people were not content to die at sea. Maybe they were aware of the risks (more than pirates can kill you) and willing to take the chance. Can't say the same for the children who don't necessarily get to make a choice.

@3 That's a good and important point. They knowingly put their children in harms way and endangered the lives of many people who will try to rescue them. Fools!

Good point and good advice, sir.

I suspect there is a deficiency in the English language related to this; "fear" in the in-the-moment, "fight or flight" sense is something to be avoided; it can suppress reasonable thought and cause one to make wrong choices. But "fear" in the sense of "concern about potential pending troublesome occurrences" is, as you say, entirely appropriate to consider. The fact that there is no real distinction between the two in English has definitive cognitive effects (your quoted examples seemingly being among them).

"the family... entered the area well aware that the American yacht had been hijacked by pirates but comforted by the presence of counter-piracy forces"

OK, that's just being an asshat. Counter-piracy forces are not there so that you don't have to change your vacation plans.

the area the pirates are operating in is basically the most important shipping channel in the world. the danes and the american bible-deliverers (eye roll) have 1 other choice - rounding the cape. not really much of an option.

i was reading some muckity muck's comments about the pirates: if a skiff is 500 miles offshore, with 10 guys carrying AKs, a RPG launcher, ropes and a ladder, they ain't fishing. arrest them. or sink them.

BTW, we're pulling the USS Enterprise out of the Red Sea and anti-piracy duties to go fight Gaddafi - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-…

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Counting down to the point that anti-piracy forces start a scorched Earth campaign.

In 1997, when I worked in a rural village outside Mutare, I was relieved to find that the men were completely unapologetic and unashamed of being afraid of the dark. The dark is frightening - why not accept it?

Exactly, Charles. These deaths are sad but it's like these people are all living in this bubble-headed, wealthy reality and know nothing more. Do they get that we have refugees living in our countries who fled for their very lives from people just like this? This is no fucking joke. It's like they're naively floating about on their fancy yachts thinking that their "goodwill" or "cultural open-mindedness" will save them in the end. They don't have a clue about the realities of the world to be taking such risks in the name of "adventure" or whatever. There are lots of places in the world where people will kill you like they're taking out a kleenex to blow their nose.

Within the U.S. and developed countries, you can go on "adventures" which are fully safe for the most part - rafting, hiking in national parks, etc. You're basically protected by the country's infrastructure from "real" risks. People who only live in developed countries take this for granted though and/or don't even notice it. Then they naively apply their past experiences within the safe bubble to the outside world where the same rules don't apply. It's idiocy, frankly. But rich people can do whatever they want in developed countries and no one's gonna stop them. Outside though, they're fucking done & they sadly pay with their lives.

I like what this "African and much older side" has to say. It is apparently the more coherent side. Can we see more of it in the future?

My parents are currently sailing in SE Asia and have been considering sailing up through the Indian Ocean to the Med in order to return from that part of the world. They have heard of other boats being accosted by pirates however and are currently looking into alternate ways of travelling onward (shipping their boat on a tanker for $30-40k or sailing a long, arduous and dangerous journey around Africa).

There is a common thought in this post and in the comments though that these people had no idea what they were doing and put themselves in needless danger without considering the consequences. I think this is highly unlikely and a bit disrespectful. No sailor gets very far without being able to guage risk, repair their own boat and fend for themselves in almost any circumstance. They may have made the wrong call in this case but choosing to travel through one of the most essential, dangerous and well traveled sailing routes in the world was probably not without some forethought and risk analysis.

It always amazes me how this blog so often takes a "I told you so" response to the deaths of innocent people rather than sending wishes for their safety.

@8 Having the 'Prise there in the first place was pointless. Were we really planning on launching airstrikes and cruise missiles at people who think they can take out a destroyer with an RPG?

There's a reason why piracy is dealt with so harshly. The seas should be safe to travel, and efforts should be made to keep it that way.