Escept he's in his late 50's and yes, he's white. He's been to Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya....a whole whack of other places.

He's a lefty, classic liberal and I believe him when he says he has a genuine concern for those less fortunate in the world. He's a part-time bartender with no responsibilities so he basically lives in a shit-hole and saves his money for his next trip.

I don't know....I've learned alot from him and the perspectives he's acquired. I know the anti-liberal slant will accuse him of 'strife-vacationing' and I realize that exists....but again, I think he's genuine and I'm not ready to characterize him negatively. I think he's coming from a real place. The guy in this particular situation doesn't strike me as coming from a real place.

I haven't broached the subject of how he feels about possibly taken hostage or kidnapped and what he would expect from the Canadian government. I do kinda see a hypocrisy if you expect a bunch of resources and effort spent on bailing you out in a situation like this. You know the risk and you take them for your own perceived gain (in his case 'learning about the world'). So someone like him would probably be best to take their own risk and not expect resources allocated to them if something goes wrong. You shouldn't be exploring war-torn countries and then expect a bail-out.