Video Shows ‘Peace’ Cycling Group Hours Before Deadly ISIS Attack
American couple killed by ISIS: Video shows “peace-loving” cycling group in Tajikistan, one day before four cyclists were violently killed by ISIS, including Americans, Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan of Washington, D.C.
“You’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place. ‘People,’ the narrative goes, ‘are not to be trusted. People are bad. People are evil.’ I don’t buy it.”–Jay Austin, American traveler killed by ISIS
The quote is real. It rings like a sardonic punchline to the tragedy of delusional idealism. It isn’t the first time and likely not the last. But for an American couple on a round the world bicycle trip to prove that everyone is friendly, it certainly is the most recent example of what happens when utopian balderdash has a head-on with reality. It always ends badly.
American social justice warriors, Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan quit their jobs in Washington D.C. last year to embark on the bicycle adventure of a lifetime with one goal: To prove that people everywhere are kind, loving, gentle and peaceful. Jay Austin summed up the couple’s beliefs in a social media post and interview prior to undertaking the round the world adventure in 2017.
“You’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place. ‘People,’ the narrative goes, ‘are not to be trusted. People are bad. People are evil.’ I don’t buy it,” Austin said. The couple especially hoped to prove that point in majority muslim nations and even in regions marked by violence by Islamic extremists. You can guess what happened.
In the country of Tajikistan, the peacenik couple, cycling with a group of similarly minded travelers from other nations, crossed paths with devotees of the Islamic State or ISIS. Suddenly, a car rammed into the group of cyclists and five men with knives emerged and began stabbing the riders. Geoghegan and Austin, both 29, were killed in the milieu. A Dutch traveler and another from Switzerland were also killed. ISIS promptly took credit for the attack in a video showing the five men who conducted the attack (in a video that was apparently more palatable to Youtube than an Alex Jones broadcast.)
The Tajikistan tragedy is reminiscent of the 2008 rape and murder of Pippa Bacca, an Italian performance artist killed in Turkey while on a vacation to prove that Islamic countries are, “safe and peaceful.” Bacca’s delusional voyage was made all the more nonsensical by the fact that her plan was to hitchhike from town to town, begging rides from strangers while wearing a white wedding dress and carrying a bouquet of flowers. Bacca died just three weeks into her journey. Her naked body was discovered April 11, 2008 concealed behind bushes in a roadside ditch near a small Turkish village. Turkish police confirmed she had been raped multiple times and strangled to death.
VIDEO SHOWS MOMENT OF IMPACT AS ISIS DRIVER TURNS AROUND AND RAMS CYCLISTS IN TAJIKISTAN:
I’ve lived in Central Asia off and on for more than four years, mostly traveling from my home base in Bishkek. We always traveled in groups of 8 or 10 mostly males with military training, when going down to the Tajiks, Turkmen, and even many areas of the Uzbeks (including Tashkent and Samarkand). Many westerners especially Americans have a far too limited and naive world view which leads to foolish ventures. Those same people would never take a vacation to peace cycle around south Chicago, inner city Detroit or New York inner city boroughs.