Why Colton Harris-Moore (aka the Barefoot Bandit) Actually is Respectable
86 replies, posted
[B]Because the Barefoot Bandit is the Frank Abagnale, Jr. of our generation.[/B]
There's quite a few Facepunchers shouting about how he's just a scumbag criminal who stole from people and caused a ton of money in damages. To you, I say [B]go watch Catch Me If You Can.[/B]
The movie is a true story about a kid just a bit older than Colton Harris-Moore who forged checks and impersonated doctors, airline pilots, and lawyers, and successfully passed over $2.5 million in forged checks in 26 countries over the course of 5 years.
After watching the movie, while knowing that back in the '60s Abagnale, Jr. would have seemed like a dirtbag fraud, you can't help but feel a huge amount of respect for a kid of his age to evade the FBI for 5 years so successfully. And what does Abagnale, Jr. do now? He's a millionaire who helps the FBI and banks identify and apprehend check forgers and other criminals.
The moral of the story is, why can Frank Abagnale, Jr. be viewed as a hero for using his criminal skills, while the Barefoot Bandit (who cost people less money in damages) is looked at as such a douchebag? Who knows, maybe Colton Harris-Moore will help the FBI develop countermeasures against potential terrorists trying to learn how to hijack planes.
Well at least he works for the FBI if he is that good.
He's a fucking douchebag because he brags about his crimes on Facebook and tries to build some stupid little cult following. In the end he's just a jerkoff kid that caused millions of dollars in damage and will probably spend a substantial portion of his remaining life in jail.
Grow up, OP.
He's not a hero. Batman is a fucking hero!
Thieves get no respect from me, sorry.
Abagnale was still a criminal too. If he hadn't have redeemed himself, he too would still be a scum bag.
[QUOTE=AnalisMorisette;23286234]Grow up, OP.[/QUOTE]
Did I say I worshipped him? No. All I'm trying to say is that even though he seems like a scumbag, there's plenty of people who have done things who have turned into respectable people. Frank Abagnale, Jr. is a good example of this because he did a lot of incredible things at such a young age and still managed to help people.
Isn't this the kid who can't even land a plane properly?
[QUOTE=Abstrakt;23286238]He's not a hero. Batman is a fucking hero![/QUOTE]
No batman is a superhero, tardmuffin
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286295]Isn't this the kid who can't even land a plane properly?[/QUOTE]
Considering he learned how to fly by reading handbooks and playing flight simulators, and because he didn't land at airports for risk of being caught, it would be hard to land a plane properly.
Oh look i'm going to steal people hard earned, expensive property like planes and [b]CRASH IT INTO A FUCKING FOREST[/b] maybe people will respect me :downs:
Barefoot Bandit is my hero.
[QUOTE=BackOnCrack;23286312]No batman is a superhero, tardmuffin[/QUOTE]
Technically he isn't.
This forum is like a kindergarten class of little kids who think they're edgy and cool by worshiping their criminal heroes like this asshole. I bet not a single one of his supporters is either
a) above the age of 16
or
b) worked a day in their life to earn their own things.
Honestly, just grow up. Someday you'll realize that criminals, thieves, and murderers aren't really such cool guys when you actually have a family and your property to protect.
[QUOTE=lawl;23286402]This forum is like a kindergarten class of little kids who think they're edgy and cool by worshiping their criminal heroes like this asshole. I bet not a single one of his supporters is either
a) above the age of 16
or
b) worked a day in their life to earn their own things.
Honestly, just grow up. Someday you'll realize that criminals, thieves, and murderers aren't really such cool guys when you actually have a family and your property to protect.[/QUOTE]
Once again, did I ever say I worshipped the guy? Did you read the thread? All I'm saying is that there were others like him who turned into great people, and that despite being a criminal, he managed to do some incredible things.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;23286326]Considering he learned how to fly by reading handbooks and playing flight simulators, and because he didn't land at airports for risk of being caught, it would be hard to land a plane properly.[/QUOTE]
Considering its as easy as pushing a throttle forward and than pulling back on a stick its not that hard.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286676]Considering its as easy as pushing a throttle forward and than pulling back on a stick its not that hard.[/QUOTE]
No, it's much harder to land a plane than take off. To take off you just pull up, landing the plane has the risk of slamming into the ground or coming in at a bad angle.
If you want to criticize him for being a thief and a vandal that's perfectly fair, but to say that his piloting skills were poor is just stupid.
[QUOTE=lawl;23286402]This forum is like a kindergarten class of little kids who think they're edgy and cool by worshiping their criminal heroes like this asshole. I bet not a single one of his supporters is either
a) above the age of 16
or
b) worked a day in their life to earn their own things.
Honestly, just grow up. Someday you'll realize that criminals, thieves, and murderers aren't really such cool guys when you actually have a family and your property to protect.[/QUOTE]
Someone's just jealous they can't survive repeated plane crashes.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286676]Considering its as easy as pushing a throttle forward and than pulling back on a stick its not that hard.[/QUOTE]
Did you seriously just say that? Flying a plane actually is very hard. It's more than just stepping on the gas and pointing the nose up. You have to know how fast you need to be going in X amount of time, you need to have your flaps pushing you into the ground until it is the right time to pull up, and it varies with every plane, not to mention a number of other things you need to do pre-flight, and then taking into account how hard it is to actually fucking turn a plane.
I'd be surprised if the air pressure didn't slam you into the tarmac if you tried just taking off in a plane, let alone flying it from Indiana to the Bahamas.
Yeah, I should totally respect some bragging fucktard thief.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;23286161]Who knows, maybe Colton Harris-Moore will help the FBI develop countermeasures against potential terrorists trying to learn how to hijack planes.[/QUOTE]
Nah, he's too much of a smug selfsatified asswhipe to do that.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;23286720]No, it's much harder to land a plane than take off. To take off you just pull up, landing the plane has the risk of slamming into the ground or coming in at a bad angle.
If you want to criticize him for being a thief and a vandal that's perfectly fair, but to say that his piloting skills were poor is just stupid.[/QUOTE]
Landing is hard. Taking off and flying around is easy. Taking off is as simple as doing what I already said. Landing involves a lot more, keeping above stall speeds while staying slow enough that you don't hit the ground to hard. Setting flaps. To say this kid is a good pilot just because he managed to take off and successfully crash land a plane is horrible.
he hasn't contributed anything to society, while the people he stole from stimulated our economy
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286821]Landing is hard. Taking off and flying around is easy. Taking off is as simple as doing what I already said. Landing involves a lot more, keeping above stall speeds while staying slow enough that you don't hit the ground to hard. Setting flaps. To say this kid is a good pilot just because he managed to take off and successfully crash land a plane is horrible.[/QUOTE]
Reposting what I just said so that you know taking off is actually fucking hard:
Did you seriously just say that? Flying a plane actually is very hard. It's more than just stepping on the gas and pointing the nose up. You have to know how fast you need to be going in X amount of time, you need to have your flaps pushing you into the ground until it is the right time to pull up, and it varies with every plane, not to mention a number of other things you need to do pre-flight, and then taking into account how hard it is to actually fucking turn a plane.
I'd be surprised if the air pressure didn't slam you into the tarmac if you tried just taking off in a plane, let alone flying it from Indiana to the Bahamas.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286821]To say this kid is a good pilot just because he managed to take off and successfully crash land a plane is horrible.[/QUOTE]
"Fuck yeah, I hijacked this car and totalled it 5 seconds after. Fuck yeah, I'm such a good driver".
Well I doubt this guy will have a good movie made after him.
If they did it would probably suck.
[QUOTE=dutchah;23286876]"Fuck yeah, I hijacked this car and totalled it 5 seconds after. Fuck yeah, I'm such a good driver".[/QUOTE]
Nobody ever said he was a good pilot, but it's impressive that he was able to do as well as he did considering the training he received.
[QUOTE=thisispain;23286849]he hasn't contributed anything to society, while the people he stole from stimulated our economy[/QUOTE]
That's true, but the point of the thread is to say that there are others like him who used their skills for the betterment of society, and what he did was (criminal or not) pretty incredible, to evade law enforcement for so long and in such a manner.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;23286771]Did you seriously just say that? Flying a plane actually is very hard. It's more than just stepping on the gas and pointing the nose up. You have to know how fast you need to be going in X amount of time, you need to have your flaps pushing you into the ground until it is the right time to pull up, and it varies with every plane, not to mention a number of other things you need to do pre-flight, and then taking into account how hard it is to actually fucking turn a plane.
I'd be surprised if the air pressure didn't slam you into the tarmac if you tried just taking off in a plane, let alone flying it from Indiana to the Bahamas.[/QUOTE]
Except I doubt he went through a pre-flight checklist, flaps do not push you into the ground, they help generate lift when you are taking off and or landing. You don't need to do anything pre-flight, you do those things to ensure you won't have a issue when it matters. You say he read manuals, I'm pretty sure those say what a safe speed to pull the nose up is, even then, if your runway is long enough with flaps down you start taking off without pulling the nose up yourself.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;23286951]
That's true, but the point of the thread is to say that there are others like him who used their skills for the betterment of society, and what he did was (criminal or not) pretty incredible, to evade law enforcement for so long and in such a manner.[/QUOTE]
At least Abagnale didn't brag on his facebook about what he did, which already makes him more respectable by default.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;23286972]Except I doubt he went through a pre-flight checklist, flaps do not push you into the ground, they help generate lift when you are taking off and or landing. You don't need to do anything pre-flight, you do those things to ensure you won't have a issue when it matters. You say he read manuals, I'm pretty sure those say what a safe speed to pull the nose up is, even then, if your runway is long enough with flaps down you start taking off without pulling the nose up yourself.[/QUOTE]
You actually have to keep the the flaps down while you're on the runway so that you don't get thrown about too early and crash.
[quote=Dutchah]Part of the reason why Frank Abagnale Jr. was considered respectable is because he didn't brag all over his facebook about what he did.[/quote]
From what I've read it was other people who set up fanpages for the Barefoot Bandit, I haven't heard about him bragging about himself, although that would make him considerably more douchebag.
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