Not sure if this is the right forum to throw this in, but I might as well. I’ve received my (well deserved) share of bitching so even if I’m wrong, I’m well prepared for the outrage that may follow.
Anyway, the link is here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1p2csm/i_am_captain_richard_phillips_whose_story/ basically he’s allowing users of Reddit to Ask Him “almost anything”. I know there’s a vast amount of users on here who really dislike the guy and what a positive light the film cast on him. Figured I’d post this up here and let you go through and get a good laugh at him attempting to defend himself. Whole 'lotta bullshit in his replies.
One user asked him about the accusations on him being unsafe this was his reply: “There have been some accusations. I do not agree with them. I am not a risky person, it is a danger to take some certain risks and no I feel like I did not take them.”
I wish Capt. Phillips would get the use of the term “merchant marine” right. He is not “a merchant marine”. A merchant marine is the collective noun for a nation’s commercial fleet of ships, ie: the United States Merchant Marine, the Danish Merchant Marine, (or in the case of the UK - the British Merchant Navy), etc, etc. And further, merchant seamen are not “merchant marines”. This misuse of the language always bothers me. I hear it all the time too. Is it too much to expect, that at least the master of a merchant ship, would get this terminology correct?
ah come on…is my reputation really that I am that harsh, brutal and unforgiving?
if it is then my life’s work is all a success!
addendum to previous…I just noticed Phillips calls himself a merchant fucking MARINE! Now I am about to detonate!
Hi, I’m Rich Phillips, I’m a US Merchant Marine and Captain.
I’ve been sailing for 34 years and through my career I’ve dealt with many different things, including Somali Pirates (which you may have heard of, thanks to the recent movie). Ask me almost anything.
[QUOTE=pelicanhook;123059]I wish Capt. Phillips would get the use of the term “merchant marine” right. He is not “a merchant marine”. A merchant marine is the collective noun for a nation’s commercial fleet of ships, ie: the United States Merchant Marine, the Danish Merchant Marine, (or in the case of the UK - the British Merchant Navy), etc, etc. And further, merchant seamen are not “merchant marines”. This misuse of the language always bothers me. I hear it all the time too. Is it too much to expect, that at least the master of a merchant ship, would get this terminology correct?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, one of my (not pet) peeves, too. Worse than chewing on tin foil. . . .
Not like he got off easy over there either.
Also - wtf is “merchant marine”? My father was a Marine, but not a merchant. Merchant Mariner maybe??
[I]Capt Phillips put his crew in serious danger knowingly. His crew is taking him to court over the fact that he seriously embellished the story to make himself look like a hero. Read this. Now in a way, he’s somewhat a hero (or at least responsible enough to recognize it was indeed his fault) because he offered himself up to protect his crew, but had he listened to his crew and stayed 600 miles out the incident would have never happened. The Pirates had been getting more and more aggressive when all this went down, but to save time and money he ignored all the warnings.
If you approach the Film as fiction, it’s actually pretty good, but you already know how it ends (I assume, but I won’t spoil anything). Tom Hanks puts out great movies. I’d watch him in anything, but knowing how this was actually the Phillips’ fault and watching him be immortalized doesn’t sit right with me. [/I]