Laughing in the face of danger

I've been following the story over the weekend about British tourists being kidnapped in Ethiopia. apparently the SAS have now been sent over to rescue them. We all have our images of the British abroad. Often badly dressed and badly behaved, their judgement is executed equally badly. Presumably this is why the kidnappers (if that is what has happened) found them so easy to identify and abduct?

For me, the warm feeling of 'we're British, this isn't the done thing' and the jingoistic talking-up of the rescue effort is misplaced. What were these people doing in Afar in the first place? It is universally acknowledged as one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Have they not got televisions or radios or internet access? Do they not read newspapers. Or is it that they do but think they known best. Worse, they think they know best because they're British.

These people are not disimilar to those who go swimming in well-forecasted storm conditions. Or climb mountains in blizzards ('because they exist'). No thought is given to their own safety but they expect others to care. Rescuers are expected to risk their lives and our hard-earned money to deal with others' arrogance.

Presumably such people discuss their exploits (or 'japes') over dinner parties in south-west London or other centres of global learning? I'm all for free movement but there's something disturbing about visiting those who are far from free (through political or economic dependence), for fun rather than fact-finding, who then put others' lives at risk.