[necovek]

The author is obviously from the US where fear of others permeats everything (and requires carry of arms to defend one's home, for instance). They even talked of pirates in the story.

While US is not universally like that, there is probably a large proportion that is (citation missing).

[givemeethekeys]

Sailing is a very international activity, and if one is doing large crossings, then meeting sailors from around the world is quite common.

A lot can go wrong on a boat, and sailors - especially, small family crews can be forgiven for putting their safety ahead of a boat full of men that can outnumber and overpower them.

[trompetenaccoun]

I may not know much about how horrible the US is because I've never been, but refugees are regularly endangered in European waters despite help being technically around. In one case I heard of even the Italian coastguard would do nothing until the UN was called and put pressure on them. The refugees had called emergency services and were ignored, without UN intervention they would have died.

So yeah, you might want to check your bias. This isn't something that just happens in the US, it's a worldwide thing. Refugees are mistreated in Africa, in Asia - everywhere.

[necovek]

I never said US is horrible: it is a magnificient country, and people are very friendly and welcoming to strangers (in familiar settings).

But they are also very fearful of others at the same time. The article talks of refugees encountering 5 other boats which wouldn't help them before the author did.

My (completely unsubstantiated, iow, my gut feel) claim is that they are a bit more fearful of other people being out to get them than people from most European countries. Think of it like 35% of Europeans would help vs 25% of Americans (again, numbers completely fabricated, or pulled out of my behind): a small percentage points difference, but a huge relative difference.