The parents of the teenage sailor now stranded in the Indian Ocean, defend their daughter’s attempt to set a world record.

After expressing relief that their daughter had been found safe, Sunderland’s parents on Friday rejected criticism of their child’s attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

“The fact is whether a teenager, or a young adult or a middle-aged person, there have been many rescues that have taken place,” father Laurence Sunderland told NBC television’s Today program.

And I agree with them. The modern generation of teenager has become so mollycoddled, so overprotected, that they can’t get 20 feet away from their cable television, iPhones or Internet provided midget porn without having a panic attack. What happened to the Viking youth of yore who stood side by side with their parents as they engaged in campaigns of raping and looting? The modern teenager has become so soft and weak that when the aliens finally invade — and they will — these teens will merely fall to the ground pleading for mercy, a mercy that will come in the swift application of a Zardanian laser whip.

I, for one, laud this teenager imbued with the spirits of the great explorers.

Plus she’s pretty cute.