Speaking Ill of the Dead (again)

[howeird]

I'm sorry he's dead. I'm much, much more sorry for his widow and children. And for all the people whose hopes were raised way beyond reasonable expectations by stupid media coverage.

When I heard they had burned the tires, I lost all hope. That's just plain dumb - I drove that road last April and it's a forest. Even green wet wood is easier to burn than a tire. And there would have been plenty of dry kindling under the snow, if they had thought to dig a little.

And what kind of idiot takes off on a trip through the mountains without flares?

Someone at Cnet called him a hero, but a hero doesn't abandon his family to go trekking into unknown woods unprepared. They say he had two lighters with him, but there apparently was no evidence he tried to use them.

Kudos to the rescue people who thought to track a cell phone ack signal in an area where there is no service.

This story shows how desperate we are for happy endings. And how completely out of proportion the media can blow up a story. To paraphrase Rick in Casablanca, "It doesn't take much to see that the problems of four little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

Comments

Re: WTF!!!!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

They basically turned the wrong way (I do that all the time) and by the time they realized they were lost, they consulted their map (they had one) and tried to take what seemed like a more direct route (really their only big mistake, as far as I can tell, and the one that led to everything else), not realizing it wasn't plowed in the winter. They had enough gas to get where they thought they were going, but ended up stranded. They kept the car on until the gas ran out, trying to keep warm, when they realized (as far as I understand it) that none of their efforts were going to get that car moving again. And why would they have a compass in their car heading home on what they'd thought would be well-travelled roads after spending Thanksgiving holiday? I don't have a compass in my car, that's for certain. I don't even have flares.

So, yes, some bad decisions were made, perhaps. But I don't know if I'd've done any better. Easy to look in from the outside and say, "WTF!"

Re: WTF!!!!

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

Actually thanks for clarifying, thats all stuff that I had not heard before - I iron while watching news, sometimes I miss things. I stand corrected.

Though I got lost one night a block from my house and ended up driving miles from my home. OMG, I was ready to resort to cannibalism and I was parked in front of a Burger King.

Re: WTF!!!!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

Considering some of the Whoppers I've had at Burger King, cannibalism might've been the more (pardon the pun) viable option.

Re: WTF!!!!

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

But did you get the right size shake?

Re: WTF!!!!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

LOL! That was such a bummer. But you so kindly offered me some of yours. :)

Does that mean that your milkshake, it's better than mine?

Re: WTF!!!!

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

My Milkshake brings the boys to the yard!

Re: WTF!!!!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

*does a bump and grind*

Re: WTF!!!!

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

AWWWWW You hot sexy beast
Grwllllllllllll