Nobody killed James Kim but James Kim. He made one imprudent, irresponsible decision after the next, endangering not only himself but also his wife and child.
Compare, for example, the Mount Hood climbers -- their decision to climb in foul weather with minimal equipment was irresponsible, but they endangered only their own (and their climbing mates') lives. When one of them was seriously injured, and the weather turned even fouler, it was pretty much game over. All the bitching and moaning about what the rescuers did or did not do is somewhat beside the point -- a bit like the skid row denizen who sues for malpractice when doctors don't succed in treating him for drinking STERNO.
Kim made the following decisions:
The safest thing he could have done, once his irresponsibility and recklessness exposed them all to going the way of Scott's Antarctic Expedition, was to stay with the car as it has a larger signature and will be found first. You might stop and think that Scott's tent was readily found (albeit too late to do him any good), but Oates's ("I am just going outside and may be some time") body has never been found -- in 94 years.
Year in and year out people walk away from stranded cars or crashed planes and are never found. Capsized sailors who swim away from their boats, too. People who stay with the vehicle are much more likely to be rescued.
I am as harsh a critic of the media as can be found -- I was one of the first to note the Associated Press's alliance with our Baathist enemies in Iraq (right here in these pages) and I consider most of the media more implacable and more deadly enemies than any semtex-suited Sunni. But the media didn't kill James Kim any more than you did.
I don't know why his parents wrote such a strange and ugly essay. Perhaps they are having a hard time with the guilt of raising a kid to be a weak and improvident man, who endangered his family needlessly (and endangered a small army of rescue workers, who saved his family, and would have saved him if he'd had any clue about the wilderness).
Just replay this tragedy in your mind. Would Kim more likely have lived if he had used rational judgment, or if there were no planes but "official" searchers from the military and CAP or whomever up? And when you do that, bear in mind that the pilot of a rescue plane has a duty to see and avoid other aircraft, and that's what HE (or she) is watching for. OTHER people on the rescue plane act as observers, to try to spot the survivor -- that's what THEY are watching for.
The outdoors can kill anyone, even experienced outdoorsmen (cf. the experienced Hood climbers). It's not frickin' TV and urbanites need to prepare before plunging in (if you are prepared, it's safer than the city -- safer by miles -- even in a blizzard).
If I were on-scene commander I'd have briefed the media on the search plan, and assigned 'em a sector. They'd have loved that, eaten it up ("This is News Copter 7 reporting from the scene, where we're assisting in the search for the missing..."), and it would have gotten MORE eyes in the sky. Might have saved Kim's family sooner, even though he himself effectively committed suicide.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I concur...
You're absolutely correct. Personal preparedness. Even on the road from downtown Denver to the airport in winter. Full tank of gas, blankets, food and water...and common sense.
Well, this thread don't need me flapping my lip.
You've said it all.
I'd like to emphasize one point.
Notice his father makes the same mistake as his son: it's not my fault. It's the media, or the government, or somebody else, but not me.
This guy is a Darwin candidate.
I'm sorry, but the father did nothing to prepare his son to face the cold, heartless world out there. For too long he lived in the Nanny state, and when faced with real danger, he just screwed up.
Sorry.
All wise and true words, but the moment a state - county -or local agency directs or even permits private individuals to act in their behalf, they become liable for ALL actions or injuries.
As all counties and the state basically self insure, no body is going to expose their agency to any risk.
And speaking as a former state employee I can guarantee everyone involved had that in mind, but when they weight the risk, it will never happen.
With that said, my heart goes out to the Kim family, may they find peace.
Excellent post. I understand that a mama loves her son, but there is an idiotic tendency to blame everyone except the person who put himself in danger.
If I were on-scene commander I'd have briefed the media on the search plan, and assigned 'em a sector. They'd have loved that, eaten it up ("This is News Copter 7 reporting from the scene, where we're assisting in the search for the missing..."), and it would have gotten MORE eyes in the sky. Might have saved Kim's family sooner, even though he himself effectively committed suicide.
These folks are journalists, not trained search and rescue people. I am not sure they are adequately qualified to tie their own shoelaces, much less search for and rescue anyone in a tricky operation.
If it is true the media was effectively interfering, then the authorities in charge should have taken note of it and remedied the situation quickly. Apparently this did not happen, and mistakes were made...