Mine Incident: Tyler's reply to The Gallows'

First read my post about the mine accident at The Gallows.

Tyler writes in a comment:

Tyler said...
I wholeheartedly, and brutally disagree.

At least 2 families were contacted by a mine foreman, that 12 miners WERE alive. They were told they WERE alive, not that they might be, that they WERE. I'm not going to wait for hours for an "official report" when a large group of people say people are alive, I'm going to believe them, and they did to.

It is irrational to think that they are all lying. And the fact that one of them DID survive shows that there hopes were not misfounded. There was that mine collapse in Pennsylvania a year or two ago, and all of them survived down there for over a week I believe, granted it was different circumstances, but was it irrational then to hope that any of them survived?

I believe that the "12-alive myth" originated near the very beginning of the fiasco. Probably the 2nd branch of people to hear it. The guy on the cell phone listened to the information, and probably repeated something like, "You found them??" and most often when someone says somethign is found, it is a good thing, and as a result the mind of whoever overheard registered it as good news, and since that person was probably close to the chain of command, when they told other people, they had reason to believe them.

While I disagree with most of what you said, suing for any reason in this case would be pure idiocy.

I'm assuming you read this in an article written by the Associated Press, which is the only souce I could find that mentioned anything about the foreman phonecall.
So let's clear some things up. Two family members were contacted by one foreman, one of these members being the cousin of the foreman. Foremen are not part of rescue teams, for one. And if the foreman had any official capacity to speak for the mine, why didn't he just call everyone? Or drive down to the church and tell everyone? This was a man who overheard a conversation, part of one in all probability, and took it upon himself to play the savior. Who says that foreman was anywhere near the rescue site, was in any way attached to it officially, or otherwise knew what he was talking about? Other sources say that some "unidentified men" ran into the church shouting the good news. That's where the false news came from.

Though you utilize some majorly vague pronoun references in your second paragraph, I'm going to assume you're talking about the families. I take it you're referencing this sentence that I wrote: "And now they're pissed because "they were lied to." Yes, they were lied to. BY THEMSELVES." And I'm assuming you thought I meant that literally. For that, I apologize for not being clear enough. They didn't actually intend to not tell the truth to themselves, they didn't know either way. But they became so grief stricken, then ecstatic, that all reason flew out the window. A better word would be "deluded." I'd like to make it clear that it is impossible to fault the families for letting themselves be misled. However, they can not reasonably claim that they were lied to by the powers that be, because the REAL people in charge never actually said anything until the official report made by Ben Hatfield, the mine chief executive.

You have every right to disagree with me. I'm going to assume--again, since it's not too clear--you meant you disagree with my assertions that in no way, shape, or form did the mine company confirm that the miners were alive. I'll leave you with some quotes:

"The company and state officials did not think it was prudent to issue a statement without confirmation of identity of known survivors or the deceased,' [Ben] Hatfield said. (He's the mine executive officer, the man in charge) 'In the process of being cautious we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than we should have.' Source

Governor Joe Manchin: "...that's when someone said, `They found them, they're alive,'" Manchin recalled. "I looked at our communications people and I looked at my security and said, `Have we had that confirmed, do we know anything about that?' And they said, `No."......"They [families] kept saying `12 are alive, 12 are alive.' I looked at my detachment again and I said, `Have we confirmed that?' And we didn't," Manchin said"......"Within minutes The Associated Press issued an alert, reporting family members as saying the 12 miners were alive. There was no confirmation from International Coal Group, which remained silent for the next three hours. Subsequent reports would attribute the news to family members, most of them unnamed." Source


"Ben Hatfield, ICG's chief executive, said Wednesday that taking the miners to the church was never part of the emergency plan, which called for any survivors to immediately be transported to a hospital. "We had no idea what they were being told," Hatfield said.....Hatfield, the mining company chief executive, told reporters that mine officials held off announcing the men were dead while they tried to make certain that was the case. Source

"Hatfield said the rescue command center told state police to advise clergy at the church to caution against premature news, but for some reason, the word wasn't passed around." Source

As for the Pennsylvania mine accident in 2003, it was 9 miners stuck for 77 hours (3 days, not a week), and they were found relatively quickly, confirmed by the mine company that they were alive, then carefully dug out. That wasn't nearly as bad as this.
In conclusion, nobody can be blamed for the poor exchange of information that led to the intense distraught felt by the family members of the miners, except the jackass foreman and that unknown bastard who ran into the church. This applies to everyone. Grief is no excuse to be an ass. Nothing can be done to bring them back, no matter how hard you push the issue, so stop, and deal with the grief instead of pushing it off to the side to point fingers.