An Impressive Rescue: Chilean Miners

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arildno said:
It is a totalitarian, and deeply immoral misunderstanding that if we can't save everyone then we are in no position to feel relief that SOME were saved.

Furthermore, if we have limited resources, and one group cannot be saved unless we choose not to save another, we are STILL entitled to feel relieved at those we DID save.

I agree entirely.

Someone commented earlier in this thread 'why didn't the government give the money to starving children in Africa' or something like that. What a peculiar attitude !

By that measure, all expenditure, other than for basic existence, should be given to the poorest. What a world that would be !
 
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Or, since all children have equal worth, it is immoral of parents to spend a dime more on their own children than those of their neighbour.

Perhaps parents should be required to set up funds for the children that, 500 years into the future, would starve if they didn't get the benefit of that fund?
 
It gets even better

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) – Most of Chile's 33 rescued miners are honoring a pact of silence about the worst of their ordeal, but one indicated on Sunday he would talk if paid and another set the record straight about what didn't happen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101018/wl_nm/us_chile_miners_pact
 
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I expected so and thus found it very distasteful. I do not like how people/companies/nations are willing to put big bucks on things that are close to what they see in movies (explosives, environment, drama :rolleyes:).
 
Nova - PBS

Emergency Mine Rescue
Engineers and NASA scientists aid an all-out effort to save 33 Chilean miners trapped nearly half a mile underground. Premiering October 26, 2010 on PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/emergency-mine-rescue.html

You should be able to watch the streaming version shortly after it aires for the first time, which will be in a few minutes.
 
I have to say, and maybe this is a reflection of some deeply negative personal quality, but once they're out of the ground and deemed safe and healthy and I understand the mechanics of their rescue and survival I lose all interest.

rootX: This is a bit like the "no man left behind" policy of most militaries, which range from the general assurance that you won't be abandoned, lost, or left dead in hostile territory. There are benefits to these ideas, the first and most obvious being: Who would be so insane as to go mine coal if they knew that there would be a monetary weigh-in about whether or not to rescue. Modern coal minding is dirty and miserable, but it's still skilled labor requiring mental and physical fortitude. You can't even have convicts mine coal unless you're comfy with them playing around with huge amounts of explosives.

Many similar issues exist with an armed force... you CAN force people to fight, but history shows it's just doesn't end well. With a volunteer force you want present as many incentives to join a very risky business, and remove as many disincentives. "No man left behind" covers a lot of fears of being used as a cog and abandoned. Does it happen? yeah... a lot, and coal miners die a lot from less attractive causes such as a pneumosilicosis, but when the chance to put on a big show and demonstrate that in that particular hazard: trapped in a coal mine..., they'll move heaven and Earth to get you out.

It's not about logic, it's about marketing an image, retaining workers and that kind of thing. I find it no more tasteful or distasteful than a multibillion dollar marketing or PR campaign. The ones that annoy me are the PR jobs that serve no purpose at all except ego-stroking...