You may have heard about how the Kim family ordeal ended.
I mention this because for some unknown reason I bothered to read the related thread on Fark.com and was moved by the tremendous amount of stupidity I found…and I don’t just mean the typical trolls that post something insensitive. No, I’m also talking about the emotional hand-wringers who are calling Kim a “hero” for leaving his car and dying alone in the woods.
Mind you, I’m not saying that James Kim deserved to die.…but I can’t help but wonder why the hell they were on that road during the winter in the first damn place.
One Farker posted a picture that allegedly showed one of the warning signs along that road. Call me crazy, but I don’t doubt him one bit; I’ve seen plenty of roads with similar signage in Colorado and Washington state. If the Kim family drove past one of those large, brightly-colored signs and ignored the cautionary text, then they were stupid.
Maybe I’m going to hell for suggesting such a thing. Some of Fark’s more sensitive posters suggested that the sign, which supposedly said “road may be blocked by snowdrifts,” wasn’t a strong enough warning.
Poppycock. That mentality is why we have warning labels on hammers instructing people to wear goggles during use. There is a very good reason why you must pass a couple of tests to earn the privilege of operating a motor vehicle: it’s easy to kill yourself or others with a car if you don’t pay attention to details.
I am very happy to hear that Kim’s wife and two young children survived. I’m sure that James’ decision to leave his car and family to search for help was a difficult one. But doing so does not, as so many Farkers emotionally penned, make Kim a hero. He may have been a victim – of somebody else’s incompetence or his own — but to call his actions heroic merely illustrate how abused and meaningless the word “hero” has become.
The Kim family, once they found themselves stuck, did do some smart things. They stayed in the car, as is suggested by survivalists and law enforcement officials. They ran the engine sparingly — just enough to warm the car — and were able to make the most out of their remaining gas. They set their tires on fire: something that had not occured to me but would have provided additional heat as well as a plume of thick black smoke for rescuers to see. Mrs. Kim and her children were spotted thanks to an umbrella covered with reflective tape, another good idea.
What happened to the Kims is a tragedy. But calling James Kim a hero is nonsense, perpetuated by people who want some sort of happy ending or uplifting note for this story.
Following the route he took once he left the car , I’ve got to respectfully ask why the hell he took off through the ravine when he was only a quarter mile from the road he veered off from in the first place.
Seems to me a thinking person would go BACK where he came from.
His route took him back around to whithin a quarter mile of where he started!
Using words like “hero” and “tragedy” is all to often done willy -nilly and and without a certain amount of repect for the actions of real heroes.
Sure, it’s a shame that the poor guy died and left his wife and children a broken family, but I’m not sure a hero tries to swim his way out of a situation like that.
I’ll wait for angry responses.
I agree with all of the posters so far. He was not a hero. Real heroes don’t go on fools’ errands. Another thing if this guy was such a gadget freak, why didn’t he have a GPS system in his car, or at least a hand-held one?
People talked about him having outdoor experience. Did they mean that he had been camping at a controlled campsite or backpacking experience? If he had been a backpacker, he would have remembered that if he were going into snow country, he should bring along a good pair of hiking boots and at least a stocking cap and good pair of waterproof winter gloves and clothes that wicked away the moisture, not cotton clothes that would make you cold if they got wet from sweat.
Did you notice how the media harped on his computer skills? Unfortunately, computer skills don’t help when you’re freezing to death. Nature is unforgiving, and you must respect its power or you will succumb to it as this unfortunate fellow did. I’m sorry he died, and I wished that he would have survived by some miracle, but up there, it is cold, harsh reality.
I don’t agree that burning tires was a good idea. After the snow melts, and provided you’re still alive, might not you want some means of driving out of there?
I have to say what this guy did was a “heroic” attempt in trying to save his family’s life, but I cannot call him a “hero” since his actions didn’t result in a positive outcome where he was directly responsible for saving people’s lives. I admire his bravery, but not his stupidity, but I will not blame him since he comes from San Francisco, Liberalfornia … probably a place where survival skills are learned by walking seven miles in an anti-gay transexual liberation parade??
The innocent victims aboard the two flights that flew into the two WTC towers were not heroes, simply victims of terrorism. On the other hand, the passengers of Flight 93 were truly heroes in that they took on the camel-jockety high-jackers and avoided a major disaster at Capitol or White House, or wherever that plane was headed?
Rick, I would agree about the tires…assuming the snow *does* melt. Perhaps starting with the spare might be best. Of course, if you’re out of gas at that point I guess the tires really aren’t of much use.
I can’t say that, once in that situation, I would be able to do much better than James Kim did. I’d like to think that I would have been able to avoid the problem entirely, though.
shut up, billy.
Right on, Billy. Well said. I have had horses just about all my life so I know a lot about how to dress for the cold weather. Even when we take our horses in the horse trailer during very cold weather, they have to be blanketed as well as bringing along extra supplies for them and myself in case of an emergency. I always have believed in reading road warning signs. That’s just plain common sense.
I also do not look at Mr. Kim as being a hero, just a desparate individual who didn’t have a clue as to what to do in an emergency, and I do truly feel sorry for him and his family. It’s a shame he had to die for his lack of knowledge of the outdoors. Just going camping once in awhile doesn’t make you an outdoorsman.
My husband suggested something I had never heard of. He said bring a long enough insulated high-current cable about 100 feet of it to attach to the battery. Attach one end of the cable to the negative end of the battery terminal and intermittently touch the other end of the cable to the positve terminal. This will most asuredly make a big spark, but with the length of the cable will create a square wave, which will drive nearby satellite communications stations crazy. The authorities will then search out the whereabouts of that wayward signal. It sounded kind of far-fetched to me, but here it is on the internet for all to talk about and kick around.
Well that’s certainly creative.
Very creative, but the idea I like best of all is the one where you don’t drive on roads where conditions look pretty crummy, especially with babies in the car!.
Calling everyone heroes is a leftover media tool from 9/11, which also generated a lot of ‘heroes’…some real, some exaggerated. The media has never gotten over it.