The mine disaster was awful, but it raises an interesting question

[still_one]

when they thought 12 had survived and 1 had died, it was a miracle, and they were giving thanks to god.

Now that 1 survived and 12 had died, it is no longer a miracle, and if they were ready to give credit to god for their survival, who gets the credit for their death?

It is quite interesting how each culture believes god is on their side

When we kill the "enemy" in Iraq, it is because god is on our side, but when the "enemy" kills "us" from the enemies perspective it is because "god" is on "their" side

Interesting how we try to explain everyday events, of course in reality the miners died probably because of inadequate saftey precautons, and they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, just as the one who survived was at the right place at the right time

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. Well, the governor said it was a miracle that one survived

The loser from the mining company said that a few hours ago we would have been thrilled to learn that one was alive, and that we shouldn't not be happy about the guy in the hospital just because there was a miscommunication.

This will be one of those "The Lord works in mysterious ways" times. those men had to die to get the mine closed forever, or running right.

[still_one]

2. they will rationalize anything to fit their belief system

With that logic it follows that over 2180 Americans had to die, over 15000 Americans had to be wounded, and over 100000 Iraqiies needed to die in order to say "The Lord works in mysterious ways". If that were true, it would be a pretty sick and twisted god

[malaise]

13. Absolutely correct

Any balm to suit their Gilead.

Who messed up that communication so badly for those poor people?

[KharmaTrain]

3. I'm Wondering If The Corporate Media Was Deliberately Punked

With their credibility sinking along with this regime, what would make CNN and all these other assclowns look worse than blowing a big story and looking like fools. This, as I'm sure will happen, will now lead to howls from all sectors of how the media is lazy and biased and sensational. A lot of this is true as it appears some "unidentified source" played these people and the deadline competition these guys played and played them all for fools. This is no different than Faux claiming the Pope died several days before he did (another "unidentified source") or the Chicago Tribune congratulating President Dewey. A combination of deadline pressure, internal competition and the emotional pull this story has made this ideal for someone to screw with...now was this from some wacko or was this deliberately done.

Again, the corporate media has still yet dealt with their credibility problems. Many still think we haven't figured out how lazy and what a bunch of propagandists and stenographers they've become...and somehow they think they'll tap dance out of this one and move on to the next circus. They're probably right.

[still_one]

5. It will depend how they reported the story in the first place

If the quoted reliable sources which said that 12 miners had survived, then they cannot be accused of being lazy, however, if they quoted some unknown person, without getting confirmation from the an official source, then they are lazy

[KharmaTrain]

11. Seemed It Was Someone In The Church

That appears where the word came from...and the media was camped out there. Having covered similar events, all it takes is someone saying something inside and the word spreads...it goes from rumor to "fact" in a hurry and I could see how a reporter smelling a big scoop bolted to report the "miracle" story. The ones with egg on their face appears to be USA Today that had this splashed on their print editions...now this had to pass through several editors and one would assume was double-sourced. We shall see...

I had a feeling things weren't going to go well after hearing of the high CO2 levels this morning and the ashen look on the people who gave that press conference. You could tell they knew that they were in the area were the miners were and that the chances of finding anyone alive was grim. It's really a "miracle" one survived. Hopefully he'll pull through and be able to describe what happened so we can get an answer on what caused this tragedy.

[malaise]

19. They are fools

not journalists. They thrive on spin, lies and rumours. Still, the question is why did the mining company wait three hours to kill the rumour.
Edit -add.

[orleans]

4. even the headline for the latimes was changed from the link

on the google search:
google shows:
"Suddenly, There Is Joy: 12 Miners Found Alive Los Angeles Times"

http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q=

but when you click on it:
"First Joyful News, Then a Tragedy About Miners
After relatives were told 12 men were found alive, officials say hours later that only one survived."


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-miners4jan04,1,6120467.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[still_one]

6. who was the source of the original story?

[orleans]

16. they were both latimes n/t

[Daphne08]

7. History has proven that too many human beings

lack the ability to think logically, to reason effectively and to examine situations from an objective perspective.

This is why we are still an aggressive, warlike species.

[still_one]

8. excellent point. So we are still as primitive as our ancestors

[sandnsea]

9. Twisted interpretation of God

Life and death are natural occurences. God has nothing to do with it and it's a damned annoying belief system. As far as I'm concerned. "God likes me best" or "My God's bigger than your God". The only benefit a belief in a God serves is to motivate one to live up to those lofty spiritual principals which includes forgiving others when they're human and don't. If we all did that, theoretically, we'd create a utopia here on earth. But we still wouldn't stop accidents and death.

[still_one]

10. I like that

[Acryliccalico]

14. It is also a way to control the masses.

:kick:

[tenshi816]

12. People toss around the word "miracle" far too much,

in my opinion.

You're right, those miners died because of a tragic accident due to inadequate safety precautions and pure bad luck. If they had survived, it would've been a wonderful, wonderful thing but even so, it wouldn't have been a "miracle".

I was thinking along the same lines as you this morning before I saw your post, and wondering if some of the same family members who were thinking in "miracle" terms when they thought their loved ones were alive are now questioning their faith. I say this because if they were prepared to go all out thinking in terms of "miracles", then it raises the question of whether some of them did a complete 180 degree turn when said miracle turned out not to be.

[mopaul]

18. there are no miracles, only miraculous events

[tulsakatz]

15. God is seldom blamed when people die........

When that happens what you usually hear is something like.........we cannot know God's wisdom or that it is God's plan.

[MindPilot]

17. A associate of mine is an ER physician

He is also an Atheist. He tends to get very frustrated when he busts his ass to pull someone back from the brink only to have the family members in the waiting room give thanks to God. Of course if the outcome is different, they don't blame God, they hire a lawyer.

[NewJeffCT]

20. my Jr High history teacher did something like that once

I'm in Connecticut, and he had us list out reasons why the North thought they'd win the Civil War...
so we come up with several, and then he adds in "Because God was on their side" at the end.

Then, he asks us to come up with reasons why the South thought they'd win the Civil War...
And, nobody came up with that last answer he wanted until I raised my hand (an atheist even then) and said "because they thought God was on their side." Everybody was stunned, like how could God be on the side of slavery? But, even at that age I knew that God has been used to justify a lot of evil in the world.