The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths
125 points by LostMyLogin
by slg
12 subcomments
One thing that I can't get over about this administration is its cartoon villainy. There are all sorts of substantive and important issues in which people can have viable disagreements. Even when I disagree with people on those issues, I can usually at least understand their motivation. But this administration has so many policies like this which both seem completely unimportant to be worthy of focus and yet are also seemingly only motivated to make things worse. I truly can't imagine why anyone would put their energy into enacting a policy like this that is so transparently wrong. And I also don't know why people don't see policies like this as a canary in the coal mine for the administration's other positions.
by s1artibartfast
0 subcomment
> Interior shall not confirm the severity of injuries,” the memo reportedly said, according to The Washington Post. “Interior may state only that an individual was transported and the method of transport"
The visitor took a hearse home...
by galleywest200
4 subcomments
> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.”
So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?
Ironically National Park deaths in the USA have been getting a lot of publicity over the last few years, thanks to David Paulides' "The Missing 411". For various reasons, I strongly disagree with Paulides – it is very easy to get lost in wilderness, and very easy for a body to be missed in thick brush – but it's clearly enough of an issue for Paulides to trade off.
Deliberately hiding info like this is only going to add fuel to the fire. I wonder if the National Parks were concerned they would scare paying visitors off if they knew how many accidents and bear attacks there were.
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