Yes! But every news organization is leading with "I messed up." And the US President commented "They messed up", though it's unclear who that was in reference to.

Humans have a powerful need to affix blame and punish individuals. On the internet, you are forever the worst moment of your life.

We set air traffic controllers up to fail, and then when something goes wrong we torture them until they die, and then torture their memory after they die.

▲

jimbokun 2 hours ago | parent [-]

The current US President is the last person we should listen to when it comes to deciding anything important.

▲

rectang 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

By using the role name rather than proper name, I'd hoped to spare HN from a tangent like this. My point doesn't rest on the nature of single individual, but instead applies to a human tendency. Politicians and press both play to the base impulses of a mass audience, unlike the NTSB. This is not the first time that a politician has scapegoated individuals when systemic failure occurs.

▲

estearum an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I actually can't remember or imagine another POTUS even getting to a level of specificity required to scapegoat an individual for something like this. The usual (and correct) answer is to say: "We don't know yet what happened, but there will be a full investigation and we will make the changes necessary to prevent it from happening again."

Pretty easy!

It doesn't serve us well to act like this administration is anything other than extremely aberrational.

▲

rectang 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Look, if you were to review my comment history you would have no doubt about where I stand on the current administration.

But scapegoating any single politician for the systemic problems of aviation is as unhelpful as scapegoating the controller for the crash at Laguardia.

	▲	estearum 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I didn’t see anyone scapegoating him for anything other than engaging in direct personal attribution which is counter to aviation safety culture, basic leadership principles, and minimum decorum standards ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

▲

alistairSH an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

extremely aberrational

Is it still an aberration the second time 'round?

	▲	estearum 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes

▲

SecretDreams an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed. Respect and decorum are gone with the most recent POTUS. It's not okay to ascribe this aviation incident to the ATC controller. However, it is fully okay to call the POTUS and staff out for attacking so many individuals, at such a deeply personal level, over issues that are clearly systematic and that have clearly gotten worse under current leadership.

▲

jimbokun an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Sure but most of his predecessors knew enough to not weigh in beyond regret for the tragedy and loss of life until after the investigators did their job.

▲

wat10000 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are legally obligated to listen to him for many important decisions.