It's such a tragedy. He was a hero.
Quite a bit of this on the gadget forums and in the AP reports. Sad, no doubt, but the underlying message is that he was a man victimized by circumstance and the indifferent elements. Unfortunately, this whitewashes the serial obvious and not so obvious mistakes that led to his demise. It's probably unreasonable for people in shock and sorrow to think critically about Kim's actions, but, for most people following the story, the last thought about James Kim before closeting the story away will be "It could happen to anybody. *Shrug* Oh, well..."

What a fool! I knew it would turn out this way.
Blaming the "victim" is a common way to distance oneself from an uncomfortable situation. It also leads to the mindset "That could NEVER happen to me because...<fill in blank>". This is a more insidious response as it causes the unconsciously incompetent individual to not think about what they don't really know (about the incident or one's own limited skillset/preparation).

This was completely preventable! They should pass a law!
Already saw this one on CNET's talkback. The government should pass a law that allows SAR to immediately get records of cellphone pings. Other variations include "If only Josephine County officials had : sought volunteer searchers, dispatched helicopters earlier in the search, put gates and signs up on the road, etc." This response will get more vociferous in the days ahead as more details regarding the government and non-governmental role in the incident becomes apparent. It may not reach Katrina proportions, but a lot of people adopting this stance will get some comfort that they won't need to prepare because the government will take care of it.

I'm hopeful that investigators will release a detailed timeline of what happened to this family, so that we can learn from the death of James Kim. We can use this thread as a tool to teach preparedness mindset, skillset and kit to those that we care about. It should serve as a resource that comes up high when people Google "james.kim survival" and perhaps saves one family from another nightmare like this.

Until we have more information to analyze, I'd just offer that we reflect on the loss of this family and pray that the Lord will ease the anguish of the Kim and Fleming family and protect Kati, Penelope, and Sabine in the years ahead.