Originally Posted By: Eric
Originally Posted By: Pete

Why are they not simply telling people the truth - or at least the facts as they have them? .... Layers and layers of denial. It's just not a good way to handle information related to a public safety hazard.


I actually think this falls more to Hanlon's Razor "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

My guess is that the guys that know what is really happening are way too busy to give good status reports that have been boiled down to a level that laymen can understand. On top of that the pressure to say/do something (brought on by our continuos live news reporting) is resulting in a lot of vague / halfway accurate information being presented by the spokespersons for the company and government.


Old fashion public statement approach seems to be based on these axioms.
1) We (the corporation/government/whatever) can control the information flow.
2) Bad news will inevitable cause massive panic.

Both axioms are wrong. No nonsense "we're not delaying or hiding bad news here" - kind of information creates confidence. You may not like how people responds (such as voluntarily evacuating outside the 10km radius), but such reaction isn't really irrational, given the circumstances.


On the flip side, hiding or delaying bad news (or make people have that impression) will make your credibility and confidence evaporate faster than water in a run away nuclear reactor.


Just as Eric, I don't think anyone is really seriously trying to hide anything. What we're seeing is just a mix of several things:
- events happening too fast
- wishful thinking and denial
- public spokesmen giving only the "best possible" version of events
- the real knowledgeable people are up to their necks trying to cope with the situation.

But I would not be surprised if there is a little component of the old fashioned "too much information will cause mass panic"-attitude in this, too.