Dead man found near boat wreckage

i herd on the news this morning the search of san fransico had been called of

travler

When they do prosecute they try to keep quiet about it, and do only the most blatant cases (excluding people who fake their own disappearance, like that bride with the cold feet that happened in the last few years, they let everyone know about that). The reason is that they don't want to risk people not calling in a real event for fear that they are mistaken and will get in trouble. The most often called in type of downed aircraft is the moon. It costs a lot of money to do these searches, but they really don't want people to be afraid to call them in when the real thing comes around.

I absolutely agree that there is a huge moral difference. I do not think that the two acts are in any way comparable from a moral standpoint. The person who reports the moon is merely confused, and while it would be better if they were not confused, they have not done a wicked thing. The person who calls in a fake call has done a wicked thing.

But the logic isn't about targeting the wicked people, it's about the people who are uncertain. If you are a person who is uncertain about what you saw, the rescue services want you to have no reservations about calling them. If the rescue services make a huge deal about how someone was wrong to call them then that uncertain person might have a seed of worry planted, and that could prevent them from calling in something real.

If they let that wicked person know that they will face harsh consequences then they have also let the uncertain person think that they might face harsh consequences themselves. It's just very difficult to deliver the message to only the people that you want to receive it.