Regarding “blaming the victim” ---- sometimes the victim is truly blameless, but other times they get some blame because they did something risky and dangerous. Loss of life is tragic, but it doesn’t take away from a tragedy to acknowledge, if appropriate, the victim’s responsibility for poor decisions that resulted in their harm. News stories from my area that involved risk that resulted in harm include riding a bike or a motorcycle without a helmet, speeding, drinking and driving, rock climbing without proper training and/or equipment, going into the mountains unprepared, skiing out-of-bounds (especially without an an avalanche beacon), not seeking shelter in a lightning storm, trying to get close to a moose to get a photo, and in this case, traveling to a country that the State Department warns against visiting and a country the U.S. has zero diplomatic relations with — these are all risks and sadly, sometimes risk results in tragedy. I feel terrible this young man, a good guy with a promising future, was killed by the North Koreans and I feel really sorry for his family, but he shouldn’t have been there. It’s not victim blaming, it’s just fact. It was reported that “his parents were okay” with the trip, but they were critical of the Obama administration for not doing “enough” to free their son. I understand their feelings, but the rest of us should be telling our kids they shouldn’t take a pleasure trip to certain countries and if they do, they can’t expect the U.S will have the ability to rescue them.