A fishing boat crowded with migrants traveling from Libya to Italy sank in Greek waters last week. While hundreds are still missing and feared dead, it has garnered far less attention and resources than the Titan rescue efforts for five people.
Yeah, having a shittily built submarine for a billionaire to visit the most famous shipwreck in the world while then joining those who died there 100 years ago, is a pretty unique story that we’ll now always remember whenever we talk about the titanic.
There’s a real irony in naming your submarine after a shipwreck, neglecting all safety devices like the shipwreck, and talking about how the hull was indestructible.
There’s a lot of complaining about, “why is news covering these billionaires, there’s nothing tragic about their circumstance” versus “you’d have to be heartless not to sympathize with such a horrifying fate”
But the real villain here is our morbid curiosity. It has nothing to do with sympathy nor classism. Dozens drowning by relatively conventional means? Eh people die every day, whatever. A family dying in a particularly bizarre and agonizing manner? Oooh let’s think about and discuss in detail what their final moments may be like! We can dress it up in hate or dress it up in kindness, but the real reason anybody is interested is that it’s just a weird way to die.
The world is a stage and we love a good horror story.
Yeah, having a shittily built submarine for a billionaire to visit the most famous shipwreck in the world while then joining those who died there 100 years ago, is a pretty unique story that we’ll now always remember whenever we talk about the titanic.
There’s a real irony in naming your submarine after a shipwreck, neglecting all safety devices like the shipwreck, and talking about how the hull was indestructible.
I mean, the billionaire class believes they can do nothing wrong, so…
That’s true of everyone
The ticking timer is news gold, it creates a real sense of tension…
There’s a lot of complaining about, “why is news covering these billionaires, there’s nothing tragic about their circumstance” versus “you’d have to be heartless not to sympathize with such a horrifying fate”
But the real villain here is our morbid curiosity. It has nothing to do with sympathy nor classism. Dozens drowning by relatively conventional means? Eh people die every day, whatever. A family dying in a particularly bizarre and agonizing manner? Oooh let’s think about and discuss in detail what their final moments may be like! We can dress it up in hate or dress it up in kindness, but the real reason anybody is interested is that it’s just a weird way to die.
The world is a stage and we love a good horror story.
you’re right - if those on the sub do happen to have met their end, at least it was done in pursuit of their dream?