But more importantly, Stewart: There was actually another maritime disaster simultaneously happening. 750 migrant refugees boarded a trawler and ended up in one of the Mediterranean's deadliest shipwrecks. Over 300 perished. And nobody helped. Nobody cared. We were all far too focussed on the 5 rich people who quite voluntarily and freely assumed the risk of deep ocean diving to their deaths. Those ignored migrant refugees had no such truly voluntary and free life choices, eh?
That and the fact that the CEO had KNOWINGLY sued former employees for voicing safety concerns about the submersible's design and materials. Oh, and the CEO knowingly exceeded the maximum depth that the manufacturer of the viewing window was willing to certify it to. And that the CEO considered safety regulations and certifications to be stifling to "innovation".
And the fact that none of the passengers had the forethought to let their personal lawyers view the contract to ride in the submersible?
Dave you have focused on the real tragedy. Those refugees gave some conscienceless person their last cent for the hope that they might find a path out of an intolerable existence. It’s easy to look at the masses of homeless in our communities and the world as a large lump. Five rich people you don’t know and really don’t care about is a more imaginable tragedy that 300 going to the bottom of the Med in terror.
The refugee tragedy was immeasurably worse because of lack of choice. Agreed.
The fact that we/media spent our time focused on the submersible story instead of the refugee story speaks to the fact that former made us feel smugly good about ourselves while the latter made us feel terrible about ourselves.
It reminded my husband of the Monty Python skit, "Upper Class Twit of the Year". Your analysis, once again, was spot on Brittlestar. Thank you for keeping us grounded.
But more importantly, Stewart: There was actually another maritime disaster simultaneously happening. 750 migrant refugees boarded a trawler and ended up in one of the Mediterranean's deadliest shipwrecks. Over 300 perished. And nobody helped. Nobody cared. We were all far too focussed on the 5 rich people who quite voluntarily and freely assumed the risk of deep ocean diving to their deaths. Those ignored migrant refugees had no such truly voluntary and free life choices, eh?
Dave
That and the fact that the CEO had KNOWINGLY sued former employees for voicing safety concerns about the submersible's design and materials. Oh, and the CEO knowingly exceeded the maximum depth that the manufacturer of the viewing window was willing to certify it to. And that the CEO considered safety regulations and certifications to be stifling to "innovation".
And the fact that none of the passengers had the forethought to let their personal lawyers view the contract to ride in the submersible?
Do I mock these people?
The CEO? Yes.
The Passengers? No.
Dave you have focused on the real tragedy. Those refugees gave some conscienceless person their last cent for the hope that they might find a path out of an intolerable existence. It’s easy to look at the masses of homeless in our communities and the world as a large lump. Five rich people you don’t know and really don’t care about is a more imaginable tragedy that 300 going to the bottom of the Med in terror.
The refugee tragedy was immeasurably worse because of lack of choice. Agreed.
The fact that we/media spent our time focused on the submersible story instead of the refugee story speaks to the fact that former made us feel smugly good about ourselves while the latter made us feel terrible about ourselves.
Telling. Embarrassingly telling.
It reminded my husband of the Monty Python skit, "Upper Class Twit of the Year". Your analysis, once again, was spot on Brittlestar. Thank you for keeping us grounded.