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.
While fucked up, it's disinguinuous suggest that the news is blowing up only due to the fact that they're billionaires. While large boat disasters are fairly uncommon, how often do you hear of a submarine disaster. Especially one where the inhabitants are missing but potentially on a timer - trapped in a submarine with no way to open from the inside, many peoples ultimate fear. The story writes itself, pile on what seems to be a neglectful company and you've got a story people are going to be invested in. I don't think the coverage or the search and rescue would be any different if it were a scientific submarine with scientists.
The Thai cave boys are another good example. They were rural third-worlders, but it still became a sensation. It just has to be bloody and dramatic to attract attention. A story like "people on boat drown again" is too mundane, it becomes a statistic instead of a tragedy.
What's really irksome is that these rich guys that pay people to but them weird but often already-explored places get called "explorers".
Rich people think spending money is what makes them special.
My favorite lately is the rise of the 'world traveler' who treats travel as a moral imperative that elevates them above those who can't or don't have the means to spend 5-6 figures per year on international vacations.
This is effectively saying, "This article is correct but for the wrong reasons". People aren't angry about why hundreds of migrants dying isn't newsworthy. They're angry that it's not newsworthy.
I'm frankly surprised that not enough people find it disgusting that the EU passively killing hundreds of refugees is less interesting because the EU does so regularly.
The migrant boat sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Greece. While a tragedy, it’s largely irrelevant to the US news. It’s not like it was a migrant boat from South America going to the US. Those do happen and they become huge news here.
The Titan submersible happened off the coast of Canada and the US and Canadian coast guards were involved. The company running the excursions is American. That’s a lot more relevant to US news.
Looking at European news, the BBC has been covering the migrant boat disaster. It’s been reported in US news too. ABC started covering it over a week ago when it first happened.
It would absolutely be different if it were scientists. The memes about billionaires and the sub are all over the place. Bezos should go on a sub and explore the titanic too and all that shit.
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 think the issue is the resources dedicated to each disaster.
I don't know if all the immigrants died though, so there may not have been a point in rescuing them at all.
There have been plenty of resources dedicated to rescuing the migrants. Over 100 have been rescued.
A big issue in the news coverage is that the migrant boat sank in the Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean. The Titan submersible was off the coast of Canada. So the news coverage in America largely focused on the thing happening near America. Same with the search and rescue. The US and Canadian coast guards were deployed for the search.
The Greek coast guard ran the search and rescue for the migrant boat since it happened off the coast of Greece.
The awful truth is that migrants drowning on the sea crossing to Europe or to the UK is mundane. It happens regularly, so it's not news. A sub drowning near the Titanic is newsworthy.
Also it's unfair to compare it to the migrant story. Most Americans and Europeans are very hateful towards people from MENA so they are either indifferent or supportive of such "accidents".
While I don't necessarily disagree with you. It would be interesting to know what would happen if each one of those 50 immigrants paid $250,000 to be on that boat. I don't think money had nothing to do with it.
Greek authorities have so far recovered the bodies of at least 81 people, and more than 100 passengers have been rescued, including Pakistanis, Egyptians, Syrians, Afghans and Palestinians. Survivors and the United Nations have said hundreds were aboard the boat and many are still missing and feared dead. If a death toll in the hundreds was confirmed, it would be among the worst shipwrecks recorded in the Mediterranean. Greek authorities have further been criticized for not acting to rescue the migrants, even though a coast guard vessel escorted the trawler for hours. International maritime law dictates that authorities are obligated to conduct immediate rescue operations - with or without an explicit plea for help. Artist Oliver Jeffers shared his feelings with a cartoon on Tuesday, which marked World Refugee Day.
Ya well tragic shit happens all the time. We’re desensitized to it. This submarine is interesting and the circumstances are kind of like a movie. Of course media will cover it more. It’s what people are interested in.
Yeah, the titanic situation involved submarines, suspense, radar, underwater drones, etc.
The suspense was key, too. A race against the clock of oxygen running out. What happens if the drone finds them, but can't free them? Stuff like that made it a very unique story.
So of course people are more interested in that one.
More to your point, the reason we are so interested is in the uniqueness of the situation. For the North Americans this the Titanic is culturally significant. For Europe, the migrant issue is local news. The problem is that our news is blended.
Irelevant comparison. Must have missed the part where the chilean miners and the cave kids were billionaires too. That's why people cared about those stories. It's not getting coverage cause of the people on it. It's getting coverage because of how idiotic the whole situation was.
That, and the basic fear and claustrophobia that people feel when imagining themselves in that situation. While tragic, the boat was a "simple" drowning in comparison, albeit of hundreds of people.
The pressure does not kill. Whales live down there. It’s the compressibility of water. At this depth it’s about 4% compressed. The cabin has 1 atmosphere of pressure, the water around it about 100. Through a microfracture water shoots in at the speed of sound in water (3x speed of sound in air) - that’s about 100 bars.
That’s like a water jet cutter. It rips the microfracture open.
Within a tenth of a second they get pressed to death by the compressibility of water.
As unfortunate as it is, migrant boats wrecking is common enough that it's not really "newsworthy" in terms of what grabs people's attention. Especially on a global scale. Similar to how a murder in somewhere like Maine would make the news, but in NYC it's just another day.
Unfortunately, these migrant ships that sink are not exactly unique. There’s at least a handful that go down every year. As someone else pointed out that this is pretty much a first of its kind disaster. Tourists dying visiting the Titanic. Before this became news I had no idea that this was even something people do… then again I’m not a millionaire with a disposable 250k.
Migrant boat sinking with hundreds on board - tragic? Yes. Is this something new that happens? Unfortunately no.
Well, perhaps other billionaires will see how these folks have been treated, and decide that they'd rather be remembered for doing something great for society, rather than pursuing individual/deadly hobbies.
definitely not agreeing with Yinchie as i think more humans = more innovation = less climate change, but i think it's important to remember that corporations serve the people generally... the reason these corporations exist is because of market demand from people, individual human people