We mourn the deaths of all souls lost at sea
That's everyone
Conversations around the submersible Titan have been nasty, over the last few days. The Titan was supposed to cart passengers who’d paid $250k apiece to dive to the wreckage of the fabled and doomed ship, Titanic. But contact had been lost days ago, and an international search was underway while news outlets breathlessly counted down the 96, 95 94 hours of oxygen Titan passengers had left.
For some, it was a reason to attempt humor.
Most of the grownups restrained themselves, while the press kept counting down. If they find them now, said one person on CNN, the passengers have a chance. There was definitely the feel of “Ace in the Hole” to it.
On Thursday — ostensibly the last day the captain and passengers could have survived sealed in that thing — a debris field was discovered in the general area of the wreckage, and Titan’s company soon announced that the vessel’s five passengers had most likely died when the 21-foot submersible imploded. In fact, the U.S. Navy detected a. noise that might have been the implosion back on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean Sea continues to serve as the watery grave (25,000 people between 2014 and 2022 alone) of refugees seeking to leave trouble homelands. That figure does not include more than 650 people who died in one recent and tragic water catastrophe.
These two worlds rarely collide — rich people who pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to experience space or deep-sea travel, and refugees willing to board crowded boats for a shot at a new life — save for the occasional luxury yacht that answers a distress call. We rarely read the names of refugee-victims. We rarely know much at all about them, though in the last few days we have learned plenty about the Titan’s passengers.
I don’t know. I can’t get on board with the Titan jokes. As my granddaughter said when we discussed this yesterday, “They’re people, too,” but it would serve us better if we took a moment to accord that same attention to the people who don’t make it across the Mediterranean. Would that make us more aware of the U.S.’s role in creating untenable conditions in these countries? Would it move us to act, and maybe sink our dollars into solutions that stop the deaths?
I don't think there's anything funny about rich people dying in 13,000 feet of water. Though I do think poor people dying that way is less funny.
It does raise my blood pressure somewhat that millions are spent looking for them by the government whose safety regulations they scorned. AND that someone even asked what was going to be done about recovering the bodies.
Where you are is where I am.
Though I tend to think of how seldom-- until this story never-- I see mentioned the public cost of rescue crusades on behalf of a few people who have chosen dangerous fun times. And while I think that the comparison of letting immigrants and refugees drown with this rescue attempt absolutely parallel in terms of (in)activity, I tend to compare the monetary costs of such rescues with the costs of making sure everyone has enough to eat.