A different kind of doomed adventure.
Five very rich people die during a recreational outing to see the Titanic. The world wrings its hands.
Hundreds die in the Mediterranean while trying to escape crushing poverty. The world shrugs.
Both happened in the same week, maybe on the same day. But only the billionaires merited sustained news coverage and endless analysis. The lesson is that rich folks seeking adventure are interesting, and poor people seeking sustenance are not.
Most Republicans would say the world is better off without immigrants. If the Rio Grande were an ocean, they’d be lustily cheering for rough seas every day of the year, rejoicing at every life lost. Because that is the GOP brand: fetuses matter, people already born not so much.
I would say the world might not miss a couple of billionaires – the sort of people who come to believe that extreme wealth confers immunity to extreme bad judgment. Billionaires think themselves gods. Gods think themselves immortal, and are always surprised when events prove otherwise.
I don’t rejoice in anyone’s death. But maybe we should reflect on the disparate motives that doomed a few of the very rich, and hundreds of the very poor in the same week. When I’m doling out sympathy, it’s not a hard choice.
It’s the most amazing cliche
The shit keeps coming
Two nails in Cain’s coffin
We’re a little past the sell-by date
We don’t need no stinking followers
“… the sort of people who come to believe that extreme wealth confers immunity to extreme bad judgment.” This has been my thought as well, though not so succinctly put.
I don’t celebrate their deaths, either. And I’m certainly no expert on ocean exploration. My only qualifications are watching nature documentaries and reading Jacques Cousteau’s books. But even so, it was obvious to me that going down in that sub was an incredibly stupid and/or ignorant thing to do. I know I’m supposed to call this behavior “risk-taking” or something, but I think that even “foolhardy” doesn’t cover it. To me, it seems that even space tourism is a safer, albeit much more wasteful, activity.