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.
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.
It’s not just the news-worthiness. It’s the way how 6+ different countries mobilized to rescue them. That was a result of precisely being rich fucks.
The problem is lack of coverage for the migrants, who are seen as “less valuable people”
In 2022 there were nearly 50,000 automobile fatalities in the US. There isn’t a big story about all of them because, frankly, they’re common.
But 5 people died in a submarine. That’s news because it’s different.
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’s also just common, which makes it less newsworthy. Another boat sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy in February. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64776621
When things become common, they’re no longer as newsworthy.
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.
I think this is a rather disingenuous read of the situation. The drama of the situation should not overshadow the gravity of the difference between the number of human beings in question, it’s disturbing that anyone would find this even remotely acceptable because it’s more dramatic. And that’s not to mention the discrepancy in response and spending on each issue. It’s a true indictment of our societies.
There are people dying all the time, so the ones that are “news worthy” (i.e. attention grabbing) are the unique ones with stories that set them apart, and often it’s more relatable when it effects fewer people so it’s less abstract. I don’t think it’s an indictment of our societies, it just plays off of how our brains work.
tl;dr:
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.
I am a bot in training. Suggestions?
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, but what was their net worth? /s
Won’t someone think of the poor billionaires?
They found a debris field near the titanic recently. It was a catastrophic failure. RIP to those on board.
If you mean the OceanGate submarine, it seemingly spectacularly imploded after its carbon fiber structure gave in to various microfractures. If that really is what happened, the water pressure killed the crew faster than their brains would’ve processed anything.
Well, that beats suffocating, I guess.
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.
Unfortunately where I live we hear weekly in the news of these immigrants boats.
Can’t do much as a small community, except sending help as soon as we know another one sunk.
