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 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 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.
I’m pretty sure those immigrants have more interesting stories to tell than a billionaire. Just saying.
Living your entire life in a warzone or in inhospitable environments that force you to leave your family behind and getting drowned while the general society ignores the underlying problem seems more worthy of questioning than a billionaire trying to go sightseeing thinking their money shields them from nature. I’d post a clip of a movie that fits here perfectly, but the clip is not on youtube, for anyone interested, look up ‘whatever works’ with Woody Allen there’s a newspaper scene at the beginning of the film.
Anyways, apparently they’re dead. Now to move to more important issues in society.
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 put 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.
International travel certainly does broaden a person’s perspective. It’s great if your can do it, but anyone acting superior because they can travel is just an asshole.
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.
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.
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.
Because immigrants die in stupid ways all the time. A shit in your toilet is not newsworthy. A shit on your kitchen table is.
The way you just compared migrants to shit in your toilet rubs me the wrong way.
People like novelty. That’s not too surprising. Additionally, a growing share of people in the EU don’t want migrants to come. Empathy is declining.
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”. Obviously they are going to care more about some rich idiots literally crushed by their own hubris.
