It’s easy to see this as a parallel to the value our society places on human lives of different societal classes and nationalities. But I also think the sub story has so much traction because it’s an ongoing story with a fight against the clock, where there’s a, however small, glimmer of hope.
The boys stuck in the cave in Thailand a while ago weren’t overlooked either.
There’s also the massive scandal over the fact that the submarine was not safe at all and should never have been used for manned missions, making it something of a leopards at my face moment. This has made it emminently memeable, so people are talking about it even more.
A boat sinking on its way to Libya is definitely more tragic, but also not nearly as unusual or attention grabbing. No sane person is about to make memes about a few hundred dead migrants.
I’m always skeptical of the idea that people can’t handle more than one news story at a time.
So NBC wants to point out that there wasn’t much coverage of this issue? Maybe NBC should take some responsibility for not pushing the story harder in the first place?
Also worth noting that there’s no further story to the migrant ship. It sunk and people died. There is no ongoing search.
This is the real answer. Also a tiny sub sinking to the bottom of the ocean possibly with people/civilians still living in it is a lot more unique and captivating situation.
The news covered it and the resources went where all the eyes were. They coast guard and all these people likely had a pretty good idea that they were already dead but they can’t just give up and walk away while the entire world is watching. Instead they have to show what all those tax dollars are for. If 5 migrants ended up sinking to the bottom of the ocean in a submarine in the same situation I think it still would have had the same response.
I was drawn in the science and horror of it, because I have a weird fascination with learning about the disasters that lead to new safety regulations. I like learning the “what”, the “how” and the “why” of how these things happen.
I like learning about the specific mechanics that lead to failure, as they can often somewhat translate to real life. These random things help me keep my team safer.
As long as the Capitalist market controls the vast majority of the news then this will ALWAYS be the case. Capitalism is by default self serving. So it’s in their best interest to get the world concerned about some billionaires stuck in a tin can submarine somewhere in the ocean, over hundreds of refugees drowning.
Reminds me, there was an article on the hill which blamed messaging from the scientific community to rising sea levels:
Maybe if the media and journalists didn’t waste the last 30 years engaging in “is climate change real” and both-sideism. But apparently it’s the entire scientific community’s fault that they didn’t word it any better. Definitely not the publications’ fault.
Yeah but one of those was good news and the other one was a tragedy that killed hundreds.
And good news are worth spreading while to tragedies one pays respect. Anyway, it’s a shame that level of disparity in assigned resources.
Nah, it’s a shame that you have to commit atrocities towards your fellow man to accrue that wealth and there’s rarely any justice over it. I’m not going to be shamed for celebrating when justice is doled out.
Nobody should cry for Hitler either.
Compared to story about yet another ship carrying illegals that deliberately sank, it is not that often that you hear about a “homemade” submarine that disappeared somewhere near the Titanic. And, in this case, it is/was a race against time to try and find the submarine, therefore we see frequent updates in the news.
Understandable that a race against the clock (that I think they’ve most definitely lost) makes for more novel news, so I’m not surprised that it got more coverage. It’s also very fair to be angry that five billionaires on a pleasure trip are visibly more important than 400+ poor. “llegal” people are still people and they suffered and died the same in an effort to live safely, which literally everyone wants.
There’s nothing in this article or others I found that suggests it was deliberate, either. It seems to have been an accidental capsize.
Well obviously some human lives are more important than others /s
I think the women and children were below deck for protection against the elements, not to increase the chance of men surviving. On top of that, men are also more likely to know how to swim than women and children.
