Titan and OceanGate

 

Don't get me wrong. Death usually represents loss. Loss for the person that died, loss for those that loved that person. Even when a person, who has died had been suffering, the fact that the person shouldn't have suffered at all is sad.

During the search for the sub from the company OceanGate, I wondered about the choice of name. Gate attached to a name, usually has a negative connotation since Watergate. Maybe the name of the company was an unheeded premonition of disaster.

More importantly the safety concern voiced prior to the dive were probably a better premonition.

Immediately prior to the Titan disaster the news covered another disaster with a ship, overloaded with refugees fleeing from unlivable lives received a little news coverage but it did not create an international effort to save the people on board. The numbers of passengers were never known exactly, but over 700 was stated more than once.

Only five people were on the Titan. 700 versus 5 hmmmmm. But the five were wealthy men. They invested enough money to feed those 700 people had they reached shore safely.

I do not begrudge people who have money their pleasures. Well maybe a little, especially at the expense of others. Why should Bezos have 25 bathrooms in one of his many mansions when his employees lack health insurance? But that's another blog in the future.

I understand the lure of adventure, of discovery, and the love of creation of a technology that pushes the limits. I understand life in the world is marked by inequality. 

I will never like it and I feel sadder about that than the loss of those on the sub.