Reading through your thoughts about this week's submersible disaster and comparing to the recent (and horrifying) loss of so many migrants on that one, horribly overloaded ship, I think there were some obvious star power draws to the submersible disaster but another important difference between the two was that the submersible disaster had a clear deadline and there was some small shred of hope that the submersible might be found and the crew would be saved. You could almost hear the clock ticking, the same as there is anytime some child is trapped in a well or miners are trapped underground, or something. There's always some minute chance that a miracle could happen and everything would be OK again. With the boat sinking it was too late: most of us heard about it after the fact. There was nothing to root for, no real chance for a happy ending. The boat sinking was a done deal. Horribly tragic in so many ways but if it's already happened there's no time to form an emotional attachment to it. And sadly, it's not the first boat to sink, although the conditions of this one (the number of people crowded onto the boat) are mind numbing.
Nonetheless, I won't go near a submersible and video footage of the Titanic wreck is just fine with me.
This is exactly it, I think. I know that by the time I heard about the migrant ship, it was already over, sadly, and, horrific though it is, there's obviously a limit to how much ongoing coverage can be given to something that's already happened. The "ticking clock" element of the sub story, and the vain hope that something might still be done was definitely the thing that kept people talking about it for longer. And I know a lot of people have been trying to imply that people cared "more" because the victims here were rich, but I remember there being a similar level of interest in the football team trapped in the caves, or the Chilean miners, neither of which involved rich people. The sub story taps into so many people's very worst nightmares that I suspect it would have still attracted interest, regardless of who had been on board.
My daughter is a Swiftie so I’m really hoping we get tickets!
I couldn’t follow the submarine story in detail because it made me claustrophobic (and I was once trapped under a boat and struggled to get free) but agree with all your points. Sometimes the internet does not bring out the best in people.
Oh my goodness, that must have been utterly terrifying, Helen - I've had no experiences like that, thankfully, but it made me claustrophobic too, so I can only imagine how triggering it must have been.
I'll keep everything crossed for you and the tickets - it's a stressful time to be a Swiftie, for sure!
I feel the same about the Atlantic submarine and am amazed that people don’t see them as human beings and that empathy is can only seen as a singular issue at a time.
oh bless you, I was with you ALL the way through this, Amber. If it makes you feel even the teensiest bit better, I won't be going on about Taylor Swift what-so-ever, so there's that. But then I'm old and my days of crushes on singers are well and truly over. I hope I haven't negated anything there. And I, too, was obsessed over the plight of the sub-mariners all week. Also obsessed with the amount of Twitter people obsessed, so in a way it made my obsession feel slightly less weird. I'm all about feeling slightly less weird and will take it, even if it does mean having an image of what happens when humans implode inside a tin can at depths no mortal being should be allowed to even know about.
As a *whispered* side-note, I actually thought I'd found Madeline McCann once - it happened just after I'd started ADHD meds a couple years ago. So convinced was I, that I'd even drafted an email to the Spanish authorities explaining my reasoning behind this - complete with photographic 'evidence' (oh god, now I think about it, I cringe) all this from an armchair nobody in some forgotten part of the UK. At one point I imagined there might be a film about how I'd done it. Then I spotted something else shiny and forgot all about my drafted e-mail.
*sigh*
Keep on doing what you're doing. I am HERE for it all!
Oh wow, the Madeleine McCann story is wild! I've always had this vain hope that she would turn up one day, having been living happily with some family who had looked after her. It's just such a sad case now - I was fascinated by it for years, but since I've had Max I've found it very hard to even think about it. It really is my absolute worst nightmare - worse even than the submersible...
Reading through your thoughts about this week's submersible disaster and comparing to the recent (and horrifying) loss of so many migrants on that one, horribly overloaded ship, I think there were some obvious star power draws to the submersible disaster but another important difference between the two was that the submersible disaster had a clear deadline and there was some small shred of hope that the submersible might be found and the crew would be saved. You could almost hear the clock ticking, the same as there is anytime some child is trapped in a well or miners are trapped underground, or something. There's always some minute chance that a miracle could happen and everything would be OK again. With the boat sinking it was too late: most of us heard about it after the fact. There was nothing to root for, no real chance for a happy ending. The boat sinking was a done deal. Horribly tragic in so many ways but if it's already happened there's no time to form an emotional attachment to it. And sadly, it's not the first boat to sink, although the conditions of this one (the number of people crowded onto the boat) are mind numbing.
Nonetheless, I won't go near a submersible and video footage of the Titanic wreck is just fine with me.
This is exactly it, I think. I know that by the time I heard about the migrant ship, it was already over, sadly, and, horrific though it is, there's obviously a limit to how much ongoing coverage can be given to something that's already happened. The "ticking clock" element of the sub story, and the vain hope that something might still be done was definitely the thing that kept people talking about it for longer. And I know a lot of people have been trying to imply that people cared "more" because the victims here were rich, but I remember there being a similar level of interest in the football team trapped in the caves, or the Chilean miners, neither of which involved rich people. The sub story taps into so many people's very worst nightmares that I suspect it would have still attracted interest, regardless of who had been on board.
My daughter is a Swiftie so I’m really hoping we get tickets!
I couldn’t follow the submarine story in detail because it made me claustrophobic (and I was once trapped under a boat and struggled to get free) but agree with all your points. Sometimes the internet does not bring out the best in people.
Oh my goodness, that must have been utterly terrifying, Helen - I've had no experiences like that, thankfully, but it made me claustrophobic too, so I can only imagine how triggering it must have been.
I'll keep everything crossed for you and the tickets - it's a stressful time to be a Swiftie, for sure!
I feel the same about the Atlantic submarine and am amazed that people don’t see them as human beings and that empathy is can only seen as a singular issue at a time.
Exactly! And the fact that the people who believe this seem to see theirs as a morally superior position is absolutely baffling to me.
oh bless you, I was with you ALL the way through this, Amber. If it makes you feel even the teensiest bit better, I won't be going on about Taylor Swift what-so-ever, so there's that. But then I'm old and my days of crushes on singers are well and truly over. I hope I haven't negated anything there. And I, too, was obsessed over the plight of the sub-mariners all week. Also obsessed with the amount of Twitter people obsessed, so in a way it made my obsession feel slightly less weird. I'm all about feeling slightly less weird and will take it, even if it does mean having an image of what happens when humans implode inside a tin can at depths no mortal being should be allowed to even know about.
As a *whispered* side-note, I actually thought I'd found Madeline McCann once - it happened just after I'd started ADHD meds a couple years ago. So convinced was I, that I'd even drafted an email to the Spanish authorities explaining my reasoning behind this - complete with photographic 'evidence' (oh god, now I think about it, I cringe) all this from an armchair nobody in some forgotten part of the UK. At one point I imagined there might be a film about how I'd done it. Then I spotted something else shiny and forgot all about my drafted e-mail.
*sigh*
Keep on doing what you're doing. I am HERE for it all!
Oh wow, the Madeleine McCann story is wild! I've always had this vain hope that she would turn up one day, having been living happily with some family who had looked after her. It's just such a sad case now - I was fascinated by it for years, but since I've had Max I've found it very hard to even think about it. It really is my absolute worst nightmare - worse even than the submersible...