A subpar week

Archived from Jul 06, 2023

It is extremely humid in Toronto right now. I am a saturated sponge and it’s making it hard to think, so this week might be a little short, and a little out of date.

I’m sure we all heard about the sub. Now, I don’t feel particularly bad for them, excluding the 19 year old who was reportedly terrified to go. Legally, they signed their lives away, and intellectually, there was plenty of evidence Stockon Rush had in no way done his due diligence to keep anyone safe. He was not shy about confidently putting his feelings on record. Some standout quotes include:

• "…safety is just pure waste."
• "…tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation".
• "We have heard the baseless cries of 'you are going to kill someone' way too often," he wrote. "I take this as a serious personal insult."

There are many reports that date back years, these warnings being from experts in their fields: the hull creaking, refusing to hire experienced engineers, Rush bragging that he bought the material for the (not up to snuff) fibreglass shell at a discount. To be fair, that last one is probably a lie; Boeing has no record of the transaction, but still a deeply weird thing to say out loud. Who is that meant to impress? Anyway, the alarm bells were ringing and it is well within these people’s rights to ignore every warning and put their own lives in danger to look at the wreckage of the Titanic on a screen 3500 feet below the surface. Yeah, not even out an actual window. This entire experience could have been recreated with a swimming pool and some existing documentary footage. I’m sure we’ve also all heard that we do, indeed, have the technology to do this dive safely; James Cameron did the dive to the wreck over 30 times. Every detail that comes out seems to just highlight Rush’s massive ego, which I now suppose is somewhat enshrined in the wreckage of the Titanic, given there was nowhere else for it to go.

Feel how you want about these people, but what I find interesting about the online discourse is the sheer energy random people are putting into defending these people from mockery, or even from people pointing out the deep irony of a handful of exorbitantly wealthy people making a stupid choice and getting the exact consequence a legal document informed them was possible. Now, many people have drawn the comparison between the sheer man power put in to save 5 hyper wealthy people who put themselves in this position and the relative neglect while hundreds of refugees drowned off the coast of Greece. Horrific, and transparent about where our social values lie; the taxpayers from the various countries who contributed to the rescue effort will be the ones to pay; another layer of irony, as the wealthy famously hate taxes and “handouts”. What I couldn’t stop thinking about, watching hundreds of people insist on the value of (very specific) human life was the phenomena of the Darwin Awards. The Darwin Awards have been around since the 80s, awarding members of the human race mocking awards for removing themselves from the gene pool by either dying or being sterilized by their own actions. It feels almost certain that if this had been an irresponsibly built vessel with 5 poor people inside, it would have immediately been made a massive joke, with little to no rescue attempt.

Ultimately, I imagine there are two reasons for the rabid defence of these explicitly poor choices. First, is the high profile nature of the passengers. This feels obvious, but I think this instinct not only comes from the fact that coverage of tragedy striking the rich will always be covered with more empathy, but also because people fantasize about wealth, about being wealthy, about being well known and important. This means that they, too, could still be mocked, even if they were to one day become wealthy, and this feels like an affront to the fantasy, a mockery of a dream. There’s, of course, nothing wrong with wanting a comfortable life, but I often suspect that people don’t totally understand exactly how far out of reach the wealth they dream of is. The extension of this misconception of how dramatic wealth disparity is, is that a lot of people don’t think about the things that would have to be done to gain this wealth. If you aren’t born into massive wealth, the only way to gain it is on the labour of others you’re willing to underpay. Or maybe these people do think about that and are fine with it. Whichever it may be, I think it is these fantasies that trigger such an intense defence of people they do not know, will never know and who would not have passionately defended them, given the chance.

Second, and probably subconsciously, I think a lot of people want to believe that wealth and intelligence are somehow intrinsically linked. I imagine on some level, everyone knows that it’s the wealthy who control everything. They control the jobs, the pay, the laws and lawmakers, and it is existentially horrifying to think they may simply be all powerful fools, willing to put anything on the line for a taste of human experience they are so insulated from. They have lived so separate from most people, obsessed with little more than the accumulation of numbers on a screen to reflect what their life has amounted to and empty tokens of some agreed upon idea of luxury that it’s hardly surprising that the “thrill” of something like the Titan sub is attractive to them. It is a condemnation of their ability to behave responsibly, particularly given they hold sway over the lives of others through their companies, their lobbying and their influence. It is distressing to realise for the first time that power is not purpose, it is not dignity or morality, it is nothing more than power. The powerful will give a lot of lip service to how much power they have earned, how they are the only ones able to wield it and it is certainly an ignorant bliss to believe them. People don’t want to think that we are being led by the nose by fools, that the powerful truly do not care about saving us.

Feel however you want about these people, be sad, don’t be, but either way I think it’s worth it to be critical about how the story is talked about, both in corporate media and more immediately. These stories feed these myths that obscure the selfish and irresponsible choices that govern so much of our lives. I, for one, would like a purpose beyond lining the pockets of someone who already makes millions or more. I dream of joys more meaningful than hoarding to harm others, or risking the lives of others just to feel some small sense of importance. I’d rather get meaning, value and importance from my loved ones, from caring for my loved ones and my little, happy world.

As always, thank you for joining me friends. What brought you joy this week? My dehumidifier is getting all the praise currently. I can’t wait for the storm they’re calling for tomorrow. And fair warning, next week, we’re probably talking about blood boy and the rich obsession with avoiding death.