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alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
6/15/24 11:49 a.m.

I keep seeing updates about this "tragedy".  

Why is the death of 5 people such a controversial "tragedy"?  More people have died in multi car accidents at once than 5.  And I don't ever recall any of those accidents being so very covered.  

This is the same as a very, very bad multi car accident.  And that's bad enough.  But it's not some tragedy that we should be loosing sleep over, as far as I can tell.

If it were any other military naval sub that imploded and lost all hands- that would be far more significant and a tragedy- especially since the lost would have no real idea of the flaw and didn't really have a choice for many to be aboard.

But this is a submersible made and run by a private person, where another private person decided to spend money on their own to sail on.  Almost as if someone made a really fast car, and someone else wanted to take a ride with them, paying money to do so, and they crashed and died.  

Being rich does not increase or decrease the level of loss- they are just people.  Smart people make bad decisions sometimes, too.  Just like dumb people make good decisions more often than not.

Why do we put so much attention on these 5 losses of lives over many others who died in tragic ways, way before they should have?

j_tso
j_tso Dork
6/15/24 11:52 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

Probably because of the spectacularly stupid way they died.

Like the rocket man who wanted to prove Earth was flat.

RevRico
RevRico GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/15/24 11:57 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

Distraction theater. All it's ever really been after the initial story of "rich idiot and volunteers played stupid games and won stupid prizes". 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/15/24 1:15 p.m.

Maybe we will learn some lessons from it. 

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
6/15/24 1:22 p.m.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Yeah, like don't fly the A model of anything.

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself PowerDork
6/15/24 3:23 p.m.
alfadriver said:

Why is the death of 5 people such a controversial "tragedy"?

Money.   Money is the answer.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
6/15/24 10:25 p.m.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Actually, it's drama, not just money.

Fatal car accidents happen every hour of every day.  It's not that these 5 lives were inherently more important than anyone else's. It's just that they ended in a spectacular way.

 

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
6/15/24 10:45 p.m.

In reply to Duke :

Disagree.  They basically instantly disappeared.  Car crashes leave leftovers that people can see and relate to.  

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/15/24 11:01 p.m.
Apexcarver said:

I mean, I get it's limited at accidents, butt...

I'd classify those not as accidents, but as purposes.  On-purposes?

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself PowerDork
6/15/24 11:52 p.m.
Duke said:

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Actually, it's drama, not just money.

Fatal car accidents happen every hour of every day.  It's not that these 5 lives were inherently more important than anyone else's. It's just that they ended in a spectacular way.

 

If those same rich people all died in a car accident, you'd better believe it would be in the news.

Beer Baron 🍺
Beer Baron 🍺 MegaDork
6/16/24 7:27 a.m.
alfadriver said:

Why is the death of 5 people such a controversial "tragedy"?

Schadenfreude.

I don't think people are seeing this as controversial or tragic.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
6/16/24 9:39 a.m.

In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :

It's *still* being covered in the news.  With "new" information, as if it matters.  Which was brought up for this tread.

Something is keeping this "important", otherwise it would have faded in the past like most things do.

maschinenbau
maschinenbau GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
6/16/24 9:42 a.m.
alfadriver said:

Why is the death of 5 people such a controversial "tragedy"?  More people have died in multi car accidents at once than 5.  And I don't ever recall any of those accidents being so very covered.  

...

Why do we put so much attention on these 5 losses of lives over many others who died in tragic ways, way before they should have?

Peabody
Peabody MegaDork
6/16/24 9:45 a.m.
Duke said:

 It's just that they ended in a spectacular way.

Spectacularly stupid. Whether in hindsight or not, people like to hear and talk about other's stupidity. It makes them feel better about themselves.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/16/24 10:06 a.m.
NY Nick said:

I mean if I am a billionaire and I am looking at doing some experimental thing 

Jesse Ransom
Jesse Ransom GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/16/24 5:23 p.m.

I don't know how much each facet contributes to the continued coverage, but coverage goes to whatever gets eyes on ads (money shows up twice in this case; once for "if it bleeds, it leads" and once for "this happened to rich people.")

Also, isn't it one of the fundamentals of Greek Tragedy that there has to be a fall from a great height? I agree that it's insane that we seem to regard the suffering or death of someone who was living a life of luxury five minutes ago as worse or at least more noteworthy than the exact same thing happening to someone who was living in squalor or anonymity, but does this tap into something about humans? I do think there's a lot we misjudge because we're funny about "loss" contrasted with "not having in the first place."

Then there's the horrorshow aspect. Getting crushed a great depths of the ocean is gruesome and fascinating. It's something that gives you the heebie-jeebies. More tragic? No. More grotesquely interesting? Yeah. Heck, didn't we have a spate of movies in the '90s where half the peril was "deep underwater and could get crushed at any second?" The Abyss etc? It's a thing, so to speak.

And it's circular. There's, pardon the turn of phrase, enough meat on the bones of this story that the "updates" get views, and until that stops, they'll keep happening. I suspect it'll become a footnote before too long, but it'll only happen when it stops providing a monetary return on little or no investment.

I don't discount much of anything noted above, either. Schadenfreude, minor variation from normal, etc... But I do think that the continued coverage aspect is kind of the "bottom line" of the math for whether the above fragments are piquing people's interest. In summary, some combination of these things is keeping it interesting enough to enough people to keep it profitable to run the stories. When this is no longer the case, it'll fade; the site metrics will show it's a waste of pixels to run the updates and the space will be taken up with a Kardashian or pop music feud or cultural slap-fight.

If that's not enough, I just can't come up with a great hypothesis for who benefits from trying to keep  it in the public consciousness, unless someone's bringing out a new submersible thriller (hastily assembled docudrama?) and they want to keep a simmering interest long enough to release it. Come to think of it... I'm rolling with that as a backup answer. I think it's a reach, but it does move the goalpost on the RoI math, and a few small news stories are probably cheaper than a lot of a Hollywood media blitz.

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa MegaDork
6/16/24 5:27 p.m.
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:
Duke said:

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Actually, it's drama, not just money.

Fatal car accidents happen every hour of every day.  It's not that these 5 lives were inherently more important than anyone else's. It's just that they ended in a spectacular way.

 

If those same rich people all died in a car accident, you'd better believe it would be in the news.

For example, the relative of the former politician that drowned in her Tesla

Duke
Duke MegaDork
6/16/24 8:50 p.m.
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:
Duke said:

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Actually, it's drama, not just money.

Fatal car accidents happen every hour of every day.  It's not that these 5 lives were inherently more important than anyone else's. It's just that they ended in a spectacular way.

If those same rich people all died in a car accident, you'd better believe it would be in the news.

I seriously doubt it.

Pauk Walker dies in a car accident?  That's news. Some random rich guy that no one outside his immediate circle knows?  Not news.

 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
6/16/24 8:53 p.m.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

That's because her story had the T-word in it. Anything with Tesla in it is news.

 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
6/16/24 9:00 p.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

Disagree with your disagreement.

They died instantly and there was very little wreckage, indeed.

Except that there were initial questions about survival, a big search-and-retrieval operation, lots of post-event speculation, etc.  Not just a cop, a fire truck, and an ambulance.

Just the sheer rarity of this event makes it 1000x more newsworthy than a car accident.  Even a small plane crash doesn't make national news unless it is sensational in some way.

 

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa MegaDork
6/16/24 9:14 p.m.
Duke said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

That's because her story had the T-word in it. Anything with Tesla in it is news.

 

Two things can be true.

There was a good dose of schadenfreude in that story as (i think) she successfully lobbied for lessened regs for the DoT or some such. 

gearheadmb
gearheadmb UltraDork
6/16/24 9:58 p.m.
alfadriver said:

In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :

It's *still* being covered in the news.  With "new" information, as if it matters.  Which was brought up for this tread.

Something is keeping this "important", otherwise it would have faded in the past like most things do.

It's in the news not because its extra tragic, it's in the news because its interesting. That's the same reason we are talking about it.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
6/17/24 8:27 a.m.
Mr_Asa said:
Duke said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

That's because her story had the T-word in it. Anything with Tesla in it is news.

Two things can be true.

There was a good dose of schadenfreude in that story as (i think) she successfully lobbied for lessened regs for the DoT or some such. 

OK, fine. In that case there is another dimension to the story beyond her being rich. It wasn't her money that made it a story.

 

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
6/17/24 8:59 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

People in general and it seems Americans in particular have a long history of fascination and idolization of rich people and how they spend their money.  This extends to how they occasionally die as well.

I mean... we even had a TV show about the former subject that ran for 11 seasons in the 80s/90s. 

johndej
johndej UltraDork
9/18/24 7:18 p.m.

Bunch of videos going around of the wreckage found on the seafloor. Note structural ratchet strap survived, must have plucked it and said, "she's not going anywhere" before they decended.

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