To not be able to stop thinking about the Titan tragedy?

[coraldiamond]

I cannot get those poor men out of my mind. It seems to have quietened down in the news now, but every so often I catch myself thinking of them and their poor families who are now having to adjust to life without them.

It is so, so sad.

This

HMS Thetis. Sank with propellors and stern sticking out of the water and it's bow stuck in mud on seabed.
June 1939

Just wikied it.

I think a better comparison than the migrant boats would be the Thai football team or the Chilean miners, and in fact this is how the story was presented in the media- a race against time to save people who were trapped in great peril. (Of course in reality that wasn't the case.) I struggle to believe that anyone was particularly interested in the story because the people involved were rich, just as the miners and boys weren't rich.

Your right!
It's the race against time thing.
We all seen those films where people are saved at last minute: old and new Poseidon adventure, grey lady down sub one, the abyss, raise the Titanic, towering inferno, gravity.

James Cameron interviewed on BBC and ABC news interesting on YouTube or on demand.

Yes good point, it's knowing they still have a chance of survival

*It's because it's more relatable and "that could have been me/my son/my dad".. a lot of people have been on tourist excursions of a similar nature and could possibly consider they would do that trip if they had the funds/interest etc

.... People generally can't relate to people desperately fleeing a country that isn't safe, have watched their wife been raped, their neighbours kids abducted, shelling from artillery at any given moment, roaming bands of thugs, and have been subsequently shoved onto a boat that they'd given some traffickers all of their money too in the desperate hope they'll reach a safe country with their baby and toddler and get some sort of respite*
*
I agree, it's the relatability*

Why fixate on those 5?*
*
Op can't help how she feels

I’ve just read a beautiful book called The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Thought it was a novel at first, but it’s the true story of a 50-year old married couple who within a week are given a terminal medical diagnosis and also, unrelatedly, lose their home, business and income after a protracted court battle where the evidence that would have won them their case was submitted late/without proper procedure so the judge ruled against them.

I mention this because one week this was a successful, comfortable couple with two children at university, the next week they were homeless and living off tax credit of £30-ish a week. They could have been any of us, we just don’t know what’s in the future (thankfully), but most of us fail to appreciate just how close to calamity we actually are. I think that’s why there seems such a lack of empathy for desperate people risking their lives in dangerous dinghies because they want what all of us want - safety and security for ourselves and our families.

I think lots were invested because its a highly unusual scenario that feeds into a lot of people's fears- claustrophia, being trapped, the unknown etc whilst being far removed from being a situation theyre likely to find themselves in ever. Add the media's drama of pushing the countdown and the backstory of a reckless CEO who made some very questionable decisions along with the Titanic of course it was going to get headlines. I genuinely believe the people onboard were of least interest to people (I don't mean that badly I just mean I think the other elements were the draw rather than the other way round). It brought up lots of interesting discussions and information about science, deep diving (which is something most probably don't know much about).

It brought up lots of interesting discussions and information about science, deep diving (which is something most probably don't know much about).

It did for me, @Gofeta - like a crash course in physics, really fascinating, I understood so little about the pressures under the ocean.