Some billionaires took really stupid risks and now they are dead.
Water and gravity always win. Ignore this at your peril.
A bad thing happens, memes follow.
Please forgive me if I’m not especially outraged.
On it's face, it seems cruel to joke about five people lost at sea.
Understandably, there are those who find such dark humor disgusting.
They are right about that.
They expect everyone else to give a damn about such horrors.
They are wrong about that.
Much outrage at this link:
Alright then.
I contend that the source of the vileness is in human nature. The vile was already there, social media just shook it loose. Whether you intend it or not, tequila can make you do and say things that are horrible, hilarious, and really stupid. Social media works the same way, except you don’t wake up with a hangover in a Juarez jail cell.
{Just when you thought you’d hit bottom, the google machine will tell you about how this disaster was caused by wokeness. Nope, not gonna link to that.}
The company was giving tours of what is both legally and morally a graveyard. It is a sacred space to the survivors of some 1,500 people. It is also located in an extremely hazardous environment.
We can only assume that the two crew members went into that situation aware of the risks.
Did the three tourists who paid $250,000 dollars apiece read the fine print when they signed the waiver? The ennui of great wealth lead them to live dangerously and it cost them more than their money's worth.
Suppose you spent pots of money to gawk at the dead mountain climbers scattered over Mount Everest and ended up joining them for all eternity. You would become an internet meme in short order. Some vicious karma at work here for those who believe in it.
In addition to Mr. Rush, those on board have been identified as Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Sulaiman Dawood.
Harding was a billionaire explorer/adventurer who has been to the South Pole and Outer Space.
Shahzada Dawood was a Pakistani businessman.
Sulaiman Dawood will be remembered for participating in the worst Father’s Day outing ever.
Nargolet was a world-famous diver and is considered to be an expert on the Titanic. He was the only professional diver in the group, he probably should have known better than to get into Mr. Rush’s toy boat.
From what I’ve been able to piece together, Rush was piloting the craft and either Harding or Nargeolet was along to provide intelligent commentary on what the tourists would be seeing.
Each of these guys are survived by people who loved them and I'm genuinely sorry for their loss.
As for the five billionaire thrill-seekers, perhaps they wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.
What they got was a soggy clusterfuck of incompetence, hubris, and bad luck.
Perhaps they forgot that gravity and water always win.
Consider yourself reminded.