OceanGate Jeopardy

Every now and then, whether by design or not, the nonstop 24-hour news cycle covers a story like no other — a figurative dam break of reporting.

Enter OceanGate's ill-fated submersible: Titan.


YouTube screen grab (cropped).

When Titan lost communications and went missing as it submerged to view the Titanic in the North Atlantic, vast resources that rivaled the exhaustive media coverage were deployed to rescue the five occupants. 

Occurring at the same time was one of the worst tragedies on the Mediterranean Sea.  A fishing boat carrying about 750 migrants capsized with over 500 reported missing.  If this is your first time hearing about it, you are not alone.

Wealthy guys climb into a risky submersible, and the whole world stops and sends resources to help.  Meanwhile, 750 capsize at the same time with minuscule coverage or caring.  The woke media failed those they claim to champion.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told a Teledyne Marine podcast that "expertise was unnecessary" because "anybody can drive the sub" with a cheap Amazon videogame joystick.  Maybe Rush forgot to bring extra batteries?  Such a cavalier attitude about how modestly Titan was constructed only compounded the risks in my opinion.

Rush continued, "When I started the business, one of the things you'll find, there are other sub-operators out there, but they typically have, gentlemen who are ex-military submariners ... a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys.  I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational."

Rush boasted that his crew included a high school hammer-thrower and a winter surfer.  Rush proved that woke can be deadly, and it is best to go with proven commodities, even if that means old, ex-military white guys.

Guess who was out and under the sea searching for him!

As tragic as it was, eventually, OceanGate's doomed submersible will be another footnote of Titanic lore.  I can even see it as a future category on Jeopardy.

Question: OceanGate for $100: Titan's passengers were disproportionately white, woke and wealthy, having paid $250,000/seat on the ill-fated submersible, while their survival was the same as the original vessel they were seeking.

Answer: "What is the ongoing fascination with the Titanic?"

The drama unfolded like a disaster movie.  The company's sardonic name — OceanGate — was fitting, as if it were born for controversy.  The debris field was found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

Question: OceanGate for $200: Titan was a disaster in the making, but it did succeed in this.

Answer: "What is an authentic Titanic experience?"

Poorly planned and staffed and arrogantly undertaken was met with predictable results, in my opinion.  However, millions were spent in the attempted rescue and now salvage.  It is admirable to push boundaries and incur risks to explore new frontiers.  Nonetheless, this was not a "new frontier."  It was an old shipwreck found years ago with plenty of canned footage available.  Private citizens taking expensive and incredible risks should be billed for their trouble.

Question: OceanGate for $300: While descending onboard the Titan, this is better than having a billion dollars.

Answer: "What is a safe way out?"   

Over 1,500 lost their lives in this watery graveyard.  Why can't we allow those souls who perished there in 1912 to rest in peace?  Rather, folks are profiteering from the tragedy more than a century later.

Question: OceanGate for $400: According to ancient Greek Mythology, Titan's name in Neptunism.

Answer: "What is a death tube?"

Question: OceanGate for $500: The deadly implosion of the Titan has the same effect on leftists when asked this question.

Answer: "What is a woman?"

The fate of both the Titanic and Titan have eerily similar causes of arrogance, foolishness, and a deceitful sense of infallibility, in my opinion.  This was another case of preventable overindulgence.

Perhaps both of these tragedies from the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic will instill a much greater reverence for the value of human life — including life in the womb, the most innocent life there is. 

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