Titan sub and Greek shipwreck: 2 tragedies that garnered strikingly different reactions

Across span of nearly a week, saga of a lost submersible that h gone into depths of ocean to see Titanic wreckage rippled across national and global conversation — culminating in news that craft h imploded and its five occupants were de.

But a far bigger disaster days earlier,  wrecking of a ship off Greece filled with migrants that killed at least 80 people and left a horrifying 500 missing, did not become a moment-by-moment worldwide focus in anywhere near same way.

One grabbed unrelenting, moment-to-moment attention. One was watched and discussed as anor s, but routine, news story.

What makes se two events at sea different in how y were received? Viewed next to each or, what do y say about human reactions to tragic news? And why did saga of submersible grab so much attention?

Titan sub (Image: AP) 

Scores of migrants on a fishing boat. (Image: AP)

AN UNKNOWN OUTCOME AND (WE THOUGHT) A TICKING CLOCK

By time world learned about Greek shipwreck, event h alrey taken place and, to some extent, outcome was alrey known. All that was left was aftermath.

Conversely, Titan ( world thought) was an event in process of happening — something that unfolded in real time with a deline attached. As with any narrative, a ticking clock increases tension and attention.

fact that no one could communicate with submersible — or learn anything about what people inside were experiencing — only ded to potential for close attention.

A RENOWNED HISTORICAL TRAGEDY BACK IN NEWS

Before anything even went awry, Titan was alrey venturing into a realm of existing high interest — wreck of Titanic, itself arche of modern disasters long before James Cameron’s popular 1997 film. So re was an interest alrey baked in that h nothing to do with submersible itself.

Cameron’s reaction to Titan disaster only me that connection more intense.

He told BBC in an interview brocast on Friday that he “felt in my bones” that  Titan submersible h been lost soon after he heard it h lost contact with surface during its descent to wreckage of ocean liner at bottom of Atlantic Ocean. He said focus in media over next few days about submersible having 96 hours of oxygen supply — and that banging noises h been heard — were a “prolonged and nightmarish chare.”

CLASS AND RACE PLAYED A ROLE

Many reactions and memes this week centered around notion — fair or not — that one event involved rich people using ocean as a playground, while or was a sly frequent recurrence of misfortune befalling people who lack status, resources or even a voice in modern marketplace of ideas.

Apryl Alexander, a public health professor at University of North Carolina-Charlotte who has studied trauma and survivors, said migrants on ship in Greece didn’t seem to engender same interest from public as did wealthy individuals who paid $250,000 apiece to explore Titanic.

That reminded Alexander of differences in news coverage of crime in United States. Crimes get more attention when victim is white and wealthy compared to a person of color in poverty, Alexander says.

A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE H MEDIA’S EAR

Tim Recuber, an assistant professor of sociology at Smith College who studies mass media, digital culture and emotions, says people tend to be drawn to stories that allow m to empathize with suffering of ors — and that it’s easier to empathize when re are smaller numbers of people involved.

“I think some people are calling out this time around sort of inequalities that are baked into it around class,” Recuber said. “We are able to learn who people on sub are because of who y are. y’re wealthy and y have access to press. Divisions of race and national identity matter in terms of who gets empathized with.”

PUBLIC LIVES VICARIOUSLY THROUGH RISKS ORS TAKE

Risk-takers who choose ir risks have grabbed helines almost since re have been helines. So public was likely enthralled about ors cheating death by doing something dangerous, says Daryl Van Tongeren, a psychology professor at Hope College in Michigan who has studied meaning around big events and ir effect on people.

In or words, he said, reers and viewers can feel alive by living vicariously through ors who are taking risks. “re’s this fascination with people who engage in se high-risk experiences,” Van Tongeren said. “Even though we know that death is only certainty in life, we invest in se activities where we get close to death but overcome it. We want to demonstrate our mastery over death.” he said.

DISASTER FATIGUE IS A FACTOR, TOO

pandemic. Mass shootings. Economic problems. War. Climate change. It can be hard for anor piece of b news to punch through. “People are starting to tune out,” Alexander said.

In end, she said, she’d like to see same level of societal interest in human tragedies regardless of race, religion, demographics, or or factors: “For all of us, we hope that if any of our loved ones go missing that media and public would pay same attention to all stories.”