The submersible Titan went missing on its way to take five people to see the wreckage of the Titanic. The navy reports it suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion,’ and the five passengers are presumed dead. This is a tragedy. People are grieving. Rather than compassion, however, social media and mass media turned this into an entertainment event. Opinions and theories have erupted from uninformed and misinformed armchair experts and savants.
The salaciousness of social media posts puts a real burden on mass media, which gets dragged into the fray to maintain viewership. Compassion and empathy are thrown by the wayside as people point fingers of blame, share their interpretations, and dangle potential conspiracy theories to get views and likes.
Why all the attention?
Forgetting for a moment (as many seem to have done) that real people are involved in this tragedy, the event has all the necessary elements of a good melodrama to inspire the imagination. It has extreme tourism, billionaires, mysteries, explosions, search and rescue missions, as well as the mythology of the Titanic. There are psychological reasons why people can easily set aside human misfortune and turn something like the Titan incident into entertainment. But it comes at a cost to us all.
Humans Are Storytellers
Our brains automatically organize events—whether related or relevant doesn’t matter—into patterns to create a story that gives experiences meaning. The human brain is also wired to be hypersensitive to danger, so disasters get our attention. It’s an instinctive response to confirm that we are not personally in danger. This is virtual rubbernecking on a grand scale.
It’s About Rich People
The five people on board the Titan had enough money to pay $250,000 for a seat on the submersible to see the wreckage of the Titanic. In a world of people struggling, such excesses can seem somewhere between wasteful and immoral, lowering our compassion. Yet, many people envy wealth with a mixture of curiosity and envy.
Based on ratings of shows like Real Housewives there is a voyeuristic fascination with the rich. People also like to see wealthy people get pulled off their pedestals. When rich and privileged people run into trouble or behave badly and get caught, we feel better because it shows that underneath it all, they are normal and deadly, cracking the veneer of privilege. It makes us feel less inferior.
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