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Christine Dawood found herself trapped on the ship, waiting for signs that the Titan submersible carrying her family would surface. She talks in detail for the first time about those harrowing four days.
> OceanGate, founded by CEO Stockton Rush in 2009, was indeed promoting tourist dives to the famous wreck. The American’s mission was to democratise the deep ocean.
Yes... But the author is not saying that is their genuine heartfelt mission or goal. They are simply staying what their mission was said to be. I am kind of shocked people don't realize that?
People on the Internet clowned on this family quite a bit (primarily for being rich and dying doing something most people could not afford) but as a comparatively poorer person, who has a similar love of adventure, I probably also would have done something like this. We put a great deal of trust in other people every day, even in dicey situations we are assured have been tamed. Just look at the people who died or were injured at Whakaari. I can particularly understand this family not even questioning the safety- unless you were closely following the sub world or were some level of materials engineer you'd have no inkling of these issues. I feel bad for this woman and I think the glee over these deaths was kind of gross (except for Stockton who comes across as an empty monster of a person).
Yeah I watched that with my fiance and that's when we had our moment of, oh we would have done this and also died. He's a huge Titanic nerd and also a mechanical engineer- when we got to the scene where they were showing the hull tests he was like cringing into the floor
Exactly. I love traveling and I’ve absolutely put my trust in infrastructure, guides, etc in various countries, doing my best to use my brain to assess safety. It’s often easy to identify a safety issue in hindsight, but not always in advance.
I rode that cable car in Lisbon that derailed and killed many people less than a month beforehand, and had no concerns for my safety before or during that ride.
I hiked Mt Etna when I was in Italy; if I’d been on that cruise ship I probably also would have trusted the Whaakari excursion was safe and gone there.
It’s shitty to blame the Dawoods for trusting professionals in an industry they knew nothing about. Knowing Nargeolet, an experienced expert was on the dive along with Rush probably added to their trust, bc who would expect they’d risk their own lives if it wasn’t safe?
Ocean gate aside...While I agree it's common to do that, it's not a good idea to assume every country has the same safety standards. My husband made fun of me when I brought an infant life vest with us to Zanzibar, but a lot of Google reviews of tours said the boats didn't even have adult life jackets. No way in hell I was capsizing and treading water holding a baby, so it was worth the less than one lb in my luggage. I lived in a developing country for a while though, so I'm always skeptical AF about safety regs.
To be a tiny bit fair to the people of the Internet that weren’t necessarily as empathetic as one would hope about the death of this family. But when you’re struggling to purchase groceries or healthcare, it’s really hard to empathize with people that spent half a mil on a ticket to a submarine.
Super rich people are often the products of exploitation, at least in the U.S. Do I feel for her? Mother to mother, yes. That’s her son, and he deserves to be here. Do I wonder if her husband made incredibly immoral decisions in order to get where he was with his level of wealth also yes.
The reason the ultra wealthy have charities is partly to manage their reputations. It’s also used to network with other ultra wealthy as well as frequently being connected to tax deductions. If the ultra wealthy didn’t spend money to lobby politicians to loosen regulations and give tax deductions, many more people would have more productive lives. But the ultra wealthy actively participate in creating a system that benefits their class.
I am not saying I am not sympathetic to this woman and her family members that passed away. However, it’s also clear to me that she and her family spend a lot of money to be at a distance from my life which consists of the more mundane kind of travel such as an economy class airplane ticket. In that regard, perhaps it’s understandable that her experience is equally less accessible to me.
You're being downvoted and I find it ironic. Not every single wealthy person is morally corrupt. Not every single poor person is morally more superior. Showing empathy requires us to leave our judgements and assumptions behind.
I also thought it was gross to be so gleeful about innocent people dying. They didn’t get killed while trying to do an armed robbery or something. These were just people trying to do something cool that had no ill effect on anyone else.
It reminds me much of this commercial that has debuted recently. “It’s important to ask the right questions”, it’s for a tax website. I’d like to think that there’s a certain amount of due diligence? But there isn’t. Perhaps that’s why rich people get sued a lot. Easier to sue after than to research before. People who don’t spend a lot of money on frivolous things don’t think like that. Risks are costly. But sure. Give your kid an expensive ticket and then get featured in the guardian and we will all cry for you? I don’t think so.
Do you have children? That kid was not complicit. He was hanging out with this dad. It’s okay to let people feel sad over a child dying and over a mother losing her son.
My sympathy goes out to mothers who are losing their family in wars they had no control over. Not some rich billionaire who saw an ad on instagram and decided to do reckless “tourism”
It’s hard for me personally to read further than the first description of the Titanic “museum” they went to. I went to what they are describing. I’m not diminishing their experience. But the Titanic “museum” that pops up in strip malls- if that’s what they are talking about- is a dismal representation of Titanic and its history! The exhibit was filled with typos and you pay a hefty fee before the first sign you see is tiny and says “so actually lots of stuff you’re seeing is from the sister ship not actually from Titanic lmao”
thesphinxistheriddle | 16 hours ago
Stockton Rush was an irredeemable piece of shit. I feel very sad for Christine Dawood.
Leather-Confection70 | 13 hours ago
I didn’t realize she gave her ticket to her son :(
Harriet_M_Welsch | 12 hours ago
> OceanGate, founded by CEO Stockton Rush in 2009, was indeed promoting tourist dives to the famous wreck. The American’s mission was to democratise the deep ocean.
No, no it wasn’t. What a stupid thing to say.
kamace11 | 3 hours ago
That's absolutely how he spun it. When you say "a company's mission" you're usually referring to their specific mission statement.
ThoughtsonYaoi | an hour ago
But mission statements often equal marketing, and should be treated as such.
kamace11 | an hour ago
Yes... But the author is not saying that is their genuine heartfelt mission or goal. They are simply staying what their mission was said to be. I am kind of shocked people don't realize that?
ThoughtsonYaoi | an hour ago
It's a very minor detail, but I would have put it a bit differently, not stating it as fact. 'The American's claimed mission' or something like that.
But too much of that maked a piece unreadable, so.
luluthenudist | 6 hours ago
What would be your counter?
kamace11 | 14 hours ago
People on the Internet clowned on this family quite a bit (primarily for being rich and dying doing something most people could not afford) but as a comparatively poorer person, who has a similar love of adventure, I probably also would have done something like this. We put a great deal of trust in other people every day, even in dicey situations we are assured have been tamed. Just look at the people who died or were injured at Whakaari. I can particularly understand this family not even questioning the safety- unless you were closely following the sub world or were some level of materials engineer you'd have no inkling of these issues. I feel bad for this woman and I think the glee over these deaths was kind of gross (except for Stockton who comes across as an empty monster of a person).
sjd208 | 13 hours ago
The Netflix documentary on Oceangate was chilling.
kamace11 | 13 hours ago
Yeah I watched that with my fiance and that's when we had our moment of, oh we would have done this and also died. He's a huge Titanic nerd and also a mechanical engineer- when we got to the scene where they were showing the hull tests he was like cringing into the floor
QualityKatie | 2 hours ago
That doc showed me that this vessel was doomed to fail. The owner would have continued to use this thing until complete failure.
Odd-Age-1126 | 13 hours ago
Exactly. I love traveling and I’ve absolutely put my trust in infrastructure, guides, etc in various countries, doing my best to use my brain to assess safety. It’s often easy to identify a safety issue in hindsight, but not always in advance.
I rode that cable car in Lisbon that derailed and killed many people less than a month beforehand, and had no concerns for my safety before or during that ride.
I hiked Mt Etna when I was in Italy; if I’d been on that cruise ship I probably also would have trusted the Whaakari excursion was safe and gone there.
It’s shitty to blame the Dawoods for trusting professionals in an industry they knew nothing about. Knowing Nargeolet, an experienced expert was on the dive along with Rush probably added to their trust, bc who would expect they’d risk their own lives if it wasn’t safe?
iridescent-shimmer | 9 hours ago
Ocean gate aside...While I agree it's common to do that, it's not a good idea to assume every country has the same safety standards. My husband made fun of me when I brought an infant life vest with us to Zanzibar, but a lot of Google reviews of tours said the boats didn't even have adult life jackets. No way in hell I was capsizing and treading water holding a baby, so it was worth the less than one lb in my luggage. I lived in a developing country for a while though, so I'm always skeptical AF about safety regs.
kamace11 | 3 hours ago
That's wise but I don't think Oceangate had easily accessible Google reviews per se.
ladyluck754 | 11 hours ago
To be a tiny bit fair to the people of the Internet that weren’t necessarily as empathetic as one would hope about the death of this family. But when you’re struggling to purchase groceries or healthcare, it’s really hard to empathize with people that spent half a mil on a ticket to a submarine.
Super rich people are often the products of exploitation, at least in the U.S. Do I feel for her? Mother to mother, yes. That’s her son, and he deserves to be here. Do I wonder if her husband made incredibly immoral decisions in order to get where he was with his level of wealth also yes.
kamace11 | 3 hours ago
Yeah there's a limit imo. Cheering for the death of a kid just because they're rich is fucking weird.
LadybugGirltheFirst | 10 hours ago
You empathize because they’re human beings. How they spend their money is not our concern. You don’t what they may or may not donate to charity.
Harriet_M_Welsch | 10 hours ago
It is all of our concern, what a crazy thing to say. Wildly out of touch with humanity.
Easy-Concentrate2636 | 4 hours ago
The reason the ultra wealthy have charities is partly to manage their reputations. It’s also used to network with other ultra wealthy as well as frequently being connected to tax deductions. If the ultra wealthy didn’t spend money to lobby politicians to loosen regulations and give tax deductions, many more people would have more productive lives. But the ultra wealthy actively participate in creating a system that benefits their class.
I am not saying I am not sympathetic to this woman and her family members that passed away. However, it’s also clear to me that she and her family spend a lot of money to be at a distance from my life which consists of the more mundane kind of travel such as an economy class airplane ticket. In that regard, perhaps it’s understandable that her experience is equally less accessible to me.
ErsatzHaderach | 10 hours ago
Pack it up everybody, a ladybug girl has decreed billionaires immune from public criticism
vikingrrrrr666 | 2 hours ago
It’s absolutely my concern. But please continue supporting the rich so you can feign moral superiority.
mountains-and-sea | 4 hours ago
You're being downvoted and I find it ironic. Not every single wealthy person is morally corrupt. Not every single poor person is morally more superior. Showing empathy requires us to leave our judgements and assumptions behind.
vikingrrrrr666 | 2 hours ago
Nobody attains that level of wealth and access to capital without doing some unethical, exploitative shit.
Simping for the rich to feign moral superiority is gross.
Mmmmustard | 8 hours ago
I also thought it was gross to be so gleeful about innocent people dying. They didn’t get killed while trying to do an armed robbery or something. These were just people trying to do something cool that had no ill effect on anyone else.
whydidisaythatwhy | 3 hours ago
Armed robbery is cooler than spending 500K to see the titanic
luluthenudist | 6 hours ago
It reminds me much of this commercial that has debuted recently. “It’s important to ask the right questions”, it’s for a tax website. I’d like to think that there’s a certain amount of due diligence? But there isn’t. Perhaps that’s why rich people get sued a lot. Easier to sue after than to research before. People who don’t spend a lot of money on frivolous things don’t think like that. Risks are costly. But sure. Give your kid an expensive ticket and then get featured in the guardian and we will all cry for you? I don’t think so.
kamace11 | 2 hours ago
What a remarkably callous comment.
dent_de_lion | 10 hours ago
I just listened to the Swindled podcast about this
arual9868 | 14 hours ago
“We always were the glampers of the explorers.” I’m having trouble sympathizing here when they paid half a mil for this
heyruby | 13 hours ago
I think we can all extend sympathy to a woman whose husband and son are dead, regardless of her financial situation.
arual9868 | 11 hours ago
I’m sorry but I’m just not a part of your “we”
live_laugh_larf_lerp | 10 hours ago
Do you have children? That kid was not complicit. He was hanging out with this dad. It’s okay to let people feel sad over a child dying and over a mother losing her son.
arual9868 | 10 hours ago
I’m not telling people how to feel and to not feel sad. You’re the one telling me how to feel
live_laugh_larf_lerp | 9 hours ago
Reddit logic
Harriet_M_Welsch | 10 hours ago
Good for you.
redwoods81 | 11 hours ago
So you are not human 🤔
gerira | 11 hours ago
Bit of a catch-22 there if you declare people inhuman, isn't it?
arual9868 | 11 hours ago
My sympathy goes out to mothers who are losing their family in wars they had no control over. Not some rich billionaire who saw an ad on instagram and decided to do reckless “tourism”
luluthenudist | 6 hours ago
It’s hard for me personally to read further than the first description of the Titanic “museum” they went to. I went to what they are describing. I’m not diminishing their experience. But the Titanic “museum” that pops up in strip malls- if that’s what they are talking about- is a dismal representation of Titanic and its history! The exhibit was filled with typos and you pay a hefty fee before the first sign you see is tiny and says “so actually lots of stuff you’re seeing is from the sister ship not actually from Titanic lmao”