Revenge of the Third Class

When migrants arrive from Cuba on the shores of the Florida Keys, the Coast Guard wastes little time in apprehending the flailing vessels as they barrel toward US soil.

However, the United States government for some reason or another, decided to loiter in the North Atlantic for days in a vain search for the Titan submersible— despite possessing nearly incontrovertible knowledge of both the location of the sub and its fate.

The United States Navy detected the tragic implosion of the sub immediately and, with modern technology, pinpointing the exact location where the submersible dove isn’t rocket science.

Titanic filmmaker and deep sea expert James Cameron pointed out the duplicity of the government’s decision to stave off sending in ROVs (Remote Operating Vehicles) to the last known location immediately in a recent interview.

Cameron, who discovered through backchannel sources that the US Navy detected an underwater blast in the area Sunday, questioned the motivation for the drama that ensued.

“All this has just been a lot of people running around waving their arms with their hair on fire for four days, and I just feel terrible for what the families must’ve been going through during that time,” Cameron said. “And that then goes back to why the authorities chose not to say what they knew. It begs the question now, doesn’t it? I can speculate all day long, but I’m not going to say it out loud.“

For the government to conceal the existence of clandestine listening devices for the sake of national security is understandable. However, given the ease in determining the last known location of the sub, and the relative ease in facilitating the deployment of ROVs, this explanation must be ruled out.

The only legitimate explanation for why the government hid the truth? A Goebbels-style PR stunt to assure and comfort the families — and the public — regarding the efficacy of the Coast Guard and the Navy’s capabilities.

In essence, the authorities attempted to let them down easy— on the taxpayer dime.

Forget about the lunacy of paying $250,000 per person for a one-way ticket to the Titanic. Forget about how ludicrous and the multi million dollar search effort proved to be.

Greater questions remain: what kind of society allows this sort of decadence? And furthermore, what sort of nation allows billionaires to be totally indemnified from financial ruin for their own decisions?

The same kind of nation that locks children in cages, rejoices when governors engage in human trafficking, and turns away when 7-Eleven employees pay more in taxes than wealthy Oceangate founder Stockton Rush.

Above: the Titan five (Credit: AP)

The tragic theme of the sub’s demise also lies at the heart of the Titanic’s story, and America’s: hubris and Darwinism.

Captain Edward Smith’s arrogant decision to repeatedly ignore iceberg warnings directly resulted in the sinking of the RMS Titanic— a tragedy eerily repeated by Rush, whose relatives also perished in the same location aboard the infamous ship.

The blind and unshakable faith American conservatives place in laissez-faire capitalism mimics this misguided pattern of thinking.

That everything will work out in the end for the diligent and the innovative is not a given— no matter how much Sen. Tim Scott rants and raves about American exceptionalism.

In reality, the only thing America has been exceptional for in recent years is rising inequality among developed nations.

The Federal Reserve recently reported that the top 1% in the United States owned 38.5% of the country's wealth while the bottom 50% held just 2.6%.

Much like the Titanic‘s third class passengers — locked away below deck without a chance — average Americans are being left behind, while the top 10% head for the Carpathia and an opulent time in New York City— all thanks to a tax code rigged with loopholes for the wealthiest to exploit.

US law forbids the Coast Guard from charging any vessel in need of assistance for rescue services. Although such a fee may not legally be feasible, Oceangate, and the estates of billionaires aboard the sub deserve — at least in principle — a monetary reckoning with their carelessness.

Aside from Rush, none of the crew aboard the Titan were Americans.

While scant resources were allocated for the rescue of hundreds of migrants who recently drowned in the Mediterranean, international support flowed from a never ending spigot of funds, equipment, and media coverage for the salvation of the Titan.

The cost of the operation runs in the millions, but an exact figure has yet to be released. What is clear? The cost of flying just one HC-130 search-and-rescue aircraft during the search ran up a tab of $399,000, nearly enough to feed a family of four for two decades (US Coast Guard/USDA).

“All lives matter,” many on the right shout— except if they're African migrants in the Mediterranean or illegals immigrants in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the Republican Party isn’t the only bastion for this twisted point of view. It seems even some family members of the sub’s crew deemed the rescue superfluous (yes, that’s tongue in cheek).

British Billionaire Hamish Harding’s lavishly funded American stepson attended a riotous concert, and openly flirted with an onlyfans model— all while his father’s fate aboard the sub remained unknown.

But the decadent and over the top lifestyle of these privileged few wasn’t lost on the average American— many of whom were criticized for peddling dark humor and making jokes about the billionaires aboard the sub.

No one denies the moral rot of these sardonic jokes but none of this callous and crass behavior need be a surprise. The tremors and symptoms of the wealth gap and decreasing opportunity manifest not only in moral depreciation and rising crime, but also in the capital riot and BLM protests— with arguably many unconsciously scapegoating their economic demise on a “rigged election” and systemic “racism.”

In a recent with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, former President Barack Obama touched on the depravity of the situation, articulating his concern for democracy:

“Our democracy is not going to be healthy with the levels of inequality that we've seen… right now we have 24-hour coverage, and I understand it, of this submarine, the submersible that tragically is right now lost at the bottom of the sea.

“At the same time, right here, just off the coast of Greece, we had 700 people dead, 700 migrants who were apparently being smuggled into here, and it's made news, but it's not dominating in the same way. And in some ways, it's indicative of the degree to which people's life chances have grown so disparate.

“It's very hard to sustain a democracy when you have such massive concentrations of wealth.”

Stockton Rush, the founder of Oceangate, was repeatedly warned about the dangers of his sub, but like Captain Smith, ignored the warnings— leading to disaster.

The sage and poignant warnings of President Obama and others will also go unheeded as the American ship continues to plunge.

The cliche “history repeats itself” could never be more true than in the recent implosion of the Titan— and the common threads of hubris and gross inequality connect the stratified, sickly American economy to these deadly maritime tragedies.

Of course, not every individual on the journey bears responsibility. Case in point: Suleman Dawood, a 19 year old on board with his billionaire father. But the older adults who placed themselves in harms way needn't get a pass for their folly filled and foolhardy misadventure.

The Titan's billionaires bought a one way to ticket to the bottom of the sea, and now join the Third Class passengers that their spiritual forbearers in First left to die.