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hystericempress
@hystericempress

Reflecting on it, the reason I think the OceanGate situation has become such a flashpoint for anger is because it's such a perfect microcosm of the problem with everything right now. Decisions are not made based on safety, reasonable caution, or concern for human life. Every decision is instead made from a default assumption of 'what if the bad thing just DIDN'T happen?' We are given pie-in-the-sky promises and sizzle reels and an endless PR hype-cycle for every new innovation and inevitably it fails to work, harms people, and then is maybe barely apologized for before the next bad idea comes down the pike. OceanGate's underengineered, undercooked, doomed submarine isn't merely a metaphor for the hubris of the wealthy, it is a scale model of the way the wealthy dictate our reality. All consequences can be ignored, all blowback can be forestalled, let the end-user eat the cost.

I am not angry because the submarine was badly-made. I am angry because I live in a vastly larger pressure vessel being managed and maintained by the exact same people.

EDIT: jesus tittyslapping christ. apparently this struck a nerve with a lot of people, so I'm just going to say that if you like the manner in which I put words to your lingering dread, consider giving me a donation. I'm very poor and this sumbitch of a post is on like every dang website now(usually unattributed) so I might as well get weed money out of it: https://ko-fi.com/popidol37544


rachelmae
@rachelmae

nothing about this incident is even remotely surprising to me and THAT'S NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE. this SHOULD elicit an "oh my God, i can't believe someone did something so stupid and shortsighted" reaction but it doesn't anymore because this shit KEEPS HAPPENING

rules and regulations do not exist to "stifle innovation" they exist BECAUSE bad things have already happened and we would prefer these bad things not happen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's not fucking rocket science!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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in reply to @hystericempress's post:

YEAH. yep. YEP :(

i'm simultaneously Morbidly Gleeful that the CEO was on it, because hey, at least that's some justice, and boy! that paints a dark picture of justice or lack thereof as things currently stand!!! don't love that (probably, almost certainly by this point) dying of the worst, most head in ass possible brand of hubris is one of the only times i've ever seen some rich CEO asshole face a real consequence of their own actions.

I am angry because of all of the above, and because when something inevitably goes wrong, it is not JUST the end-user who must eat the cost. It is everyone, because the rich expect the public to bail them out, and "we" keep letting them. (We being "governments, mostly" I guess?)

[flying on US airliner in 2023] Decisions are not made based on safety, reasonable caution, or concern for human life. Every decision is instead made from a default assumption of 'what if the bad thing just DIDN'T happen?'

We can thank the pilots unions, which survived despite Reagan killing the air traffic controllers unions, for keeping most of the flight safety procedures mandatory. To keep them from striking, the FAA tightened safety checks, including requiring more paid rest time for pilots, and the rate of incidents has in fact decreased in the last 20 years.

in reply to @rachelmae's post:

I mean, Rocket Science has dealt with this sort of scenario, and even has a playbook, hell, even Musk's approach to rockets was better than this mess, and that's from the man-child who is immolating twitter.

As I shared on Discord, "Your regulations are written in blood."

We keep regulating things (inadequately in many cases) because otherwise we know people will cut costs anywhere they can regardless of who dies.

At least this one took out the executive responsible.