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Something interesting about human anture and attention. Yes Titanic was a tragedy, but

posted 3 months ago by SolarisPatchwork (280)
6 replies | jump to latest

Just two years after its sinking WWI started, which resulted in over 150,000 men drowned at sea, including some thousands of civilians. They died in equally horrific ways, full of noise, violence, confusion, panic, desperation, and unimaginable fear. 150,000. It's incomprehensible.

Yet we've focused so much effort into memorializing and studying the Titanic tragedy and agonizing over how it happened, and can barely name any ship on which people died agonizing deaths during WWI. If pressed people would probably bring up the (British-arranged) sinking of the Lusitania and nothing else. Yet that's just a fraction of a percent of the total human tragedy, which dwarfs the suffering caused by the sinking of the Titanic.

Just odd, it's like it belongs in another box because of the label of "war," and can be discarded and forgotten about.

[–] Tam87 (1173) 3 months ago

Titanic has a mythic quality to it. It's an enduring legend, larger than life. From the name itself to it being its maiden voyage and not enough lifeboats. It trumps other tragedies for this reason. Kind of like the Hindenburg and John Carter of Mars.

If this movie came out today it probably would've made 3 billion.

[–] JoeBlow88 (559) 3 months ago

There are a conspiracies surrounding its sinking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_conspiracy_theories

[–] [deleted] 3 months ago

The Titanic was mostly built by Irish people and one of the most populous demographics in the Usa is irish-american so irish people have the population power to make something popular in entertainment. Also, James Camaroon is obsessed with the Titanic and he has the power to make movies because of his previous "Success!" with his other movies so Camaroon forces the Titanic onto the american public.

Jewish people in hollywood also completely ignore the World War 1 and only do movies about World War 2.

World War 1 just does not have any benefits to Irish people or Jewish people or anyone else.

[–] SolarisPatchwork (280) 3 months ago

I mean you'd also think that WWII was fought over the Holocaust, that the Western front was particularly important, and that the US was the deciding factor. In reality no one knew or cared about what was happening to Germany's political prisoners (Jewish and otherwise), and the Western front was a distraction compared to the monumental scale of carnage going on in the Eastern front.

Of course everything has been framed through the lens of our culture, even when it's a complete 180 from how it was at the time.

[–] strntz (12223) 3 months ago

The difference is that people (unfortunately) both expect and are desensitized somewhat to war time casualties. When I was a boy in the 1960s, every newscast listed the American soldier deaths - almost matter of factly.

The Titanic was a peacetime tragedy and among the dead were women, children, and the aged. In addition to the dead, it was a brand new ship on its maiden voyage that had been declared virtually unsinkable. An airliner crash today would bring the same widespread coverage. Flight MH370 was lead-in news for almost a month. That had both the tragedy of innocent lives plus the mystery of its disappearance.

Your point is a good one but the sympathy of the Titanic victims compared to wartime maritime losses is nothing out of the ordinary.

[–] tanstuff (72) 2 months ago

I think the question you're trying to ask is: what makes some events interesting to people as a whole, and other events uninteresting?

Simple explanation: it's about "story."
The story of WWI (or most other wars for that matter) cannot be condensed into something that the average brain can manage.
The story of Titanic can be condensed, and comprehended. Therefore it is memorable and interesting.