The Capsized Concordia.
January 14, 2012
It’s not a secret. Rebecca and I love to cruise. We think it’s the perfect vacation. You unpack once. You’re transported daily to different tropical, scenic or cultural locales. And you’re enveloped by the sea. A force filled with life and mystery. Serene. Yet a possessor of unfathomable power.
Unfortunately, we were reminded of the mystery and power of the sea this weekend as the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise line owned by cruise conglomerate Carnival Corp., virtually sank off Italy’s Mediterranean cost. CNN described it: “Like a scene out of the film Titanic.”
As avid cruisers we’ve been glued to the story--perusing our favorite cruise blogs and monitoring international news stations. We’re dumbfounded. Nearly 100 years after the sinking of Titanic, a disaster of this magnitude is just not supposed to happen. Right? Thankfully, however, the numbers are much different. As of this posting three people are confirmed dead and nearly 60 people are unaccounted for. Our hearts break for the ship’s crew and its guests, and we hope those unaccounted for are found safe and sound.
Monitoring the various media we noticed something. First, this tragedy didn’t even break the airwaves in the US until 12 or so hours after it occurred. After it broke in the States, many news reports were originally framed as, “Only 126 Americans were on board.” And, nearly 24 hours after the hull of the ship was torn open, USA Today continues to have a graphic at the top of it’s news package showing a breakdown of the passenger’s nationalities.
Our question is: Why does it matter? They are all humans. Does it make it less newsworthy or important that, “Only 126 passengers were Americans”? What about the couple of other thousand passengers and crew? What if it were 160 or 200? Would that have justified dropping the word “only”? Is it more newsworthy to have a breakdown of the passenger’s nationalities rather than to say over 3,200 passenger’s lives were at stake as they escaped a sinking ship? Have we become that inward or even xenophobic ?
Interested in your thoughts.
Regardless, Rebecca and I truly feel for all passengers and crew involved. And, on our next cruise, we will definitely put the wine glass down and pay very close attention to the muster drill.
Unfortunately, we were reminded of the mystery and power of the sea this weekend as the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise line owned by cruise conglomerate Carnival Corp., virtually sank off Italy’s Mediterranean cost. CNN described it: “Like a scene out of the film Titanic.”
As avid cruisers we’ve been glued to the story--perusing our favorite cruise blogs and monitoring international news stations. We’re dumbfounded. Nearly 100 years after the sinking of Titanic, a disaster of this magnitude is just not supposed to happen. Right? Thankfully, however, the numbers are much different. As of this posting three people are confirmed dead and nearly 60 people are unaccounted for. Our hearts break for the ship’s crew and its guests, and we hope those unaccounted for are found safe and sound.
Monitoring the various media we noticed something. First, this tragedy didn’t even break the airwaves in the US until 12 or so hours after it occurred. After it broke in the States, many news reports were originally framed as, “Only 126 Americans were on board.” And, nearly 24 hours after the hull of the ship was torn open, USA Today continues to have a graphic at the top of it’s news package showing a breakdown of the passenger’s nationalities.
Our question is: Why does it matter? They are all humans. Does it make it less newsworthy or important that, “Only 126 passengers were Americans”? What about the couple of other thousand passengers and crew? What if it were 160 or 200? Would that have justified dropping the word “only”? Is it more newsworthy to have a breakdown of the passenger’s nationalities rather than to say over 3,200 passenger’s lives were at stake as they escaped a sinking ship? Have we become that inward or even xenophobic ?
Interested in your thoughts.
Regardless, Rebecca and I truly feel for all passengers and crew involved. And, on our next cruise, we will definitely put the wine glass down and pay very close attention to the muster drill.
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