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The Guardian view on danger at sea: The contrast between the frantic hunt for a missing submersible and the failure to save migrants drowning in the Mediterranean is illuminating (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

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A massive operation is under way to find and save a stricken vessel and its passengers. As time passes, anxious families and friends wait with growing fear. The US coastguard, Canadian armed forces and commercial vessels are all hunting for the Titan submersible, which has gone missing with five aboard on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic in the north Atlantic. The UK’s Ministry of Defence is also monitoring the situation.

It is hard to think of a starker contrast with the response to a fishing boat which sank in the Mediterranean last week with an estimated 750 people, including children, packed onboard. Only about 100 survived, making this one of the deadliest disasters in the Mediterranean. Greece and the EU blame people smugglers, who overcrowd boats and abuse those aboard them. But both have profound questions to answer about their own role in such disasters. Activists say authorities were repeatedly warned of the danger this boat faced, hours before it went down, but failed to act.

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[–] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's simple human psychology. We get all excited about a child that fell into a well but when it's 10 children or 100 we just care less and less even if the group includes the one kid we started with. I guess it's kinda sad but also not at all surprising

[–] chepox@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

I read somewhere that this an evolutionary trait that developed back from when we hung out in small groups. Empathy was only useful as a species when we could act upon said small group. Increase the group size and we find no additional benefit on having empathy for the unknown extended group.

It kinda makes sense. Read on the news 300,000 dead! . Or 250,000 dead! There is no difference on the empathic response although one has 50,000 more dead people. Read 1 kid is suffering and your heart tears to pieces.

We are a weird species for sure.