News that the submarine had gone missing during its voyage to the Titanic wreckage site initially caused waves of shock and concern. The five people on board, now presumed dead, faced dwindling oxygen supplies and the harsh and unforgiving environment of the deep sea.
But as further details emerge, including the wealth of those on board, known concerns about the Titan submarine, and the CEO's comments that seem to disregard safety, empathy gives way to vulgar humor and the sacrifices made. Memes mocking people have appeared across platforms, including Twitter. TikTok and Instagram.
“It's crazy to think we might only have like 30 hours left to make fun of people on submarines,” one TikTok user said in a video uploaded Tuesday and viewed 1.4 million times. Oxygen left behind by passengers. Many of the 1,000 or so commenters also joked about the voyage. The user did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Research shows that many people use humor and memes to cope with tragedy. But some felt the dark humor was ill-timed and in bad taste, given that jokes about the missing ship were circulating online and a rescue operation was underway.
And on Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that debris from the vehicle had been found “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the ship.” All crew members are believed to have died.
CBS News journalist David Pogue, who participated in the Titan expedition last year, said he saw “horrifying” memes after the Titan news broke.
“Obviously, given what we know now, the joke is inappropriate and a little bit disgusting,” Pogue said. “Five people died. They had spouses, they had families. It's really sad.”
Read more NBC News coverage of the Titanic submarine
Jessica Myrick, a professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies the psychology of media use, said the reaction to the missing submarine may be driven by schadenfreude, or pleasure derived from the pain of a disliked person or group. He suggested that there was.
“That feeling is even stronger when you think the people involved deserve what they get.” Myrick, who co-authored a 2021 study on coronavirus-related memes, said in an email.
Regarding Titan, Myrick said, “The details of wealthy people making dangerous voyages in things like cans just for fun and just because they can, they can't afford to do that. It's also likely to evoke a kind of schadenfreude from people who probably wouldn't do such a thing.” Even if they could afford it, they wouldn't do it. ”
A trip on the Titan costs $250,000 per passenger, making it an experience only available to those wealthy enough to afford it. But despite this high price tag, some elements of the submarine are so complex that Pogue said the company, Ocean Gate Expeditions, appears to have “cut corners.” It was made in
that [the Titanic] This luxury cruise essentially risked everything. It was too fast and too reckless. And in the end, it was a death sentence for the crew. It's very similar to this Titan submarine.
Many of the memes featured photos of the ship's interior, with people pointing out how the ship was being piloted with a video game controller and suggesting that the passengers should have known not to go. . Some people started using the expression “eat the rich.”
“The meme-making about this event early on, especially before the bad ending, is probably because showing the money will encourage billionaire explorers to start their own companies (such as SpaceEx and Blue Origin).” This seems to be a direct response to the last decade of news reports heralding the establishment of a 2019 company, which may not be enough to make someone a hero, smart, or successful. No,” Myrick said.
Shane Tilton, an associate professor of multimedia journalism at Ohio Northern University, said people are drawn to the story because “basically history repeats itself,” citing the Titanic sinking as an example.
“This luxury cruise basically risked everything. It was too fast, it was too reckless, and in the end it was a death sentence for the crew. Much like this Titan submarine ,” Tilton said. “Memes are kind of natural because they're very easy to tell and easy to communicate because there's a parallel story.”
As the search continued for a week, more memes emerged.Several made a joke It cited widely circulated reports that killer whales appeared to attack and sink a ship off the southwestern tip of Europe in May, and argued that killer whales could have been the culprit.
Others created memes and posted videos as a way to add comments, as evidenced by the more than 71 million users who used the #titansubmarine hashtag on TikTok.
“Given that we can't even visually see suffering, it's not a huge leap for many to make fun of the irony of it all and connect with others who find it humorous as well.” said Myrick. “It increases group cohesion among people who would never have the opportunity to explore just for fun.”
Still, criticism of the dark humor began to emerge within a week.
“Well, I know we hate rich people, but if you're laughing at the idea of a non-evil person dying what is probably the most nightmarish death imaginable, it's time to log out for a little while. I think it might be.” One Twitter user wrote:.
“I know it's all an 'eat the rich' vibe, but multiple people can die just because they want what they're spending without shame to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” “I don't think you're going to laugh at that. Even though you didn't do your research before paying,” another person wrote. user.
Myrick said this statement was not unexpected, given that “our society has more income inequality than ever before.”
Another reason why the conversation happened online is not so surprising.
“The internet is generally not a warm and fuzzy place, especially on platforms like Twitter that have done less moderation of content,” she said. “Black humor is a natural by-product of the unfortunate circumstances of some of the luckiest people on earth, and many internet users have commented on this truly unusual event by comparing others with a similar sense of humor. I would like to talk to someone.”
