OceanGate Titan, 800 Migrants and the American Media Machine

On June 14 a small immobilized fishing boat near the coast of Greece capsized. Nearly 700 migrants drowned. According to the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson “this is the worst tragedy ever in the Mediterranean Sea”.

Why did this dreadful story get so little attention in America?

No, American media wasn’t worried about interrupting Father’s Day. They would’ve cared more about interrupting an episode of Abbott Elementary.

Maybe our media didn’t want to interrupt Juneteenth? The celebration of the emancipation of the last African Americans enslaved in Galveston, Texas?

If America cared about the formerly enslaved we wouldn’t be the formerly enslaved.

Why The Lopsided Coverage Is So Utterly Shameful

Stack that story up against the story of The Titan. The Titan was a submersible contraption held together with makeshift parts, some you can find at Home Depot, or a used RV shop.

The Titan went missing never to be seen again. We now know the ship imploded. Five souls were aboard this death trap when it was last seen diving to visit the wreckage of The Titanic.

The Titan passengers vanished, but not without nearly a full week’s worth of non-stop coverage.

Do the math, on the one hand we have five rich tourists on a joyride gone wrong. Wealthy and bored, the group jumped into a vessel the size of a Hummer for a grand adventure on the high seas. It was for thrills.

Fishing trawler containing migrants pre-capsized event

On the other hand we have over 750, perhaps as many as 800 migrants. The migrants consisted of hundreds of people from various countries including Syria, Egypt and Pakistan. They were fleeing war, persecution, climate change and poverty. The migrants were hoping to reach Italy. Sure, it was risky, but the travel was not for thrill seekers. It was for hopes of a better life. Hopes that have been dashed by the fierce force of the unforgiving high seas.

America’s Coverage of International Events is Terrible

America has a horrible track record when it comes to covering international news. If it’s not about us, it’s not for us.

Cable news is about advertisers and ratings.

The Migrant story is depressing. It takes brute force to wrap your head around the sheer horror of being a passenger on a sinking ship. To be on that boat helpless, the end is nearing. The agonizing dread. The futile grasp of the waves. Fighting for a life preserver. The loss of humanity.

The Titan Ship story is sad and all, but there’s also a bit of

“well, that’s what you get”.

Some say us Americans should be ashamed of ourselves. How dare we pick and choose our news this way?

I agree. Our mainstream media is as profit driven as Amazon, as conscious as Twitter and as revolutionary as Walmart — as in not at all.

I am ashamed of our media, that’s why I became an Independent Media Company. Speaking up for the average American who walks their own dogs and shovel their own snow; trust me, we feel much more sadness for the migrants than the wealthy tourists.

Don’t judge us by our media coverage.

5 Corporations control 90% of our media. Our media plays crooked games for profits. James Cameron, Director of the film “The Titanic” recently stated about The Titan:

“It didn’t get certified because they knew they wouldn’t pass”

As for the fake hope of there being survivors:

“Their comms were lost, and navigation was lost — and I said instantly, you can’t lose comms and navigation together without an extreme catastrophic event or high, highly energetic catastrophic event. And the first thing that popped to mind was an implosion.”

As for media coverage,

“Felt like a prolonged and nightmarish charade where people are running around talking about banging noises and talking about oxygen and all this other stuff”.

Americans are not their media.

The average American sitting at home with the updates chiming on their smartphones may not know you could’ve walked out of the “The Titan” show on the first day and not missed a thing, but many credible sources did.

Mr. Cameron is saying the likelihood The OceanGate Submersible had imploded was somewhere around 99.9%, but like good little capitalistic parasites our Corporate News Media kept ratcheting up the drama as if there was actual hope the outcome would be different.

America’s Big Media machine was able to get away with its scheme and in the end receive very little if any backlash because most of America is working class. The truth is we don’t have a whole lot of pity for rich old white men arrogant enough to spend a quarter million dollars making up dumb ways to die. Know this:

The Titan is raw meat for working class folk who can’t afford healthcare, a $400 emergency, or new hearing aids.

Contrary to what you’ve heard about us, most of us care and are saddened that hundreds of poor people drowned trying to find a better life.



We, the people, send our deepest condolences even if our media does not.