Misunderstanding the past teaches us nothing... ”In the current situation, I see the people who are supposed to keep us safe — our elected officials, and government bodies worldwide — being compared to misrepresented ghosts of the past.
I see the current unfolding scenarios being contrasted against broadly-generalised (and often false) ideas of the Titanic disaster, which is something that has always happened, and will always happen.
However, I personally don’t think the comparisons hold water.
I think what happened in 1912 was terrible – but I think much of what’s happening now is a lot worse. What happened in 1912 was an accident. Much of what is happening today is not only preventable, but is also intentional.
Using the name ‘Titanic’ to draw loose parallels grabs people’s attention, which is what makes it so great for an article headline. The story has reached biblical proportions by this point. But we’re boiling down real people who made real decisions and lived real lives (up and down the class structure) to their most base form. Therefore, the metric doesn’t work in my opinion, because the reasoning behind a lot of what happened on April 15th 1912 is lost.
The White Star Line, and subsequently every other shipping company, learned their lesson after April 15th 1912. When will we learn our lesson?”