Thanks to our colleague Scott for sharing this and giving this commentary a headline.

After more than 96 hours in a 22-foot (minivan size) pressure hull more than two miles below the surface, the Coast Guard and Navy report that the Titanic expedition of 2023 has ended in death to five “explorers” of the “unknown.” Scattered debris on the ocean floor indicates an implosion. Several commenters have wondered if they found a way to destroy the integrity of their carbon-fiber deep sea vessel, instead of dying of asphyxiation when most oxygen was replaced by their own exhaled CO2.

Another commenter asserts that they were willing to self-sacrifice themselves (all being white men) to their Woke God of anti-white hatred and political correctness. The writers make a strong case going back more than five years.

As I told Scott, now I understand why they so desperately want to have the bodies ?? (or whatever is left at that depth and pressure) recovered. 

Real explorers with a firm belief in God and themselves would consider a final resting place for their cast-offs (corpses) at 2+ miles below sea level to be fitting and honor their ambitions and dedication to risking all for their goals. But not your modern Woke SJW types. But no doubt the faithful want relics to worship. You can’t exactly easily put up a signboard memorial like people do along the highway where idiot DUIs killed themselves (or others), out in the middle of the Atlantic.

A short Twitter snippet also shared by Scott addresses the lack of certification by third-parties and the amateur two-by-twice nature of the “Titan.” We here at TPOL point out that the “regulatory” agencies constantly referenced are scarce to be trusted to do a proper job as (a) they are government and (b) they are the government! Far better to have obtained underwriting and third-party evaluation by obtaining, say, $100 million life insurance policies on each of the five denizens of the vessel (or would “container” or just “can” be more appropriate?)

Regardless of that, people no longer want to accept that doing adventures entails significant risks. Risks to limb and to life! Even when they are not a voyage of discovery but a prideful trip to a monument to the arrogance of too many people like the RMS Titanic.

Part of this is an American myth or fantasy of zero-risk space exploration: the fact that no American died in space for more than a decade – from Alan Shepherd’s brief ascent to all of the lunar landings, the only fatalities directly attributed to space exploration took place on Terra Firma (Apollo 1: Grissom, White, and Chaffee). Even after the loss of not one but two crews on Space Shuttle missions, and an unknown number of Russian and other deaths, we still have this idea that we are “post-history” and people do not need to die for what most consider “great things.”

This is, of course, necessary to overcome the “natural” fear of death those in Western society have today: in large part because of their believing in evolution and humanism. But it is also firmly based on the idea that government can be a new god of this world – but that we just have to work the bugs out.

Of course, this perhaps causes us to be willing to overlook their wokeness and gullible stupidity: they were really willing to risk their lives to accomplish this. Even if they are overconfident and arrogant.

One of the worst pieces of evidence of the decline (NOT the fall) of Western Civilization is the unwillingness of people to risk lives and reputations for the sake of exploration and discovery. If nothing else, we should honor these people for their willingness to do that.