Now, What Have We Learned?
Thursday Thoughts (Late!)
Those who follow me on TikTok know exactly what this post will be about.
It’s about audacity. It’s about delusion. Everyday this week, I have seen video after video of a man named Stockton Rush rationalizing — with absolute confidence — the durability, innovative prowess, and cutting edge-ness of every scrap part, self-rewired off-brand game controller, ziplock bag toilet, and buckling acrylic window contained within the dangerously unreliable carbon-fibered hull of this now confirmed doomed submersible. He’s doing it in videos filmed by CBS for literal global TV audiences in the year of our lord 2022! He’s doing it in videos being filmed by passengers and guests! In certain videos, he’s doing it with a bike helmet on! The vessel is not a bike, but an unregulated submersible that, for cash, will take tourists to a location less people have been to than to actual outer space! He’s talking about the unimportance of passenger safety! He’s doing it with the straightest of face, the clearest of voice, and eyes twinkling with pride and confidence!
In a 2019 interview with Smithsonian Magazine, he said passenger safety regulations hinder innovation! He talked about wanting to drill oil and mine diamonds in the ocean! This man did! And Smithsonian printed it! And filed the article under “Innovation!”
(I don’t have the energy to really dive into how little resistance this absolutely delusional man had in finding support and coverage for his visibly rickety, ethically unsafe, and strategically unsound ideas).
Smithsonian Magazine called this man a “daredevil!” But, um, daredevil only works if you’re alone in your reckless insanity! He told them he’s running a DIY passenger seashuttle and hates safety regulations, and they called him a daredevil! Every outlet who entertained and legitimized this man deserves jail!
Sigh.
Listen, I live in a country founded on white male unmitigated gall, just survived a presidency still leaking gallons of white male unmitigated gall, after an insurrection starring tribal interpretations of white male unmitigated gall, with every day of every week being full of more and more unmitigated white male gall. Some days the gall gives me a little giggle! Some days the gall does not!
I thought I was numb to the gall! And then this submarine and this man show up! And, for the first time in a long time, I was absolutely shook. Still shook!
He convinced several credible news outlets to promote and cover this thing! He had billionaires paying $250,000 and committing to pre-dive training for this! Billionaires who I *guarantee* you wouldn’t get on a private jet if the seats were torn and bathroom was broken! Who wouldn’t invest $250K in a startup if they saw a typo in the pitch deck!
@jawnontheinternet sums up the rest of my thoughts perfectly:
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