The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the discovery of debris from the sub, and that the five people aboard are believed to be dead.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the discovery of debris from the sub, and that the five people aboard are believed to be dead.
This wasn’t a normal submarine, though. It was a plastic death tube that was totally uncertified and bound to fail eventually.
You could argue buyer beware, but you could argue this is negligent and the tourists should be protected from their own stupidity too.
Sure, and if it’s in your own personal risk tolerance, you should be well within your rights to do so.
The kind of reactionary hand wringing on this issue is telling about how conservative the world has become.
Risk conservative, maybe. Political conservatism is usually gung-ho about this sort of thing.
I see the logic of that, but then again people can be real idiots when it comes to things they haven’t been trained about (ask anyone that interacts with the general public for work). I also see the logic in things like mandating seatbelts. Especially if you have a situation where medical treatment will be provided at great public expense for the outcome of whatever stupid decision.
Before someone gets mad at me, I have no actual opinion here.
I think it becomes a question of what well back up and ‘insure’ as a society. Because we’re willing to back people up and insure against the risk of driving in a vehicle, we require certain safety standards, levels of training, etc.
I think people should and need to be able to make all the stupidest decisions they can possibly make. I also don’t think it’s society’s role to absorb that risk. I don’t think a major search and rescue operation should have been undertaken for people doing something that was incredibly risky and dangerous. It’s an edge that should stay sharp, and have real consequences. But I also strongly believe we shouldn’t be regulating people’s behavior to not also take that risk. That’s their business and the whole point of living in a liberal society. As a society we get to decide which corners to pad and which edges to soften. I’d like to see us padding the corners and reduce the risk for an immigrants voyage on an over packed boat to try and better themselt rather than some dipshit billionaires obviously stupid hobby.
I think both of them having the right to take that risk is a fundamental human right. But we as a society get to decide which risks well offer some cushion to.