Don't Forget, People Can Be Really Stupid
What a title for a blog post, but it was inspired by a clip on our local news covering the ceremonies in the North Atlantic marking 100 years since Titanic sank beneath the waves and cost 1500 people their lives.
So, someone actually suggested raising the Titanic. Talk about a really stupid idea. Who ever is thinking this or talking about it clearly has no idea what condition that ship is in and doesn't care that it is an under water grave. I'm afraid that even if the ship had been found after even a month, that the sinking did too much damage to ever have considered it feasible to raise. Not only is it in water that is too deep to work in, but the ship is in more pieces than can be counted and even the largest piece, the bow, is broken and twisted. Not only that, but we don't have the technology to lift something that large form that depth. Add to that its condition and it becomes impossible.
And it's not like this is top secret knowledge. Every documentary on Titanic talks about the fragile condition of the wreck. And somewhere it seems forgotten that Titanic is a grave for some 1200 people whose bodies were never recovered. Even bringing up a few of the artifacts strewn on the ocean floor has raised questions on what should be done. Those who control the wreck are dedicated to preserving it. Even James Cameron is an advocate of study and preservation, not recovery. He has been down there more that most other people and has become quite the expert on the wreck.
I guess I should bring this back to writing. People can come up with stupid ideas and as a writer this is something I need to keep in mind. Isaac Asimov was an expert on having characters behaving in the stupid manner of so many of our species. It is a flaw of our species that we often work off incomplete information to come to a decision or come up with an idea. Unfortunately we often carry through on those and end up doing some very stupid things that a careful analysis of the information would show us to be unwise and ill conceived. We all do it, just some are masters of it.
So here is to those who still think we can raise the Titanic (a good book/movie in its day, but not based on any knowledge of the wreck) who have inspired me to have my characters come up with their own equally stupid ideas.
So, someone actually suggested raising the Titanic. Talk about a really stupid idea. Who ever is thinking this or talking about it clearly has no idea what condition that ship is in and doesn't care that it is an under water grave. I'm afraid that even if the ship had been found after even a month, that the sinking did too much damage to ever have considered it feasible to raise. Not only is it in water that is too deep to work in, but the ship is in more pieces than can be counted and even the largest piece, the bow, is broken and twisted. Not only that, but we don't have the technology to lift something that large form that depth. Add to that its condition and it becomes impossible.
And it's not like this is top secret knowledge. Every documentary on Titanic talks about the fragile condition of the wreck. And somewhere it seems forgotten that Titanic is a grave for some 1200 people whose bodies were never recovered. Even bringing up a few of the artifacts strewn on the ocean floor has raised questions on what should be done. Those who control the wreck are dedicated to preserving it. Even James Cameron is an advocate of study and preservation, not recovery. He has been down there more that most other people and has become quite the expert on the wreck.
I guess I should bring this back to writing. People can come up with stupid ideas and as a writer this is something I need to keep in mind. Isaac Asimov was an expert on having characters behaving in the stupid manner of so many of our species. It is a flaw of our species that we often work off incomplete information to come to a decision or come up with an idea. Unfortunately we often carry through on those and end up doing some very stupid things that a careful analysis of the information would show us to be unwise and ill conceived. We all do it, just some are masters of it.
So here is to those who still think we can raise the Titanic (a good book/movie in its day, but not based on any knowledge of the wreck) who have inspired me to have my characters come up with their own equally stupid ideas.
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