Women and children first

[Jason D. Tiller]

Steven,

Some men believed that they had conquered mother nature. But not all.

I wasn't referring to all with the same brush. Just the ones that were in power, shipping tycoons, and the movers and shakers of the time.

 

[Steven Christian]

Perhaps. But I'm looking at it from the angle that it was the technological age; things were just starting to come into existence, women hadn't been given the right to vote yet, certain safety regulations weren't in place (SOLAS for example) and the only way to get from one side of the old world to the new, was by ship. Not to mention, man believed he had conquered Mother Nature.

Ok. I must have misunderstood. When I see the phrase man instead of men that denotes mankind to me. The collective. Inglush has never been my forte. Cheers.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Some men believed that they had conquered mother nature. But not all. Even in those days some had the foresight to know what was coming if things weren't put into check.

I wasn't referring to all with the same brush. Just the ones that were in power, shipping tycoons, and the movers and shakers of the time.

I believe both of you are right in a way. Yes, even in those days there were people who realized that Man was getting a bit too self-centered and arrogant with his perceived achievements and thought that He had conquered nature. But various events in the past 110 years or so, some of them quite recently (the 2004 tsunami, COVID etc), have taught us otherwise. Mother Nature, who I believe still has a lot of secrets to unravel, will continue to send us timely warnings as and when.

Like Jason says, in the Edwardian Era there were powerful people who between them practically controlled how the World functioned and got away with it to some extent. Things are not actually that much different now, except that the nature of those "movers and shakers" has changed, and IMO not necessarily for the better. While back then those people were relatively few in number and due to the very nature of their positions made a lot of news and so were easily recognized, today's movers and shakers are more latent, scattered among us and with a few exceptions, almost invisible. I refer to the Digital Nomads, programmers, hackers and such like who might be behind a desk in some obscure corner and yet be able to influence the way things run and in many cases are actually doing so under the banner of some multinational firm. That might sound like an old fashioned statement from a Senior Citizen, but I feel that's what is happening all around us.

 

[Steven Christian]

Yes I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head Arun. The only difference between the time of Titanic and today is everything is more accelerated. What you call a multinational firm is what I and others call the military industrial complex. Their the ones calling the shots and pushing everything. It's what President Eisenhower warned us against in his famous speech when he was leaving office. He knew where this was all heading. Well we did it again. Drifting far off what the thread is supposed to be about. I guess that 6th degree of separation thing must apply to threads as well......Cheers.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Well we did it again. Drifting far off what the thread is supposed to be about

Only briefly and considering the subject of the OP, it is not entirely unrelated. However, I see your point; if you want to start a thread on this subject under the "Off Topic" heading, I'll be happy to join in. I have a feeling in time there are others who might do the same.

 

[Steven Christian]

Only briefly and considering the subject of the OP, it is not entirely unrelated. However, I see your point; if you want to start a thread on this subject under the "Off Topic" heading, I'll be happy to join in. I have a feeling in time there are others who might do the same.

I'll let somebody else start that in the off topic section if they want. I think President Eisenhower was right. But he was a much more educated man than me. He knew these things. Me...I don't really have clue how things are going to end up. Just guesses from what history has taught me. Anyway I am heading off to post in the off topic section on a somewhat different subject. The Cold War film thread. Cheers.

 

[Ezekiel]

Robert is correct. You cannot apply today's modern standards to a disaster that occurred 111 years ago, which was a far different time; society was not developed yet.

And yet Lightoller, Smith and Wilde were spectacularly stupid even for the already poor standards of 1912. Simple as that.

 

[Steven Christian]

And yet Lightoller, Smith and Wilde were spectacularly stupid even for the already poor standards of 1912. Simple as that.

Maybe you should lighten up a little bit. When you make statements like that people don't tend to take you seriously. Again..we all have the benefit of hindsight. It's been repeated many times but it's worth repeating. Applying today's standards to past times is an invalid argument. Besides, today's standards aren't all that great. We have a plethora of idiots today running things. They wouldn't have done any better. Cheers.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Besides, today's standards aren't all that great. We have a plethora of idiots today running things

Agreed entirely with the previous post, particularly the quoted part. There are some "standards" of today that are very questionable but we won't go into it. These forums are politics-free.

 

[Steven Christian]

Agreed entirely with the previous post, particularly the quoted part. There are some "standards" of today that are very questionable but we won't go into it. These forums are politics-free.

Yes. I don't want to get into politics here either. Although that's a part everything now. What I was mostly referring to is that today we have demonstrated our ability to screw things up as bad or worse than the people of 1912 did. Our standards today in many things shouldn't be held up to condemn the past. There not that great. Cheers.