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Celebrities: Out of Space and Out of Touch
Who remembers when the submersible, Titan, imploded almost two years ago in the Atlantic Ocean? The underwater vehicle built by OceanGate was carrying five wealthy passengers, including the co-founder of OceanGate, Stockton Rush. The submersible was traveling to the bottom of the ocean so the passengers could see the remains of the Titanic.
As I wrote here, the public reaction to the tragedy was not kind. Each passenger had paid $250,000 to view the remains of the Titanic up close and personal. Many, many people had a hard time mustering up sympathy for rich people doing “stupid” things with more money than they could ever spend.
Fast forward, and on Monday morning, six women rocketed to space on Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin spacecraft. These were known women — TV host Gayle King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez (Jeff Bezos’ fiancee), Aisha Bowe (former NASA rocket scientist), Amanda Nguyen (research scientist), and Kerianne Flynn (film producer).
Thank God the flight into space went as planned for the six ladies. I mean that. Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that half of the people who made fun of the submersible sinking would have cracked jokes if the same thing happened to their phallic shaped spacecraft. The celebrities being on board would have elicited sympathy from the other half, and most definitely, from the media.
