A flood of jokes and memes about the missing Titanic submarine on social media has been met with outrage.
Before the US Coast Guard said that a ‘catastrophic implosion’ had likely destroyed the sub and killed the five passengers on board – updates on the search were overshadowed by online posts poking fun at their plight.
Some touched on more light-hearted themes such as the use of a gaming controller to control the OceanGate vessel, or zany notions of how to assist the rescue efforts.
Others were more macabre, playing on the countdown until the passengers were expected to run out of oxygen, or suggesting their wealth made them deserving of their fate.
Kentucky-based journalist Bobby Ellison said: ‘People making jokes about these people in the submarine… that’s five lives. Nothing is funny about 5 people being stuck under water with limited time.’
One Twitter user named Chris wrote: ‘The entire online discussion surrounding the OceanGate submarine is an indictment on the vile nature of social media.
‘Five people are either dead or starving of oxygen (imagine the terror) and Twitter is awash with jokes/hot takes about them. Gross’
He added: ‘I am all for a morbid joke and laughing at tragic events; however, this seems to be particularly nasty because people are directly mocking those currently affected.’
A commenter replied: ‘I imagine myself or my family in their position and that’s something I don’t ever want to go through.’
Another user wrote: ‘The tweets joking about the missing #OceanGate sub make me physically ill.
‘These are real people you are mocking. Their wealth is immaterial. Have some effing compassion.’
Some social media experts argue the jokes are part of a trend of increasing ‘crudeness’ and ‘nastiness’ in online discussions.
Susan Schreiner, technology industry analyst at C4 Trends, told Forbes magazine: ‘Jokes represent the times – so it’s disappointing but no surprise when abrasive, foulmouthed or tasteless jokes are made at a time of tragedy given where we are as a society in 2023.
‘People have forgotten how to talk with each other if they are on “the other side”.
‘Kindness and thoughtfulness are slipping away—as slurs, invectives, insults and unbecoming behavior are increasingly evident not just online—but also by politicians and celebrities on the evening news.’
