Where the Boys Are

If you pay any attention to the colloquy in global news, you have no doubt heard of the fatal cruise ship tragedy off the coast of Italy. The Costa Concordia ran aground on well charted rocks and partially sank on January 13, 2012. 11 are confirmed dead and 21 are still missing of the almost 4,200 passengers and crew who were on board. Of course with the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic rapidly approaching, there are many comparisons being made between the two ill fated vessels. 

One glaringly obvious disparity is the behavior of the victims of each disaster. Granted not much is known about the final moments and initial reactions to the Titanic's demise, but there is enough evidence to know that chivalry is dying if not dead. 

The first scandal came when the Coast Guard caught the Costa Concordia's captain,  Francesco Schettino, fleeing the ship while passengers and crew were still fearfully attempting to evacuate the precariously perched pinnace. He and his first officer were arrested on preliminary charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. It seems like a fairly accepted principle that the captain of the ship goes down with the ship. There are reports of the Titanic's captain, Edward Smith, standing at the wheel while his craft slipped into the Atlantic. Other people say he was on the deck encouraging his crew and aiding with the loading of the lifeboats. However it happened, he undoubtedly displayed unparalleled bravery and honor in the face of imminent death. Captain Schettino, on the other hand, got the H-E-double hockey sticks out of dodge with no regard for the 4,200 other lives for whom he was responsible. Making the situation worse, Schettino wasn't taking a course guided by the state of the art navigation system. He had turned it off and was going by sight alone. The alarms that should have sounded to alert him the ship was off course were silenced by his egotistical attempt at piloting the 114,137 ton vessel "intuitively". He had, of course, done this "at least three, maybe four times in the past", so he was nothing less than a bona fide professional. 

The second story coming out of the mess is the decorum of the male passengers and crew. The Titanic was famous for enforcing the "women and children first" etiquette when it came to boarding the life boats. The numbers speak for themselves: more third class women survived than first class men. 97% of first class women made it to life boats. It was an honor for these men to step aside and let their wives and children safely float away from the doomed liner. This does not mean they did it without fear, but courage is standing in the face of what scares you and acting as if it is a privilege to endure the terror. They acted like MEN. Now fast forward 100 years to the Costa Concordia. In true 21st century, pusillanimous, coddled form, the men aboard the sinking ship scrambled to be the first in the lifeboats. Women have recounted being shoved and pushed aside as men abandoned all dignity in order to save themselves. 

Where have all the men gone? No one teaches their boys to open the door for a woman, to stand when she leaves the table, to treat females with respect. You'd be lucky to find a 25 year old who does not spend at least one day a week playing hours of mind numbing, gory video games. 25 year olds in 1912? Usually married with several children and working to make ends meet. They were most definitely not sitting at home leeching off their moms and working as a minimum wage "sandwich artist" at Subway. It pains me to no end to know that my chances of finding an actual man and not a boy playing dress up in a suit are growing slimmer with each passing year. Apparently there were mostly boys on the Costa Concordia. And unfortunately it seems that men, like the Titanic, are slowly disappearing with time.