Women and children first, or every man for himself?

Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2012-01-16 06:17

Article here. Excerpt:

'The death toll from the Costa Concordia tragedy has reached five, and more stories are emerging about the chaos inside the luxury cruise liner as it started to go down.

Melbourne mother Michelle Barraclough told the Herald Sun that she had to fight hysterical adults to hold on to her 12-year-old daughter, and that the men were the worst.

“Everybody just shoved and screamed in 15 different languages,” she said.

“The people that pushed their way on to the boat were then trying to tell them to shut the door, not to let any more people on the boat after they had pushed their way on.

“We just couldn’t believe it - especially the men, they were worse than the women.”
...
Personally, I would hope that the stronger people would look after the weaker. That a man or a strong woman would help a child to safety before saving themselves. That a swimmer would help a non-swimmer. That somehow, in the anarchy, there would be heroes.

Unlike an aeroplane, cruise ship passengers are not seated in orderly rows, with neat lights pointing the way to the nearest exit. But you would hope there was some sort of plan, something better than everyone for themselves. Maybe the lifeboats could be built with designated seats for the weak, the young, the sick. Maybe they could be designed so there are enough readily accessible seats for everyone; although it’s hard to see how that would be possible when half the boat is under water.

Maybe the boat’s designers didn’t think about it hard enough.

Is it time for a new rule? What would you do if your life was at risk?'

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"the people who pushed their way onto the boat were then trying to tell them to shut the door, not to let any more people on the boat after they had pushed their way on."

on the titanic, women and children were allowed to board and then they shoved off, without even trying to find men to fill the many empty seats. those men knew they were dead shortly after they hit the water, and yet no riots to fill the empty seats?

there is a big difference between being a gentleman and being whatever it is that lets one stand by and see empty seats go to waste in the face of a certain horrible death.

the actions of those on both ships were strange, each in its own way. have people really changed that much? one bunch went to their deaths like samurai. the next fought like samurai to get in the boat.

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Submitted by daveinga on Tue, 2012-01-17 03:53

@Dave, notice two things... 1: that quote doesn't describe the gender who was doing that "tell them to shut the door", it was only implied it was men due to the positioning of a woman's opinion that "men were the worst". 2: Of course women would feel men were worst behaved for doing the exact same thing women were doing, men are expected to stand back and die, so any man that behaves in exactly the same manner is "worst" simply for not doing what HE's supposed to be doing. "Men were the worst" isn't a reflection of men's behavior, but rather, a reflection on their failure to behave as those women wanted them to (IE, putting the life of the women who's bitching ahead of their own.).

My posted comment to the article:

"How quickly the feminists turn to the "women are weaker and less capable then men" when it suits their purposes but every suggest that as a reason for something they don't like, such as a reason less women are able to meat the physical requirements of firefighter or military entry, and hell hath no fury.

And how odd that people saying men should allow themselves to die due to their gender should call men who say that isn't fair "misogynists" and "woman haters". Don't they see how their accusations are a psychological projections of their own misandry? Men's lives are meaningless to these people, and they have the gall to claim others are hateful based on gender?"

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Submitted by Kratch on Tue, 2012-01-17 17:49

and doesn't it always seems to be the mosy handy victim class narrative that matters in times like these. and if this liner had crashed off the coast of Alabama or Miss., the media would have found the one guy there wearing overalls, no shirt, no shoes, and 9 red headed kids in tow.

'yep, seen 'er flip up and over like ma's pet 'coon.'

they always try to portray southerners in a good light.

you know, they should maybe qualify folks when they come on board. then we could tell about their prejudices and not cruise with them if they ranked men lowly. on the titanic they locked the poorer classes down below until the rich women had boarded. i would think a fair method of entering the life boats would be as follows:

1. nursing children and their parents (both)
2. other children under 16 and their parents
3. the elderly, crippled, sick, etc.
4. everyone else

i would wager if a big liner went down today in the north atlantic and the category of women was up there with children, and there was another category for feminists to be equal to men (their stated goal) and go last with the men, there wouldn't be any feminists on board that day. yessir, i'd bet the farm on that wager.

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Submitted by daveinga on Wed, 2012-01-18 00:38

The days of the weak and feeble women and children are over.....less the children. Men and women are EQUAL! women want to play men's football, soccer, be on the swim team and wrestle in boys tournaments in high school. Why can't they help get the elderly and young on life boats just like men. If they can rant an rave about the Title IX quotas in college sports, I'm sure they can use their athletics to aid an elderly man on a life boat. I'm just saying.

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Submitted by usfspa2012 on Thu, 2012-01-19 03:23