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- Your brain demands stories
We’re not gonna talk about the submersible. I promise. But I do need to use it as a jumping off point here, so give me a second. Ever since it went into the water was immediately lost – one full week ago – you & I have been seeing lots of people tell haunting fiction about what those five men were experiencing. Stories evoking the horror of realising it had all gone wrong… were all made up. Hyperrealistic? Sure, maybe. But ultimately it’s still just imagination, as only a very small group of people in this world know what it’s like to be in even a regular submarine, let alone this thing.
The impulse to weave a story for those guys taps into the weight of anecdotal value, something you learn a lot about in journalism. “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.” Telling a compelling story that makes people feel the weight of the events is easier when you can focus on one or a few people. It lets you really get into the details. And it’s those details that allow the rest of us to imagine ourselves in the situation, to understand the feelings of a stranger. It’s the specificity that gets the world to care.
We’re only human, our brains look for clear story arcs.
When up to 750 people are thrown into the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea from a small fishing boat, and the recovery is still underway, and Greek officials (whose waters these are) are trying to hide information about what really happened… It’s difficult to immediately tell a singular, compelling story about that experience for minds to grasp onto. In the still unfolding chaos, unconfirmed numbers and fragments of information are not enough to grasp onto.
I hope this doesn’t sound like an excuse, but when people say that the media isn’t covering the Mediterranean migrant boat tragedy, that’s just not true. There are lots of articles online. What I think people really mean when they say “the media isn’t covering this” is that we haven’t established a clear narrative to follow along.
In absence of first hand accounts, we collectively created flash fiction to drum up a world of interest in one story. But we don’t need to use our imaginations to understand the panic, fear and horror of the children trapped in the hold of the boat – where you’d usually store cargo – as it lurched sideways and filled with rushing water. Because we already have the first hand accounts from startlingly similar situations.
So, if you spent even two minutes this week wondering what it would be like to die in a submarine… I have a request.
Please spend a few minutes reflecting on this: an excerpt from Doaa Al Zamel’s story, a Syrian refugee who is one of only 11 survivors of the 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck that killed 500 asylum seekers.
“Half of their boat was already underwater; it was sinking fast. Doaa thought of the hundreds of people trapped in the hull. ‘They're doomed’, she thought as she held on to the edge of the sinking vessel, ‘and so are we’.
She heard screaming all around her, muffled only by the sound of the boat's motor. People desperately grabbed on to anything that floated—luggage, water canisters, even other people, pulling them down with them. Doaa noticed that the sea around her was red and soon realized that people were being sucked into the boat's propeller and dismembered by its blades.
Overwhelmed with panic and fear, Doaa began shouting for Bassem [her fiance]. A few long seconds later, she heard his voice. She turned her head toward the sound and spotted him in the sea. She wanted to go to him but couldn't bring herself to jump into the water. The boat was sinking at an angle that was drawing her toward the spinning propeller. "Let go, or it will cut you up, too!" Bassem cried out.
She closed her eyes and opened her hands, falling backward, arms and legs spread as she hit the water. She was buoyant for a few seconds on her back, then she felt someone pulling at her headscarf, which slipped off her head. As she lay floating on her back, she felt her long hair being yanked under the water. Those who were drowning below were grabbing at whatever they could to try to pull themselves to the surface. They pulled Doaa's face below the water, but somehow she managed to push their hands away.”
You can read Doaa’s story here.
Tell your people that you love them today.
Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:
If you’re hesitant about Australia lowering the voting age to 16, do read this interview with two of the MakeIt16 campaigners. Their arguments are convincing and just downright logical. CLICK HERE TO READ.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
"He’s So Babygirl:" How Twitter Stans are Reworking Masculinity on Bits&Pieces substack
"In babygirlifying men, women submit them to a nearly pathetic state. Characters who would otherwise be despicable and unrelatable are reduced to their victimhood and emotional turmoil, effectively shrinking their prowess… When a stan calls a grown man ‘tiny,’ as they so often do, his threatening nature dissipates.”
Sydney Wanting to ‘Rebrand’ a Bunch of Suburbs Is Everything Wrong With This City on The Latch
“Sydney’s original sprawling maze of winding streets flooded with music and good times grew organically over hundreds of years. Governments stepping in to artificially cultivate ‘culture’ – whatever that means – have a way of clipping the wings of the radical, the offensive, and the weird: the very essence of what makes nightlife unique and enjoyable.”
Pharrell for Louis Vuitton Is the Marvel Movie of Fashion Shows on Back Row substack
“Fashion is, like the film industry, leaning into the blockbuster strategy, where studios maximize profits by attempting to create a handful of mega-blockbusters each year… The show wasn’t meant to be a critical success or good design. It was meant to sell bags. It was meant to commercialize Paris, heritage, celebrities. It was meant to be, simply, a show.”
Nobody I’ve been locked up with in a psychiatric hospital felt ‘proud’ of their illness on The Guardian
“In the last decade I have noticed a shift in how openly mental health is discussed… But the sickest people I’ve ever known – myself included – have had almost no part in this opening up, as if we’re suffering from a different condition altogether.”