For over three days in June, the world was mesmerized by the loss and implosion of the Titan Submersible launched by the private company OceanGate Expeditions, to explore the remains of the sunken cruise ship, Titanic. Five people died in this private adventure gone wrong. Canada, France, the United States, and private sources spent millions in a search and rescue mission. The US Coast Guard alone spend over a million dollars, which it cannot recoup because the federal agency is not allowed to charge for its rescue operations.

During this expensive, futile search and rescue for a billionaire and his well-heeled pals, a few other people died as well, though the world paid them little attention. While the 75-hour search operation was going on:

One million people died on this earth

10,000 of those souls died from vehicle accidents

5,000 others died from cancer

2,300 women died in childbirth

Meanwhile, in the USA alone…

2,300 Americans died from obesity-related conditions

330 died from gunshots

150 died from AIDS

132 died from opioid overdoes

18 died from alcoholism

Five wealthy adventurers—not explorers, not scientists, just folks on the journey because they were rich—consumed about a million times more social media and air time than the other million who died.

A pretty fair representation of the values of the world we live in.