Titanic II; Better Luck Next Time! By James Reed
If I had billions of dollars then I would do something like Clive Palmer to cement my legacy; build a new Titanic and call it Titanic II or III. Titanic I was about inspiring Enlightenment hope and excitement for the future "courage, resilience, service." I would also have dudes sitting on the front of the vessel with high-powered searchlights to look out for ice bergs that always seem to collide with unsinkable ships, all wearing T-shirts with "courage, resilience, service," on them. Maybe it might be possible to use modern tech to reinforce the hull, so ice bergs don't cut it open, like an ice breaker. Or better yet, keep right away from ice bergs.
And speaking of the Titanic, readers may be interested in knowing that there are some fascinating conspiracy theories about the Titanic, such as that the ship was not sunk but was swapped for insurance purposes. As Wiki notes:
"Some conspiracy theorists believe that the Titanic was sunk on purpose to eliminate opposition to the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank. Some of the wealthiest men in the world were aboard the Titanic for her maiden voyage, several of whom, including John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Isidor Straus, were allegedly opposed to the creation of a U.S. central bank. No evidence of their opposition to Morgan's centralized banking ideas has been found –– Astor and Guggenheim never spoke publicly on the subject, while Straus spoke in favor of the concept. All three men died during the sinking. Conspiracy theorists suggest that J. P. Morgan, the 74 year-old financier who set up the eponymous banking firm, arranged to have the men board the ship and then sunk it to eliminate them. Morgan, nicknamed the "Napoleon of Wall Street", had helped create General Electric, U.S. Steel, and International Harvester, and was credited with almost single-handedly saving the U.S. banking system during the Panic of 1907. Morgan did have a hand in the creation of the Federal Reserve, and owned the International Mercantile Marine, which owned the White Star Line, and thus the Titanic.
Morgan, who had attended the Titanic's launching in 1911, had booked a personal suite aboard the ship with his own private promenade deck and a bath equipped with specially designed cigar holders. He was reportedly booked on the ship's maiden voyage but instead cancelled the trip and remained at the French resort of Aix-les-Bains to enjoy his morning massages and sulfur baths. His allegedly last-minute cancellation has fuelled speculation among conspiracy theorists that he knew of the ship's fate. This theory has been refuted by Titanic experts George Behe, Don Lynch, and Ray Lepien who have each provided alternate, more widely-accepted theories as to why Morgan cancelled his trip."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_conspiracy_theories
It is a good bet that some scam went on here, just as bigger scams have gone on since that time.
"And, as reported by James Morrow at The Daily Telegraph today, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer recently re-announced his commitment to bring the Titanic II to market (per Morrow, Palmer has had this vision since at least 2013), largely because Palmer desires to promote a "return to the values that we've stood for in the West," or, like mentioned above, the moral precepts of a Judeo-Christian culture; he also noted that the project is meant to bring hope to a dark world. Per Morrow:
The ship will be 'a statement of values,' Palmer reiterated.
While this second Titanic will be built to the highest safety standards, Palmer said the original Titanic resonated in time because the story embodied 'courage, resilience, service.'
'I think they're the things we're missing today … we remember the musicians who played Nearer My God To Thee as the ship sunk.'
'What was important for people was not saving themselves, but serving others.'
Now, when you're instilled with Judeo-Christian principles, either because a faith instructs you or because you're a product of a culture steeped in those precepts, you typically act in a way that is consistent with these beliefs—denying self and serving others is the entire moral basis of the West, which is why values like duty, honor, self-sacrifice, brotherhood, etc., have been so prevalent. Men making their last stand at the Alamo; "women and children first" attitudes; men jumping off the boats in Normandy to be sawn in half by German machine gun fire so others might live freely. (Of course, cataloging an accurate and exhaustive list of Westerners' heroic and sacrificial deeds could never be finished.)
Yet, a rejection of that moral basis means an orientation to self, and all that is objectively bad, which is exactly what Palmer is describing when he talks about all that's wrong with the world now—the shift to the political left and all that always accompanies it: the repudiation of the West and its values, and the subsequent embrace of atheism, nihilism, and narcissism.
From the Australian Associated Press:
'In these final stages of my life - I turn 70 this year - it's something that I can perhaps do in a positive manner for the people of the world,' Mr Palmer said.
What a difference "political opinions" make when billionaires seek to leave a mark on the world."
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