I watched this documentary the other day, and was left speechless. It was hard to watch, but I was not surprised at what it showed. Stockton Rush appears to have been rich, arrogant and a narcissist. He ignored everyone around him and did what he wanted. I followed the story as it happened, but I had no idea that Rush was so deluded or that there were so many people who spoke up and were ignored.
The Netflix documentary on Paolo Macchiarini (Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife) told almost the exact same tale, in another area. He too thought he was god. He too was lauded as a genius. He too experimented with humans, and killed them. What was even worse is that the whistleblowers (as in the Titan case) who came forward were subjected to bullying and victimisation because money spoke louder than words. Stockholm’s Karolinska made a lot of money out of Macchiarini’s ‘groundbreaking’ work so they refused to investigate or discipline him. He killed at least seven people.
Documentaries on Ryanair (Mayday), Boeing (Downfall: The Case Against Boeing , Netflix), Challenger (Challenger: The Final Flight, Netflix) all show profit being prioritised over safety, and valid concerns being silenced. Netflix documentary The Dropout about Elisabeth Holmes/Theranos shows how frauds walk among us every single day. At least she did not kill people.
The next documentary I will be watching, when it is released on 20 June, is the one on the Grenfell Tower fire (Grenfell: Uncovered, Netflix). I imagine it will be a similar story – profit, subcontractors cutting corners, health and safety violations, and people in charge not listening to the concerns of those around them.
Thank you for all these recommendations! I’m watching Titan as I write and it’s an eye opener. Completely heartbreaking!
In a way, both Titanic and Titan both ended up on the sea floor due to hubris.
We have to keep shining lights on those who have vast sums of money (like Musk) who put profit above safety and life. They come up with some hare-brained ideas which can make them vast sums of money but will often result in the deaths of those taking part.
I believe there should be some mechanism to prevent people from becoming as obscenely rich as he is. He can buy countries and governments and play with them like toys. I don’t have a problem with people being rich, but Musk’s level of wealth and the power that comes with it is scary.
Thanks, Janet. I will definitely watch the Titan documentary. I saw Dropout, and thought that Amanda Seyfried really nailed the role. I recently heard that Holmes’ partner has a blood testing start-up. Such hubris!