Plato’s allegory of the fools on the ship: a wrongful target, trusting the captain too much
Plato’s allegory is ingenious but it marks the wrongful attack on democracy. While Plato used it against direct democracy, it also gains incredible scrutiny to representative democracy. Relying on representatives to honestly represent is pure naivety. Plato’s model is genuine in its ancient illustration. Plato’s allegory has to be modified to the modern age. A passenger ship transporting people from one place to the other across the ocean blue. The ship captain cares for the passengers’ welfare until someone screws up and an iceberg crushes the ship sinking it into the sea. Thousands are killed by ignorance and pride. From the crew to the architect. Too much hype and not enough attentiveness.
The Titanic is a perfect example of failed leadership. Yet unlike a bad team leader who is demoted or kicked off the team, this action cost countless lives. Their flawed engineering paid a high price. People trusted their expertise and their promise. Passengers wished to visit America for work or for loved ones. Living their lives. Lives cut short by arrogance. It was their duty to protect and they failed. Never held accountable for their sins. Martyring themselves for their mistakes along with their murdered passengers. Faith is a high price when unreciprocated. Dangerous waters outside patrolled by professionals. Professionals who screwed up haunting families and friends. The ship was professed unsinkable and sink it did. Sunk like many did before it.
There was no man holding the captain at gunpoint. No enemy warship taunting its might. Just a passive object stationary. Smashing into an immobile frozen structure. Akin to crashing into a parked car. A defensive player trying to pull a charge. Move around it. Be aware of your surroundings. No. The unsinkable will not be outdone by a lowly inanimate object. A true David and Goliath story with David waiting for Goliath to pass out from exhaustion. The underdog of underdog stories is fluid victory over the aggressor. Pride foiled the lives of many attendees. Collateral damage in the name of supremacy. Dragging innocents into a lion’s den weaponless. Dragging them blind into the furnace of death.
Blind faith in the captain’s efforts is not all dubious. He is trained to direct the ship and ensure the passengers’ safe passage to their destination. Skills are learned to eclipse excellence. Yet perfection is an almost impossibility. Though the difference in failure from a worker’s error to a captain’s is the difference between life and death. This same analogy applies to pilots. The captain is legitimized by the crew and his personal credibility. His previous successful voyages account for prestigious experience. Yet one false turn spells disaster. One bad decision leading to a travesty. Accidents happen. There is no denying that. Yet the pure animosity to humility doomed the ship from the start. Their pride was their downfall. A renowned legacy leader fondling in the spotlight. An expert fell prey to his image and his ship’s durability.
Passengers likened his capability to an expert. He would accompany them safely. There was nothing to fear, the captain would steer. A few hiccups along the way was nothing to fret. Passengers enjoyed the lavish novelty of the ship. Embarking on this escapade was a luxurious experience. The ship was a landmark in revolutionizing ship travel. Marvelling the beauty of boat voyages with cruise-like mentalities. Enjoying the festivities, passengers paid little attention to the events encircling them. The captain would care for the safety while the passengers comforted themselves. Unaware of the danger lying ahead. The trust was banal as the ignorance was their ultimate downfall. Preoccupied with their benefits they saw little to concern themselves with the crew’s job. Enjoying the ship’s gifts compensated their attention engulfing them in a brief utopia.
Captain cool hid the scary truth even as the end was nearing. Aware of the detrimental spiral he insidiously failed to alarm the passengers of the imminent threat to their lives. Disorderly forming rescue efforts to ensure the passengers’ survival. Arrogance fueled lacklustre rescue and ignorance ensured heavy losses. Lacking grave moral panic for the sake of order frustrated the fluid safety of more passengers. His efforts even if noble in the end were unnecessary had prior skepticism been a minute amount. Salving a sinking ship is already a horrid loss. Saving less than half of the passengers is a grave tragedy. Barking orders in the chaotic scare failed to compensate the rest of the castaways. His passionate last stand was underwhelming to the dead. Those forced to remain on the ship disallowed to enter the lifeboats. Ineptitude compelling others to fall for a personal mistake.
Victims of the horrific tragedy cannot testify nor receive compensation. Their only sin was boarding the ship. Trusting in their legitimate abilities. Mistakes are inevitable. Yet precautions as well as acknowledgement of the stakes is necessary for the crew to take into account. This was not a cargo ship but thousands of people aboard. The spectacle of the ship’s luxury captured their hearts. Better to look nice than be safe. A design flaw that merely ousted the creator within moments of the crash. Victims who had little knowledge to react or plan to save their lives. Helpless sheep without a focused shepherd. The crew failed the passengers. Setting up a beauty for it to sink like all other ships into the sea. The beauty couldn’t not hypnotize the sea. The sea remained calm and the ship walked right into the trap. The devilish sea weaponized the arrogance emanating from the ship and taught them a lesson for the ages.
High seas are not friendly. They will follow their current and act in their own self interest. It is too bad, the crew boldly deduced they could conquer the sea. Such pride knocked them on their stern. Passengers were comforted in the confines of he ship. Unaware of the imminent danger they enjoyed their everyday routine. Fond of the entertainment their minds were induced in the spectacle. Sit back and all would be found. Trust the experts. This trust brought a few days of flavorful enjoyment and tragic pain. The ship’s haul protected the passengers, it did not protect the ship. With the ship’s defences down sank its stern into the ocean. Some passengers got away but most drowned or jumped to their deaths. The freezing ocean water sunk the stressful souls creeping to safety. Once the ship was penetrated, its final nose dive was inevitable. Only negligence could be blamed pointing the finger elsewhere except themselves. Passengers suffered for negligence and little accountability was taken nor charged.
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