Stockton Rush Needed Slapped, not SLAPP
Someone like Stockton Rush whose opening line was “I’m so disruptive the rules can’t apply to me” wasn’t going to be deterred by any regulation.
Not sure if Plato was contemplating the design specification of deep ocean submersibles when he quipped “good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws” but nevertheless here we be.
Many tried to warn Stockton Rush that he was flirting with deadly disaster. When Karl Stanley, a friend of Rush and a submersible expert, heard a cracking sound during a dive on the Titan, he cautioned Rush to conduct extensive testing on the hull. Rush replied to Stanley saying “Keep your opinions to yourself,” and “I hope you of all people will think twice before expressing opinions on subjects in which you are not fully versed.”
When Rob McCallum-an expedition leader and former adviser to OceanGate-raised concerns, Rush replied, “We have heard the baseless cries of ‘you are going to kill someone’ way too often. I take this as a serious personal insult.” Rush followed what might be the worst-aged email ever with a phone call to McCallum.
As McCallum recently explained…
