Hey, Phillips - "celebrate" this

[karupin]

Philips is a disgusting excuse for a human. What disaster is he going to 'celebrate' next? Chernobyl? Katrina? The Fukushima earthquake?

[Buzzard]

Philips is a disgusting excuse for a human. What disaster is he going to 'celebrate' next? Chernobyl? Katrina? The Fukushima earthquake?

I'm sure he can come up with some made up stories about the earthquake and tsunami to sell tickets to! Perhaps when the floating rubble reaches the shore he can send an expedition!

Doug Phillips is a tool.

[Jessica]

So Mr. "Triumph of Life over the Culture of Death" who doesn't believe in abortion even for an ectopic pregnancy is celebrating a miserable event that took 1500 lives (you could argue more than 1500, since every biography of a Titanic survivor that I've ever read has talked about how the person led a very reclusive life because they were so scarred from it!). Makes sense...?

[mnb357]

Dougie is a tool. Nothing more.

Edited to add more: I'm in no way, shape, or form a historian, but it dawned on me that many of the survivors of the Titanic would have been Anglican, having descendants who are now Episcopalians, a church with PREGNANT PRIESTS, and GAY BISHOPS. Take that, Doug.

[sableduck]

It isn't just Phillips, who we know is crazy.

There was a huge, $100 a plate, Titanic party at a local five star hotel here in my town. I don't know how many people came, but since more than a few of them got really drunk and had to be carted to the hospital, I got to see it first hand. They were all dressed in Edwardian or what they thought was 20s style flapper clothing(don't ask me, I don't know why), complete with a five course meal that resembled the last meal served on the Titanic(well, to the first class passengers, because whoever cared about the rest of them), a band, dancing, and lots and lots of alcohol. The atmosphere was far more that of a New Year's Eve party.

It was so crass. I was disgusted. Do people just not GET IT????

(I saw the 3d re-release of Titanic today. I cried. Not because Leo dies, but because I am now a mom, and the mother with the baby asking the Captain what she should do just killed me, along with the scene where the mom is gently putting her kids to bed, knowing they are all about to die. Oh my god. How can people have these parties??? My great-grandmother refused to see the movie fifteen years ago because her best friend's oldest brother died on the Titanic, and the family never really recovered. My great-grandmother thought it was horrible that they turned it into a love story)

[Elle]

It's just offensive beyond words to "celebrate" a tragedy.

I really hope that none of the descendants of the people who died will find out about the VF "party".

There are two ways to go about celebrating it. Celebrate the start of the voyage, and those who celebrate the end. My family and I celebrate the beginning and actually were very somber for the end.

And for the sinking, there are two ways. For Doug and his crowd, the sinking is a reason to dress up and have a rocking good time a lá D-Day. To some others, it's a way to relive and memorialize. It can make a tragedy more real to reenact the final ignorant hours. Wow, they were eating this meal unaware their deaths were going to be soon. To some idiots, it's an excuse to dress pretty, ignore tragedy, and par-tay. I think many events were going to have a mix of people from both sides.

Descendants of survivors have participated in many of these events, including the memorial ship.

[Elle]

Snopes has a section on this one : http://www.snopes.com/history/titanic/lastsong.asp

I think the summation they quote is probably the thing to take away from it:

Those band members had more courage, dignity, and dedication in their little finger than Dougie could find in his whole body.

It was so brave of those men to know death was imminent and to still play. The Strausses are another example of bravery and selflessness. Doug would have pulled an Ismay and justified it as god telling him to go on a boat.

[Elle]

A manly Christian cry to all was quickly circulated:

“Women and children first,†they cried,

“Women and children first!

To save your souls you must give your lives,

Women and children first!â€

What Bible is Dougie reading?

I don't think he actually reads. At least not the bible, history books, or poetry. That "poem" reads like a C- assignment for a jr high student.

[Elle]

It isn't just Phillips, who we know is crazy.

There was a huge, $100 a plate, Titanic party at a local five star hotel here in my town. I don't know how many people came, but since more than a few of them got really drunk and had to be carted to the hospital, I got to see it first hand. They were all dressed in Edwardian or what they thought was 20s style flapper clothing(don't ask me, I don't know why), complete with a five course meal that resembled the last meal served on the Titanic(well, to the first class passengers, because whoever cared about the rest of them), a band, dancing, and lots and lots of alcohol. The atmosphere was far more that of a New Year's Eve party.

It was so crass. I was disgusted. Do people just not GET IT????

(I saw the 3d re-release of Titanic today. I cried. Not because Leo dies, but because I am now a mom, and the mother with the baby asking the Captain what she should do just killed me, along with the scene where the mom is gently putting her kids to bed, knowing they are all about to die. Oh my god. How can people have these parties??? My great-grandmother refused to see the movie fifteen years ago because her best friend's oldest brother died on the Titanic, and the family never really recovered. My great-grandmother thought it was horrible that they turned it into a love story)

Sounds like a party to party, not to reenact, relive, and reflect. Ugh.

Also there was a 2-part miniseries in 1996 called The Titanic with a pre-fame Catherine Zeta Jones. It has the story of the Allison family. The nanny took off with the infant and they lived. The parents and toddler daughter died. The moment they realized there were no more boats...that hurt my heart. Lorraine was a toddler in first class, and still died. And there was a third class family with a handful of kids. They died. These are people who were real and with names. That eclipses a nameless and likely nonexistent woman, even though names aren't needed to feel it. But having names makes it somehow more real and horrible.

It's on DVD and I recommend getting it.

[Witsec7]

There are two ways to go about celebrating it. Celebrate the start of the voyage, and those who celebrate the end. My family and I celebrate the beginning and actually were very somber for the end.

And for the sinking, there are two ways. For Doug and his crowd, the sinking is a reason to dress up and have a rocking good time a lá D-Day. To some others, it's a way to relive and memorialize. It can make a tragedy more real to reenact the final ignorant hours. Wow, they were eating this meal unaware their deaths were going to be soon. To some idiots, it's an excuse to dress pretty, ignore tragedy, and par-tay. I think many events were going to have a mix of people from both sides.

Descendants of survivors have participated in many of these events, including the memorial ship.

You're the first person I've heard of that had a Titanic celebration. What was yours like?

[Elle]

Small. A few family members and I went to the museum, yes, in costume (got caught trying to take a picture), and lunch afterward at a southern food place. The day of the sailing was a fun day, so we had some fun and also spent a lit of time talking about history. I educated a young cousin about how even children died, though all set out thinking they would arrive to America, and the immigrants who had dreams of a better life. It was part pointless fun in period clothing, part history lesson. It was important to me to make sure the real history was honored.

On the 14th (since the ship sank on the 14th in our time zones, something Doug didn't account for), we counted down to the moment and had some silence. That was not celebratory. The hope and excitement on a launch is one thing. The deaths are another.

[margiebargie]

Into the liquid tomb he fell

"Liquid tomb"? Ewwww. Not very poetic, dougie. You tool.

[CelticGoddess]

Just because I want to:

Doug Phillips is a tool!

[desertvixen]

Doug would have pulled an Ismay and justified it as god telling him to go on a boat.

I was just thinking this yesterday!

I picked up Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic - The Ocean's Greatest Disaster by Marshall Everett. It's a deluxe reproduction of a book printed in 1912 that is a compilation of stories, articles and interviews and pretty awesome period artwork. It does include what seems to not be a complete list of the dead (and disturbingly/depressingly, a large number of people are listed as "maid of So and So"). It's all from 1912, and there is a lot of emphasis on the idea of women and children first, but there's also some stuff that just made me think about how if Dougie had a named role, he would be Ismay - not any of the men who went down with the ship.

Men like J. Bruce Ismay may write voluminous statements and bring many witnesses to excuse their conduct, but the more they excuse, the more they accuse themselves.

The book also includes the story of a Catholic priest, Father Byles, who a number of survivors reported as doing his duty to the last (including the peripheral story of two sisters from steerage who had to physically restrain a sailor so that their brother could be pulled aboard their lifeboat).

[FundiesInMyFamily]

I have been watching lots of shows on the Titanic on NatGeo and The History Channel surrounding the anniversary. Doug Philips is a tool.

[kittypie]

Ugh. Did anyone else immediately recognize this "poem" as being written to the tune of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song? (Maybe just me because of my age)

Doug Phillip is a tool.

[Dinorah]

I saw a BBC documentary on the Titanic last night and the idea that it's something that calls for "celebration" and dressing-up is ghastly and tasteless. Commemorating, remembering, honoring, yes, but celebrating? And yes, there were many acts of bravery, but must they all boil down to serving an ideology under the "women and children first" line?

Something I thought was interesting was that a lot of the bravery came from the members of the "black gang" that fueled the Titanic. Now that would be a good celebration of teh menz who usually get forgotten because they working class and unglamourous, But you can't have that, it would smack of "Marxist warfare" right?

[jan9206]

DOUG PHILLIPS IS A TOOL!