I have every sympathy for the people in that damned submarine.

But I can't help but to compare the level of fixated attention they are receiving from governments and media to the utter indifference shown to asylum seekers making hazardous sea crossings - in their hundreds - and think it all boils down to skin colour and bank balance.

@backupbear In many ways it's worse than that: the key is _novelty_. A bunch of wealthy white tourists drowning is unusual; a mass of migrants drowning is quodtidian.