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Comment by mikeryan | Hacker News Reader

The 19 year old kid on the sub is the one that gets me. Everyone else should have had the wherewithal to make their own choices - but the kid was just going because his dad wanted him to. Stories are out now that he was freaked out by the idea but went as a Father’s Day “gift”.

I feel so horrible for his family. It makes it hard to be cynical about this tragedy.

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That was a rumor that the mother has debunked. She has come out and said that she was supposed to go with her husband, but gave up her seat to her son because he really wanted to go. I'm not sure this makes it better for the mother, but at least he was willing.

The dark, cynical side of me says that could just as easily be an excuse to save face/preserve the image of her husband. It's terrible in any case.

The son not wanting to go was a comment from some random aunt or cousin. I'd trust the mother's word instead of someone cashing in on the drama.

They could easily both be telling the truth. He could have been pressured into it by his father and told his mother he wanted to go while telling a more distant relative his fears caused by his parents

I wouldn’t. The mother has an incentive to lie, a rando relative doesn’t.

Depends on your upbringing.

Rando relative who wants media attention most certainly does. One my aunts (and her husband) would definitely lie like this to get in the news, no doubt about it.

Can confirm. I have an aunt and uncle (not a couple; different branches) who both would love to go on TV and say all kinds of crazy shit if I had died in the sub.

Except the relative would get in the news if she said "the boy was obsessed with the titanic, he was eager to go!" Any angle would have given her camera time, she just has an incentive to say _something_.

What she said I think more likely has some truth than the wife of the deceased father the statement throws shade on. Aren't we talking about billionaires here? Mom is likely quite concerned about appearances and her future.

> she just has an incentive to say _something_

Bear in mind that some people just like to stir up shit. So they say stuff based on no evidence / their imagination / whatever they suspect will cause controversy.

No idea of the situation in this case, but don't discount it could be that too.

If you have billions you don't have to worry about your future, save for medical concerns.

I'm only making the case that there are multiple plausible scenarios, so latching onto one without objective information is ill-advised.

Lot's of families have disputes, that relative might have motive to lie. We don't know because none of us really know the family. It's all speculation, including the supposition that the mother is lying to save face for her husband.

The mother seemed very honest during her interview with the BBC [1], not playing the "ZOMG I lost my husband and son!!!" angle, but I did think she might've done this to quieten all the "screw them billionaires, they deserved it!" crowd, by showing them that there are actually people grieving their loss.

Also I think she's only done this one interview. Even the question of "How are you?" was answered with contemplation, not hysterics...

1 https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-66016162

This is all speculation but reading the mothers account my impression was that what he really wanted was the speedcubing world record and that this was the lure.

Those rumors were started by his estranged aunt, who apparently just wanted a ton of attention.

Don't get me wrong, it's still horrible, and I still believe he shouldn't have gone down there. But he wasn't freaking out and terrified for weeks like his aunt said.

Here is a video of Suleman, the young man who perished in the sub: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-66015863

He strikes me as someone who could have had a very bright future, looks like a smart and confident young man.

He is a billionaire's kid. Of course his future was bright.

> Stories are out now that he was freaked out by the idea but went as a Father’s Day “gift”.

It’s said that money just gives you the ability for you to be you. That someone would willfully put his child in that dangerous situation really disgusts me.

He’s 19 though? Pretty sure they wouldn’t have taken an actual kid. If you can join the army you can sure as hell go down in a sub to make daddy happy.

> If you can join the army you can sure as hell go down

I hate arguments like these. The same one for the drinking age and joining the army. The world isn't black and white. There are merits to 18+ enlistment and 21+ drinking age both (along with downsides).

It's just noise in the form of words that doesn't go towards any way of proving a point.

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