Dumbass Sayings: “Where is That Plane?!”

It seems like whenever a new Malaysia Airlines plane crashes into the ocean people are all over social media saying “Where’s that plane?!” I think we’re focusing too much on the plane and not enough about the actual people aboard the plane who died. We’re really looking for corpses, not a plane. The whole point of continuing the search is to pull the bodies out of the water so they can be returned to their families for proper burial. I understand that finding the plane is the way to find the bodies, but when you talk too much about “finding the plane” you disconnect from the dead folks which are the primary reason you’re looking. The more and more we talk about finding the plane the less we think about the corpses and then it becomes more of a joke about how a plane can disappear and people take it too lightly. Imagine being the parent of one of the missing passengers and you’re watching a bunch of people casually talk about finding a plane like the plane is the important thing. You’d probably be upset about that. Even if you believe the plane somehow landed safely on the “Lost” island, you’re still looking for the people. #WheresThatPlane? should be #WhereAreThosePassengers. As these searches drag on, it’s imperative not to lose sight of the real goal here. Let’s learn from this and try to be a little more tactful when the next one goes “missing.”

They're really looking for the flight data recorder, but that's not a trendy enough hashtag.