OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, who is aboard
the missing submersible, once explained why he preferred not to hire "50-year-old White guys" with military experience to pilot his company's vessels.
Rush said he valued captains who were "inspirational" over experience, noting that "anybody can drive the sub," which is controlled with a
$30 video game controller.
"When I started the business, one of the things you'll find, there are other sub operators out there, but they typically have gentlemen who are ex-military submariners, and you'll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old White guys," Rush told Teledyne Marine in a 2020 Zoom interview.
"I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational, and I'm not going to inspire a 16-year-old to go pursue marine technology, but a 25-year-old, you know, who's a sub pilot or a platform operator or one of our techs can be inspirational," Rush said. "So we've really tried to get very intelligent, motivated, younger individuals involved because we're doing things that are completely new."
So, what are his feelngs on his wokeness now?