What Happened to 'Women and Children First'?

The men who gallantly stayed behind on the Titanic would have "recoiled in shame" reading about our latest ship disaster, writes Rich Lowry in the National Review. Beyond the captain who abandoned ship, survivors recount tales of brawny crew members and male passengers shoving their way into lifeboats as quickly as possible. "Guys aboard the Costa Concordia apparently made sure the age of chivalry was good and dead by pushing it over and trampling on it in their heedless rush for the exits," he writes.

Sure, the luxury liner has its tales of heroism, just as the Titanic has its tales of cowardice, but generally speaking the modern guys tilted toward "panicked self-preservation" in contrast to the ethos of self-sacrifice on the Titanic. Forget "women and children first," concludes Lowry. Today, it's "Dude, where's my lifeboat?" (More Costa Concordia stories.)