The ship itself is a representation of the bloated capitalist ego of america, apart of an era of flashy grandiose mega ships that existed to sink in the ocean like the inevitable failure of this system which is much like the ship. Still, its legacy carries on and the bloated ego to this day manages to stay inflated.

They avoid like the plague anything that punctures their fantasy word.

Given that they have done little to nothing to avoid the literal plague, I think this phrasing is undermining your point here.