Opinions - like belly buttons
Everyone has them.
So because this is my blog, and seeing how blogs are such a self-indulgent medium anyway, here are my thoughts on the Katrina disaster.
From now on, can we stop using the term "mandatory evacuations"? There's absolutely nothing "mandatory" about them. Anyone who wanted to stay, stayed. Anyone who needed help to leave, didn't get it from the government. There was a verbal warning, but no physical force to move people. How is that "mandatory"? Mandatory means the police and National Guard go door to door, cuffing and stuffing anyone they find, and taking them out of the city. That's not anywhere close to what actually happened.
Why don't we ask the National Guardsmen which duty they'd rather have - dragging people kicking and screaming from New Orleans on August 28th, or wading through sewage to get them on September 2nd.
I know, I know. What the Guardsmen will tell you (and I agree) is, on August 28th, the people they were trying to save would have thrown rocks at them, and called them Nazi thugs. Today, they people they're saving are actually happy to see them. And what if the hurricane had missed? There would have been a field day of moral outrage (both feigned and legitimate) over forced evacuations.
So that brings me back to blaming the victims, which I really don't want to do. Is it wrong of me to ask people to take responsibility for their own lives?
I have read that a lot of family pets were turned loose before the hurricane. Many of them, without access to motorized vehicles, opposable thumbs, or any ability to comprehend the English warnings, still got to high ground and survived. In this case "high" means "anything above sea level".
Now is the time for helping, not blaming. I know that. Since I am not actually anywhere near New Orleans, there's not much I can do to help, so forgive me for moving on to the blaming. I just don't want to see the same disaster happen again. Next time I want people to pass the test that they failed this time. So once everyone is safe and dry and fed and housed again, could the able-bodied people tell me what their excuse was?
So because this is my blog, and seeing how blogs are such a self-indulgent medium anyway, here are my thoughts on the Katrina disaster.
From now on, can we stop using the term "mandatory evacuations"? There's absolutely nothing "mandatory" about them. Anyone who wanted to stay, stayed. Anyone who needed help to leave, didn't get it from the government. There was a verbal warning, but no physical force to move people. How is that "mandatory"? Mandatory means the police and National Guard go door to door, cuffing and stuffing anyone they find, and taking them out of the city. That's not anywhere close to what actually happened.
Why don't we ask the National Guardsmen which duty they'd rather have - dragging people kicking and screaming from New Orleans on August 28th, or wading through sewage to get them on September 2nd.
I know, I know. What the Guardsmen will tell you (and I agree) is, on August 28th, the people they were trying to save would have thrown rocks at them, and called them Nazi thugs. Today, they people they're saving are actually happy to see them. And what if the hurricane had missed? There would have been a field day of moral outrage (both feigned and legitimate) over forced evacuations.
So that brings me back to blaming the victims, which I really don't want to do. Is it wrong of me to ask people to take responsibility for their own lives?
I have read that a lot of family pets were turned loose before the hurricane. Many of them, without access to motorized vehicles, opposable thumbs, or any ability to comprehend the English warnings, still got to high ground and survived. In this case "high" means "anything above sea level".
Now is the time for helping, not blaming. I know that. Since I am not actually anywhere near New Orleans, there's not much I can do to help, so forgive me for moving on to the blaming. I just don't want to see the same disaster happen again. Next time I want people to pass the test that they failed this time. So once everyone is safe and dry and fed and housed again, could the able-bodied people tell me what their excuse was?
posted by Jeff at 9/02/2005 09:07:00 AM
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