OT: New Orleans (VERY long!)

Pat P · 2005-09-08T09:14:39+00:00

The following was written on our local newsgroup by a journalist from America . I was curious as to whether people on here agreed with him or otherwise. V ery well written - and thought provoking. It could explain the accounts reported by lots of our own people who have just returned home after their ordeal - particularly in the Dome.For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster. The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view. The man-made disaster is the welfare state.For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies.That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep...

Sep 08, 2005 162 Replies

Rate this thread:

brisingamen 21 years ago

Tia Mary, people who tried to leave on foot, crossing one of those bridges WERE FIRED UPON by a Sheriff and his Deputies.

Some of the people in that crowd were EMTs -- and when the media asked the Sheriff why he stopped them, he said he wasn't having a Superdome in his town.

What he MEANT was "We don't want your kind in our town."

Lori Coulson

Vote

Dixie Sugar 21 years ago

Don't know how you know "what he MEANT". I can't say as I blame him if that is what he meant considering the actions of some of "your kind" with the looting, rapes, firing at officials, etc.....they attack their own. What is wrong with people who react in that manner? What happened to people helping other people when the going gets rough? Is it the thing to sit on you ass and wait for someone to come help you? Some of "your kind" act like they haven't been in civilization long enough to know how to act like human beings.

Vote