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Call me old and cynical (I'm forty), but I've rarely been as disappointed in my fellow Americans and my government as I have been this past week. And I've rarely been as discouraged over our future as a nation worthy of respect and admiration.
I've seen six major attitudes this week that we ALL, as Americans, should be terribly concerned about in the coming weeks as the full scope of Katrina and its terrible impact on human suffering, and the devastation it has wrought become painfully clear.
1. "Looting": First, let's be clear about something. Only blacks "loot", whites "commandeer" or "look for" things. Got it? Good. Now, let's talk about the causes of the "looting" and the prevailing attitudes regarding it. Most of what I've heard and seen this week sound something like this: "there is never an excuse for looting!" "Things were available for the asking, there was no need for them to run amok!" "Such lawlessness and chaos, what do you expect from them!" "I would never, ever do anything like that, no matter what!"
Do you see the pattern emerging? A total lack of understanding as to what these people have had to deal with and just how desperate they really are. They were not stealing brand new computers and big-screen TVs, for the most part. They were taking basic items like food, water, blankets, batteries, flashlights, diapers, formula, etc., etc. Items that they simply could not find anywhere, having lost everything they owned. Stores that weren't submerged or destroyed were locked and deserted, with no clerks in sight. And how, pray tell, were they supposed to have gotten money? ATMs and banks submerged or destroyed, credit cards rendered worthless, etc. Most of them went into survival-mode, which is, as any anthropologist who's spent even one day in class can tell you, a very common human response mechanism. What did we expect them to do, form one giant circle around the state and sing Kumbaya while they and their families were desperate for food and water? And those who were parents were/are especially desperate, with their babies and children badly in need of things like food and water and formula to actually survive.
And for those who keep saying that "there's never an excuse for that, and I would never, ever do that", well how, exactly, do you know that? Have you ever been in a situation where your house and everything you own is destroyed, you have nothing but the clothes on your back, many friends, neighbors and even, possibly, family members are dead or missing, and you have no food and water or any other survival items and no way to get any? Have you ever been two or more days in that situation? No, you haven't. You're in a comfortable environment, in possession of your house and everything you own, in no danger of losing it and having your world turned totally upside down in a matter of hours, with access to food and water and anything else you may need. So, while it's very nice to sit on your self-righteous judgment seat and look down your nose at the poor riffraff who are desperately trying to keep themselves and their families alive, it just ain't gonna fly. Until you've been there, you do NOT know what you would do and it's pretty damned high-handed and sanctimonious to say that you would.
2. Evacuation: Over and over again I'm hearing, in the media and from nearly everyone else, that the people stuck in NO and the gulf MS towns and cities should have left when they had the chance, it's their own damned fault, and tough rocks if they now need help. Let's take a closer look at that lovely sentiment, shall we? Yes, there were, indeed, people who chose to stay and "ride it out", no question. But the vast majority of those stuck in those hellholes are there because they had no choice in the matter and NOWHERE TO GO AND NO WAY TO GET THERE. Many lacked transportation, let alone anywhere to go and the money to get there. It is hard for people who've never experienced any type of poverty at all to understand that, so let me try to spell it out for you. When you have very little money and resources, every day is an exhausting struggle. When disaster strikes, whether personally or via such a natural disaster like Katrina, you are hit especially hard because you have nothing and no reserves to begin with. Just what, exactly, did you expect them to do? Charter a private plane complete with caviar tables to get them out of there and away from the riffraff?
3. Economics/gas prices: One of the most disturbing things about this whole situation is the sentiment I'm hearing from fellow Americans loud and clear, the first thing, and sometimes the ONLY thing, they're truly concerned about is gas prices and how this will affect the economy. Never mind that it's one of the worst natural disasters ever to befall our great country, that thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, may be dead, that hundreds of thousands more have been turned into refugees in their own country, refugees who have nothing, that an entire city has to be evacuated and abandoned for the first time ever in American history, that entire towns and cities along the gulf coast have been totally devastated, etc., etc. What really matters is gas prices and money, money, money. Shame, shame, SHAME!
4. Foreign aid: The prevailing sentiment seems to be that no other country has dropped everything to rush to our aid, that the entire world owes us everything even if they don't have much to begin with, and that because every single nation on earth isn't rushing to bow down at our feet and offer assistance, that the whole world can go to hell.Never mind that we don't spend nearly as much on foreign aid as the average citizen seems to think we do. Never mind that nations DID and HAVE offered aid from the very beginning, but that Our Great Leader, in his infinite wisdom, chose, for political propaganda reasons, to ignore or turn down such offers during the first few days. It appears that they are attempting to soft-pedal all the foreign aid offers and twist things around to make it seem as if no one gives a damn when, in fact, the opposite is true. Other countries appear to care more than our own citizens do.
5. Leadership: In short, WHERE THE HELL IS IT? Bush dilly-dallys around for the first couple of days, then gives a speech with that ever-present smirk on his face, spewing out such profound gems of wisdom like "this was a terrible storm. A terrible storm. And it hit with terrible velocity through the gulf states." A "terrible storm", huh? Really? No kidding, pResident Sherlock. Thank you for that brilliant, enlightened assessment. Then he dilly-dallied around for a few more days, even attending a FUNDRAISER for Christ's sake, before finally hauling his ass down to ground zero to engage in some heartrending useless photo-ops.
His halting, bumbling, fumbling, incompetent, insincere, insensitive, trite-speech-making response has been mirrored all down the line, from FEMA (including its blaming of evacuees for their own plight) to the bureaucratic-speak of Homeland Security Czar Michael Chertoff, to Condi Rice's SHOPPING IN NEW YORK, etc., etc. If one were so inclined to think so, one would think that they don't even really care all that much, that they're just going through the motions and putting on a show. But that just can't be the case, now, can it?
Four days and still no help on the ground for thousands of desperate people except for police being pulled of rescue missions to stop other desperate people from trying to get food and water to survive, National Guard troops being called in to protect property from desperate riffraff and not to help the desperate riffraff themselves, NO water, NO food, NO help. A response far more worthy and expected of a third-world nation instead of the world's richest country.
Contrast that to when hurricanes hit Florida. GWB was down there in a flash, appearing with his brother everywhere, passing massive aid bills, the National Guard was called out in a jiffy, etc., etc. Too bad for LA or MS that Jebbie isn't their governor and that it isn't an election year. Oh, yes, and that many of the victims in Florida were WHITE. But nah, no racism involved here; move along, folks, move along, nothing to see here.
And contrast that to the whole Terry Schiavo situation. Congress was called back from vacation to an emergency situation in a FLASH, and hurriedly passed midnight legislation. But they couldn't be bothered as quickly this time for something so much more critically important as, say, the worst natural disaster to hit their country and their own citizens? Is a brain-dead woman who should have been allowed to die in peace years before she was finally permitted to do so, more important to them than the destruction of an entire section of their country and the deaths of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands of their own citizens? I guess if those citizens are poor and black, there must not be any political capital to be gained from it. Oops, there goes that age-induced cynicism again.
6. And, finally, APATHY. I'm sensing apathy, lack of concern or caring, and a whole host of other equally similar and equally disturbing attitudes from my fellow citizens. People really don't seem to care all that much, except as how their gas prices and pocketbooks will be affected. People are even going so far as to blame the victims for their own horrible misfortune. Has the social contract, where citizens think of others as well as themselves and realize that when their fellow citizens are in trouble or harmed that it affects them as well and that we're all in this together, been ripped this badly?
Contrast that, again, to the responses to the FL hurricanes, which did not cause nearly the death and destruction that Katrina has caused and will cause for a long time to come. Sympathy, concern, caring, outpourings of money and aid, etc., etc. I'm absolutely horrified by this apathy and lack of concern, (except for the affect on our pocketbooks) and I can really only conclude that racism and classism play a large part in that. I really don't want to do so, but it's becoming more painfully obvious every day that that is, indeed, the case, on the part of both our so-called "leaders" and the country as a whole.
Where are the "Christian" leaders (Robertson, Falwell, et al.) in all of this? Where's their call to their congregations to do the Christian thing, what Jesus would want them to do, and give whatever aid, help, assistance, and sympathy that they can? Or are they too busy with their usual bullshit of claiming "God's judgment" (never mind that LA and MS are two of the most anti-abortion, anti-gay, pro-Bush, fundie states in the country),and ranting hellfire and brimstone to fatten their own wallets, instead of doing what the Bible tells them to do in these circumstances?
Where are you, America? Where is your compassion, your concern for the destruction of the lives of thousands of your fellow citizens and the desperate situations and refugee status of hundreds of thousands more? Is it that you don't truly grasp the full scope of the disaster yet? Am I being just a middle-aged cynic, or do you truly not care about less fortunate non-whites? Whatever it is, this week many of you have shown your true "colors", so to speak. The media and the government and our "leaders" certainly have. Take a good, hard look in the mirror, America. You may not like what you see, if you can even see it at all. I know I sure as hell don't.
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