What the "they didn't leave, so it's their fault crowd" really mean

[Generator]

What they really mean is: It cannot happen to me. I am not THEM. I am safe. I am better. Richer, whiter(ugh) smarter, stronger, I am not THEM. What us on DU, us silly liberals realize is that is a freaking fantasy. The ultimate denial.

No one is safe.

Anyone could have been there-could have been a tourist, could have been old (and someday one day will be!) could be sick, have made a dumb or simply wrong decision. Or just not have enough money at the one moment you need it most. Making a wrong decision(if you did even have the resources to get out) does not mean you DESERVE to die.

What the blame the victim crowd really mean is they are scared shitless. And by blaming "them" it means they are different. They are better. It would have never happened to them, just "them." We here know the truth and we are scared shitless too. Be we also have compassion and know that no one deserves to die because they made the wrong decision or were just born poor.

I am scared shitless. My government didn't fail THEM. It failed me. I could be them..in any different number of scenarios. The mythos of being better, being strong enough ALWAYS to NEVER need someone else in authority to help YOU is pure fantasy.

It COULD have been you. It's not just them.

[jpgray]

1. Utter lack of empathy or ability to mile-walk in the shoes of others

Is especially rampant among supporters of Bush.

[tlsmith1963]

2. Ironically Enough...

...I just had a Freeper say that to me today--"Why didn't they just get out?" We got into it, too. Then I told a friend of mine about the incident & said "I bet if this happened to them, they would expect to be saved". And they probably wouldn't be saved, because Bush cares more about Trent Lott than them. I mean, all these people die & all Bush can talk about is Lott's house & how it is going to be rebuilt? He is one sick, sick man.

Tammy

[BrklynLiberal]

3. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

A proclamation by the pigs who control the government in the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell. The sentence is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite.

[Jade Fox]

4. Well said....

It's also part of the new "it's okay to be open about being a heartless
shit" mentality brought to us courtesy of Limbaugh and his imitators.

[erinlough]

5. Listening to a co-worker today I realized she is scared

she has to believe that the people in NO are at fault, people who go bankrupt are not to be given any rights, welfare recievers like it. If she doesn't it could possibly happen to her. She is so frightened she can't see straight and if you throw any facts at her to threaten her world view she fights or flees. She won't watch the news unless it supports her view and she doesn't want to hear it.

Your post is right-on!

[Generator]

9. Thanks

I keep thinking of the nursing homes. Those images of being covered by a sheet left to die on the street. The truly old and sick..what if it was your mother that died on the street of a city waiting for water that never came? How can you just give your government a pass on that? Those pictures of the old and sick are haunting me. No not ME-I'll never be sick or old or need help-the ultimate Republican mantra of "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." And if you can't do that-well you deserve to die.

Is that what being Republican means? You have to wonder. The soul of this country is at stake.

[BiggJawn]

6. I live in "Outer Redneckistan" and I'm kinda pale....

And *I* sure as hell don't sleep well at night, know that my FEMA will help me when the tornados come...

And I told both my Senators AND Steve Buyer that today...

And I don;'t play that "Blame Game" shit. I've moved on straight to "J'ACCUSE!"

People DIED and it's "Brownie"'s fault! And it's Il Douche's fault for appointing the waste of Protein in the first place.

Wonder if he'll get an agreement from FEMA indemnifying him and paying his legal bills, like his last employer did?

[iamjoy]

7. I Thought The Same Thing

if you can blame the victim, you can convince yourself it would never happen to you.

yes, what about the tourists who arrived Saturday, couldn't get a flight out, were too young to get a rental car & their hotel was evacuating, not accepting guests and sent them to the Superdome? Of course, don't travel to the southeast U.S. during hurricane season.

But, this has shaken my faith in my country. I have, perhaps been a jongoistic snob. When the tsunami happened, I thought - how horrible, those countries don't take care of their people. No warning, little help afterwards. I don't want to go to those countries where they can't take care of their citizens or visitors. We (United States) do better.

Well, that theory was shot to hell.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Don't worry, natural disasters are the great equalizers/teachers.

Who says we're done having them?

[Wilber_Stool]

10. Listening to the media and reading this board

one would think the only people that died were poor and black. Once you begin to move east that demographic changes dramatically. Gulf coast property isn't cheep. How many people with $500,000 and up (way up) homes do you think did not want to leave their homes and possessions? Especially when they have ridden storms out before. My guess is that the vast majority of the dead will be white and of some means. That is why they don't want pictures. It's one thing to see dead black people. But bloated white corpses.

[Spike from MN]

11. Why not just accuse them of playing the "blame game" and

"fingerpointing." Use the same exact language Scottie uses in his WH Press beatings. Throw the RW talking points right back in their face and see what they have to say.