The difference is so Black & White

[SoCalDem]

Republicans saw the catastrophe in New Orleans and DEMANDED law and order...shoot to kill..catch the looters..animals 'ruining' the 'sports palace'...women with children (and no dads)...violence everywhere..

Democrats saw poor people clinging to rooftops & trees begging for water...people managing any way they could..just to survive..they saw a federal government FAILING to deliver on promises MADE by the president BEFORE the storm..

Everyone saw the SAME images, and yet perceived them totally differently.. Democrats saw women and children..republicans saw Black women and children...

Even in "recovery" republicans see an "opportunity" for business while democrats are concerned for the pets left behind unrescued, the reunification of families scattered over 34 states, and the toxicity..

I am a cynic, but I cannot believe that ANY poor people will ever be "allowed" to return to New Orleans. Right now,talk is cheap, but when the land is cleared, and the contracts signed, the people who have been scattered will be long-forgotten. Poor people have no powerful lobbyists. They are too busy looking for basics to be able to plan longterm. They are also traumatized and even though they identify with New orleans, they will not have the money to relocate.

The services that poor people depended on are totally gone, and unlikely to be rebuilt. The logic will be.."Poor folks?..oh THEM.. THEY left..so why bother to build facilities to take care of them?"

The words that come out automatically are the truth. The congresspeople who said "bulldoze it..build it fresh and new..mother nature did urban renewal for us" were speaking from their hearts.. The disclaimers afterwards are the lies..

If republicans maintain control in DC, New Orleans, part deux will be a pasty-white imitation of the original.

the kicker is this... Right now, the receiving states are going to get a lot of aid to defray the costs of their new citizens/evacuees, but after a while, those funds will be yanked, and the welcome mat will be rolled up and put away...leaving people stranded all over the US, with no way to get back home..and no home there, even if they could get back.

These people are permanently displaced.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Well written

thought, IMO. But don't count out the heart of N.O. just yet. They might try to build Disney World on top of the toxic waste, but N.O. won't go away that easily.

[goclark]

2. Well said, their eyes and their hearts do not resemble

ours --- thank God!

I would much better be who we are than who they are --

[wtmusic]

3. And the metaphor continues

with the polarization of attitudes: "with us or against us". These people are not capable of analysis, just tribal loyalty.

Good analogy :thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

4. They are tribal.. in the worst sense of the word

I am astonished at what they are willing to "accept"..withour question.

[meow2u3]

5. You illustrate the difference of the core values of Repukes and Dems

Dems' value human and animal lives; Repukes value money, power, and domination. case closed.

Any attempt on the part of the Repukes to deny their warped values serves no purpose but to rationalize their selfishness and greed.

[SoCalDem]

12. The sad thing is that core values are instilled at a young age

and are not often changed:(

[TexanDem]

6. Excellent! Well said! recommended!

[Deja Q]

7. The gov. of LA also talked of aw and order, including harsh words for the

miscreants.

Is she a Republican too?

[SoCalDem]

8. There are democrats, and then there are "other" democrats

I think she was covering her ass, and saying what she needed to say.. The purse-strings are held by republicans..

The fact is that in an untenable situation, "law and order" is one of the first things to go..It should be expected..

If help had arrived on the day after, as promnised, I doubt that law and order would have been a huge issue.

When the locals figured out that they have all become "instant republicans" they did what they needed to do..

:)

SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-01-05 07:34 AM
Original message
What's happening in N.O. is republicanism at its core


No governmental "intervention" (to speak of)
People "managing on their own"
Taking "personal responsibility" for their own families
Making use of the "resources they can find on their own"
Gun "ownership" unrestricted
Capitalism is its raw form is going on, unregulated

what's their beef? It's what republicans are always talking about..

But if they even think there are gays-with-guns or possible abortions, they will really crack down

[TahitiNut]

9. There WILL be poor people in "Newer Orleans"

The Corporatist Plantations are fertilized with the blood, sweat, and tears of the poor. Only with the "clear and present" exemplar threat of the impoverishment does the corporatist reich whip up the fears (and animosities) of the 2nd and 3rd quartiles and coerce their labor at below-value rates. The slavequarters on the plantation were always downwind and hidden from the view of the big house. But they're upwind and within view of the sharecroppers' hovels. The canals of Great Newer Orleans will be the moats around the McMansions of the Magic Kinkdom - a 'defensive' barricade.

[SoCalDem]

11. The NewnewOrleans' poor will be the NEWLY poor

not the OLD Poor.. People who , a month ago, considered themselves middle class, will be the new poor service workers.. The old old poor who did not have paying jobs, are now safely tucked away into the loving embrace of 34 states who are currently being paid to babysit them..

The people who will try to return to their homes, night find that making mortgage payments on concrete steps, while living in a pop-up tent is a lose-lose idea, might just walk away from the whole "house thing". If they cannot make the payments, or they default, they are back to renting ...

I doubt that insurers will come through readily for these folks..or in time.

If we lost our source of income, we would have to abandon our house ..(actually, we could sell, but N.O. people migth find the only buyer for their homes would be the government..

[me b zola]

10. Beautifully stated.

I, too, fear for the impoverished citizens of New Orleans, and share your cynicism of what the "new" New Orleans will be.







nominated :)