Of a hurricane and what came after it

[manfred]

I was kind of unhealthily fascinated with one blog found only a few hours ago.

It belongs to some company offering hosting services and other stuff, seated in New Orleans. They have decided to stay there during it all and keep updating the blog which is... well, far from some tech talk now.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

I suggest reading even deeper into the history, with off-handedly mentioned cases of looting, violence, and the various confirmed and uncofirmed stories.


(Once the whole situation cools down, it could be interesting to boil something of it to ideas on catastrophic situations in rpg worlds... but right now, it is a fascinating read.)

[CaptainPenguin]

Fascinating? It's horrifying.
A major city of the U.S. has just been basically totally destroyed. Do you know what this will do to our economy? That's over a million people now unemployed, without homes or food, plus the cost of gas is shooting up now that the refineries of Louisiana are out of commission.

[manfred]

As I said, fascinating in a very unhealthy way. Didn't mean to step on your toes, Captain (or on anyone's toes for that matter).

[Maggot]

You probably won't be happy to hear this Captain,but where I live,people are shaking their heads in disgust at the way the U.S has handled this crisis. I mean,unrestrained rape and looting? The Afghans in Kabul and the Iraqis in Baghdad did a much better job of returning law and order to the streets following the overthrow of the Taliban and Saddam respectively. Maybe it's time America learns a thing or two from the rest of the world about dealing with calamities that erupt in its own backyard,instead of depleting its military resources in a futile effort to police the world.

[Ancient Gamer]

*ahem*

This actually looks like the beginning of a flame war .

First of all, about fascination and horrible events. I remember a certain other disaster that was discussed here at the citadel: http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=28546#28546

So, am I lifting my index finger and moralizing here? Perhaps...
I like you guys, but caution is advised when discussing issues such as these. And Maggot: there is no such thing as an innocent nation.

The crisis is all too real, even though it cannot be felt here on the other side of the globe, and this is certainly no time to be focusing on hate propaganda surfacing in the wake of this tragedy.

We're friends, pals!

And manfred: Thank you for the link. It was a fascinating read in a horrible, horrible way. May the situation be solved quickly and professionally.

[CaptainPenguin]

*sigh*

Yes, Maggot, I'm aware that the world is gasping.

And guess what? So am I. The whole United States is disgusted with itself. Do you have any idea of the consternation, the uproar there is here over this? I'll admit that words are not actions, but at least we know that we have to be faster to the punch with this.

So don't tell me how much the world hates us. I've already been aware of this my entire life, and just because the world now has it's chance to cluck it's tongue at us for not cleaning up our mess, doesn't mean that I'm going to sit around and take that.

[Scrasamax]

I can see this is an intersting conversation. Yes, the matter in New Orleans is deplorable, but it was not horribly unexpected. The City of New Orleans took the responcibility for the Pontchartrain levies because the city was tired of the constant expense mandated by the Corps of Engineers. The levees that hold in the Mississippi river are still maintained by the Corps. The Mississippi levees held, while the lake levees failed...lack of proper maintainence. In a way, this was entirely preventable by proper maintainence.

As for the rest of the world...

The US spends a great deal of money on foreign aid and relief. The US has also done a poor job of foreign relations in the past few years. The world is hungry to see us fall on our faces. The media in the US is largely liberal in orientation and the government is dominated by the conservatives. Again, there is a strong bais to show the worst of what is happening in the region.

Lastly, the stories of the people who have been rescued, and the good things that have been happening have been overshadowed by the fact that the US, and the World is FAR more interested in seeing human misery, and human suffering and devastation. Do we care about people who are tirelessly working to restore the devastated infrastructure? Do we see the people who have braved the waters, and the danger of looters to bring help and aid to others?

No.

Why? Because we want to see the looting, we want to see the break-down of the system. We are morbidly fascinated by the dregs of society. Why else do people slow down to pass a wreck? Its not to see if the people are okay...those people get out of their cars and try to help. We slow down because we want to see the mangled steel...we want to see the blood on the asphalt. As a culture we are increasingly fascinated with a desire to see death and destruction, even as we labor for longer, easier, safer lives.

Sometimes, as a people and a culture...it makes me sick.

[CaptainPenguin]

I, for one, don't believe that this is a thing that should be politicized- it had nothing to do with politics. It's not like the Republicans had a magic hurricane machine that made the situation.
I don't think this is something that should be used to take potshots at any political system.

While I am liberal, I'm not going to use the New Orleans situation as political ammunition to hurl at President Bush.

And I hope that other nations don't do that, either.

Now, you are entitled to your own opinions, I grant you. That's just my take on things.

[Maggot]

I apologize,Captain. Wasting no time in crowing at the misery of you nation,was a most shallow and unbecoming thing on my part. I fear I've become rather bitter and cynical in my general attitude towards America. Too many rancorous debates with U.S citizens who have taken savage delight in painting me as an unstable third-world communist agitator have taken their toll,I suppose.

[Kinslayer]

You mean you're not an unstable third-world communist agitator?

[Maggot]

Eh? Do I really come across as such? d**n.

[CaptainPenguin]

He was just kidding, Maggot.
As for apologizing, no need for that. You have just as much right to express your opinion as I do mine, I just wasn't having a very good day.

And now, the US is, in fact, getting to aiding the people there, though, if you ask me, too little, too late.

[Cheka Man]

What happened to Jinx? Was she harmed? Did she lose her home? I'm scared about what might have happened to her.  

[Maggot]

She's probably safe,Cheka. Had any disaster befallen her,Scras would have been sure to alert us of her plight. So,relax. There's no need to get worried.
 
P.S:Captain,did you watch Kanye West's tirade against Bush? It looks like things are taking a nasty racial over-tone. What's your opinion on the whole thing?

[CaptainPenguin]

Well, there are definitely more blacks affected than whites, mostly because of the socioeconomics of the region. If you examine the footage you see of the situation, almost everyone you see will be black.

Now I'm not sure that Kanye West is correct in assuming that the reason the response was slow was governmental racism, at least any intended racism.
But I do notice that a lot of the press, at least in my area (which is predominantly white), has a slight bias towards stories featuring white protagonists in the hurricane.

By the way, did you hear that Nagen guy, and how he &^%$@ed out the government on that radio show?

[Maggot]

You mean the mayor of what used to be New Orleans? Yeah,it's hard to forget a public official who gets all R-rated on national t.v.

[Scrasamax]

Jinx is fine, the only casualty of Katrina is currently her local internet access servers. I've been in East Texas for the last week or so and I've seen firsthand alot of the things that I was used to only seeing on TV. I took a bus back home to Tennessee, and I was found myself among the evacuees.

It is a hard thing to see. It is a hard thing to look into the faces of these people who have lost everything but the clothing on their backs. There is a hollow look in their eyes, that 1000 yard stare that some soldiers get after seeing to much combat. I listened to an elderly black man who talked about climbing over bodies in the water to get to safety. In a situation like that they have to become bodies, if you had claw your way over wives, daughters, children, sons and mothers...could you?

The children were quiet, except those who cried. Their glances were short and furtive. They were in a strange place, surrounded by strangers. No home to go back to, no toys to entertain themselves with. They too had only the clothes on their back.

If it wasn't for the efforts of the Salvation Army, and of individuals so moved by the crisis that instead of sympathizing, they got up and did something about it, they wouldn't even have the clothes on their backs. There was a relief shelter in Arkansas, they had clothing, and hygiene products for anyone who needed it. The woman who had organized the relief action was packing it up after the night into a 53 foot semi-trailer and sending it to New Orleans, out of her own pocket expense.

I guess I am just saying that when the evacuees become real people, when you come face to face with this crisis rather than through the television set, it kindly changes your perspective.

BTW, I'm back

[Maggot]

On a regular basis,I hope? Belief it or not,things tend to go a little dead without you to constantly to whip up some new wonder or other. So I hope you're here to stay for good.
 
 
P.S: Do you know that some people I've met on the Net,actually think that black people in the States should stop ''breeding''? How messed is that? Nary a word of sympathy or kindness from them.

[Scrasamax]

I find it absolutely stunning that there are people who think that any one group of people should stop breeding. Remember that line from the Matrix where Hugo 'Agent Smith' Weaving is interrogating Lawrence 'Morpheus' Fishburn and tells him humanity is more akin to a virus than a mammal?

Overpopulation is not such a distant problem, look to India or China. There is 1/3 of the world's 6 billion people in 2 countries.

I think the comment that the blacks in the south should stop breeding is an ignorant statement. Translation - They shouldn't be there at all, because if there are people suffering and junk like that I don't want to have to feel bad about it. It upsets my view of the world and the way it should be.

GAH! This is why I cannot work with the public. This is why I would rather pay at the pump and scan my own groceries.

/rant