Great satire: Katrina and People Like Us

[drscott]

This is the funniest skewering of the self-important I've seen in a long time, and applies to a lot of the posting here recently as well as to HuffPo.

I knew if I restrained myself from writing about it, somebody else would do it better.

In a related note, Yahoo put together a meta-list of "missing people" sites, and when I put Volney's name in, it turned out he was being sought by several people. I transferred the info to Volney via Bear411, and he swore he'd have gotten around to them eventually. :-)

Comments

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with being angry at the terrible things you're seeing and hearing about. Just don't let that anger be used by people who would direct it toward selfish goals of their own. It's often wise to step back from it and ask yourself what you really know about what you think is going on; then you can more rationally pursue a course of action in response. It will be weeks or months before the many failures of many people can be sorted out and separated from rumor and spin, so I'll do my bit to help, but not come to any conclusions as to who (if anyone) didn't do their jobs.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is a fuckup all right. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Just looking at the reactions. Turning away the Red Cross, putting a surge of volunteer first responders on hold, not calling in help, banning the press from the scene, etc. are classic reactions in a situation where things are happening fast and the people in charge don't know what to do. (Perhaps I am being too personal, but I have done the same thing when I was overwhelmed and did not know how to ask for help, or even have any clue as to what the right response to a situation should or could be. And I have seen others do the same.)

This is not to say that these people are pernicious; it just means that they are not competent to respond to a crisis of this magnitude. They should step down because, frankly, they aren't really in charge to begin with. And who appointed them? *the wheels of simple mathematics are in motion*

I agree with your methodology, but you do not have to be a specialist to see how bad we've handled all of this. You can just compare our response to Cuba's or China's.

http://www.ifrc.org/publicat/wdr2002/chapter2.asp

Hurricane Michelle ripped through Cuba in November 2001, the most powerful storm since 1944. But just five people died. Successful civil defence and Red Cross planning ensured that 700,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters in time. Search-and-rescue and emergency health-care plans swung into action. In Havana, electricity and water supplies were turned off to avoid deaths from electrocution and sewage contamination. Cuba’s population was advised in advance to store water and clear debris from streets that might cause damage. Later, the United Nations (UN) reported that the government’s “high degree of disaster preparedness... was decisive in the prevention of major loss of life”.


How da ya like them apples, Dottore?

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Well, one interesting factoid, sourced from many places but even in the Daily Kos:

The Red Cross has been saying for a while now that the state DHS was preventing them from entering New Orleans. Since the Superdome is a subset of New Orleans, I don't see how this is new information or in any way capitulation to the Bush Spin Machine.

Believe it or not, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Just because FEMA, Brownie, Chertoff and Dubya really really royally fucked up doesn't mean that the Lousiana or New Orleans authorities may not also have fucked up. If, in your desire to see Bush blamed, you turn a blind eye to the facts then you're really sinking to the level of the Bush Spin Machine.

That's the point at which the average news consumer reasons, "I can hear Republicans spouting their talking points or Democrats spouting theirs, so I may as well conclude the truth is unknowable and tune out." Very postmodern, but not conducive to what we all want to see -- Bush held accountable. Don't contribute to the spin vs. spin scenario -- don't rewrite history to make the Red Cross a Republican propaganda pawn when in reality, they've been saying for days that the Louisiana authorities kept them out.

There will be more than enough to blame Bush for while letting this one pass in the name of truth.

It appears a great deal of the fuckup was in corrupt and incompetent local governments. As this quote says, the only charges that will stick are the ones that are true.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

I'm not making the point that you refute, so I agree with you. :-) The Republicans have not cornerd the market on lazy, corrupt politicians.

Still, the fact that Cuba does this better than us is, well, rich.

And Furthermore. . .

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Charles Dean is an embarrassment.