> I am sure there are local disaster planners and FEMA people alike who
> are outraged there was no money for evacuating people without the means
> to leave on their own. What has happened is no surprise to
> them. Many have known this would happen for years. It was a matter
> of having the resources to do what was necessary to protect the area and
> the citizens...those resources were never available.
it's also clear that urban centers have made a decision -- and that's to let them stay there and die. City planners know what percentage of a city is without transportation -- regardless as to whether or not they even think about what it's like to have no spare cash to fill up a tank.
The turdbucket O'Reilly repeatedly asked people why they didn't leave. I'd like to put him out of his misery.
R keeps saying how ridiculous it was for Shepard Smith to ask that guy, "What are you doing here still?"
Why doesn't Shep, ol' buddy, ask himself what the HELL he was doing there, camera crew in tow, waiting for the hurricane? JEEEEEESUS
But, right now, I can't describe what contempt I have for that assclown, Martin Savidge, who followed people into a Walmart and videotaped them ransacking the place for provisions -- the one who also chuckled patronizingly at the police officers doing likewise.
He was shaking his head in shock. Don't you know that's wrong, he asked.
You know: just fuck that guy sideways. If those people hadn't survival on their mind, it would have been righteous had they shoved his microphone up his nose and asked, "Don't you know your disaster snuff footage is wrong? Don't you know its wrong that your shiny, scrubbed, clean face and scrubbed, clean, dry clothes are wrong. Why are you following us around the store, taping us? Why don't you send one of the helicopters, which brings you your food and water, and get US some food and water?"
And he has the NERVE to shake his head when some kid steals a television set. Buddy, that kid's desire for a television set is part of the process that keeps your shiny, clean, dry mug on the air. And the computers? Why, how will they read Keith Obermann's blog otherwise?
Why are they stealing clothes? YOu'd think these assclowns would have a clue, given that conditions for the media are hardly ideal. They are stealing cloths, dirtbags, because they have nothing but wet, sweaty, filthy clothes. No laundromats. No washing machines.
What assclowns. Usually, I like Obermann but he's getting one nasty letter from me for his assclown reportage. "Dear Assclown...."
He's wondering why they act like animals. Oh for christ sake. I hope they do really act like animals. I hope one of them finally snaps, breaks it off in one of these reporters sideways, and finally asks them: why were we left here to die. Why are you asking me why I didn't leave. Why are you not asking why they didn't get us out? Why are you not asking why evacuation policies in urban centers take a calculated risk: to leave the poor, infirm, elderly behind to die?
If they are acting like animals, it is because they are treated like animals. Imagine what it must be like to have these media people following you around, all of them intent on doing their jobs, which doesn't fucking include helping your ass. Rather, it apparently entails grilling you on the ethics of survival while you stand there in your clean, dry clothes.
You want them to spend a lifetime with that message and you want them to be civil?
Imagine the horror of being that black person, lugging sneakers back home to your family, and some assclown asking you, "Don't you know that's wrong?" (And Woj, my heart, I'm just going to ignore comments. I don't have the energy right now. I can only say: you are half right.)
People expect them to know a television is worthless under those conditions? These people have no media access, no telephones. Why on earth would they think a television would be worthless? They are not in helicopters surveying the destruction. There were people who WERE in helicopters, certain power'd be back in a month. Not surprisingly, some kid living off Canal St. or wherever is confident that the TV will come in handy -- as something to use or barter.
And I don't think they understand -- just _having_ the godamned TV is an achievement in and of itself. It is a freakin' trophy, tradable for status, for esteem.
Harry Connick JR, who actually knows the area, understood this completely. If you grew up in these coditions, if you dealt with stupid white people asking stupid questions like Shep Smith, question which did not afford you the humanity you deserved, you'd help yourself to a television set. Payback for the years in which you were deprived.
Connick lost the words to describe it, but he wanted to see New Orleans institute policies that were "more equal." Well, of course, he chickened out lest he be called a commie and lose audience share and not make as much money as possible in the concert Fri night on NBC.
And why be surprised. Rich people hunt Elk so they can mount it for their den. I'm sure there are endless examples of white people getting something they hardly need, just for status and esteem. Uh, like, hummers? LOL (Ooop. everybody needs a hummer. I mean, uppercase H, Hummer, 'k?)
But, the thing is, here in FL, the evacuation policy is totally inadequate. It relies on individual mobility to get millions out of places like PIEnellas county. If you don't have a car: fuck off and die.
Go to a shelter. Right. The news media hardly make going to a shelter enticing. But, let's say you show up. Around here, they ran out of food, water, toilet paper, etc. IF they didn't run out, the next day, when the kids went to the school that had been the shelter during the storm, the kids didn't always get served lunch. IOW, they were out of supplies after only a day or three of using the shelter.
This peninsula could easily suffer the same fate as NOLA, as could Tampa. It's not a bowl, but getting surge waters out of the bay would not be easy. It would sit on Tampa and cover this peninsula which would disappear or become an island.
I doubt it'd be a disastrous as NO, because the water would eventually move back out to the ocean. But, given that the storm shelters are not stocked enough for people over a lousy weekend.... it certainly wouldn't be pretty.
Well, whatever. They just keep blaming individuals, without turning around and asking themselves: Gee, do we play dice with other people's lives with our policies?
Sure they do: because they never gave a crap about the lives of the poor, infirm, elderly anyway.
Finally, Woj, yousnipped out the part where people who incredibly self-sacrificing, giving, cooperative. And that people are and can be.
For every asshole who buys way more water than he needs, leaving none for the rest, there is someone else who is giving away his last jug of water. For every asshole bowling your over in the aisles, there are people helping each other. For every idiot who doesn't give a crap about anything but his own survival, there are people who risk their lives to save others.
So, if you get that educational videotape about hurricanes in FL, you will see people cooperating, working together to structure and order their lives. For, as much as people need to survive and will appear to act selfishly, it is equally the case that people will cooperate to help themselves and others survive.
No one knows what's going on in NOLA. I hear reports of guns fired, blah blah. After reading that piece about media and exaggeration, I'm not inclined to believe that it's as bad as these media freaks are making it out to be.
And I'll tell you, if there are sharks in the water, wild dogs, escaped zoo animals, wounded animals, and alligators floating around, well surprise some people want a fcking gun!
k
"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."
-- rwmartin