The headlines say it all I think. Anarchy, chaos, lawlessness, despair, explosions, gunfire, desperation, rage, hell, looting, fear, fights, rape, and even SOS have all appeared in top headlines describing the situation in the great City of Jazz. With the U.S. overextended in so many ways by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a very slow response time to the crisis. Plus, there is very little to respond with. Troops, money, and other resources are flowing out of the country so fast that there is not enough to help an entire city in need. This whole situation exposes what is so wrong with the current state of affairs in the United States. First of all, when New Orleans was ordered to be evacuated, nearly everyone with any wealth or resources was able to get out of the city. Largely left behind were the people most in need of help: the elderly, the sick, and the poor - the three segments of society that compose the ugly underside of American Culture. With the ability to react stretched thin by our "wars" in the Middle East, these people continue to suffer and die even 5 days after the fact. This inability to react shows just how vulnerable the country is. Another disaster (or attack) of any major consequence would cripple the whole country. Already gas prices have soared to over $3 per gallon in most places, and shortages are being reported throughout the country. Back in New Orleans, the battle tested soldiers home from Iraq are being sent into the city to try and regain control with the threat that they have experience shooting people, and they will probably do so in the city. I guess the governor of Louisiana thinks that if the hurricane couldn't kill the poor, sick, and elderly, the military should get in there and do it. It has taken just one challenge to expose the fact that the country and its resources are being spread dangerously thin, leaving the people exposed to the threat of the quick and very drastic end to their way of life. I would like to congratulate the government in Washington and the corporate elite that control them on a job well done. Assholes.
the media's coverage of the disaster, of course, is doing nothing to alter the bigotry that seems to be inherent in american culture. like kanye west implied, the disparity between the portrayal of whites and blacks in new orleans holds fast to the prejudices that in part caused the delay in federal help. it's sickening, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteand let's not forget barbara bush's comment that the survivors sure are lucky for those hospitable texans.
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