The real storm wasn't a hurricane...
for luxury either comes of riches or makes them necessary; it corrupts
at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness;
it sells the country to softness and vanity, and takes away from the
State all its citizens, to make them slaves one to another,
and one and all to public opinion.
at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness;
it sells the country to softness and vanity, and takes away from the
State all its citizens, to make them slaves one to another,
and one and all to public opinion.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hurricane Katrina has made me realize that there are things present in this world that mankind finds difficult or impossible to control. Weather is truly an awesome beast; sometimes it feeds us with gentle rain, other times it pounds on us with blind fury. Despite our technological advances, mankind is powerless to control, or even defend itself against the weather. We can build the most advanced structures to hold back water, but one small hole, one tiny crack can destroy everything in the path the water will pass over.
Human beings are also difficult to control. In the aftermath of Katrina, journalists set cameras up in poor neighbourhoods to photograph and videotape people breaking into stores and looting. The reporters let people across the country and around the world know that these people (and they seemed to point out only the black people) were stealing from businesses. Now, here is my question:
Human beings are also difficult to control. In the aftermath of Katrina, journalists set cameras up in poor neighbourhoods to photograph and videotape people breaking into stores and looting. The reporters let people across the country and around the world know that these people (and they seemed to point out only the black people) were stealing from businesses. Now, here is my question:
When the restaurants and stores are closed and people have
no food in your house, where are people supposed to get food?
no food in your house, where are people supposed to get food?
White people were credited with finding food, which very well may have been the case. But it seems that when disaster strikes and people need supplies in order to survive, the media makes everyone out to be a criminal. Especially those people whose skin doesn't happen to be white. I don't believe that stealing anything is right, but in desperate times, when it comes to food, batteries, diapers, follow the Chinese Buffet Mantra:
Take what you need, but do not take more than you need.
As for those who looted WalMart to steal shotguns and DVD players, you deserve whatever punishment comes to you. Exploiting a tragedy for personal gain, especially on stupid things like electronic goods and weapons, is one of those things that I sometimes hope there's a Hell for.
I also noticed that there are a lot of rich, white people who have some seriously outdated or screwed up opinions about what's going on. There are some who have radio and television shows and like to refer to the survivors as "scumbags". How is someone a scumbag when they've survived a natural disaster? We have others who say that New Orleans should be bulldozed. Did anyone bulldoze Los Angeles or San Francisco after the last big earthquake? There is one, a very stupid former first lady, who remarked that the impoverished people staying at the Astrodome were not all that badly affected. This is a woman who probably hasn't touched dirt since she was in Kindergarten. At least now we know where George Jr. got the idiot gene.
And then there are those who claim New Orleans was being punished for the following:
1. Amount of unwed mothers
2. Amount of uneducated people
3. Homosexuality and Debauchery
In the case of the first two, those are problems in just about every major North American city, not just New Orleans. As for the third case, if that's why New Orleans was hit, I'll tell you this: Washington, D.C. would have been obliterated long ago.
I hope the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama can return home soon.
I also noticed that there are a lot of rich, white people who have some seriously outdated or screwed up opinions about what's going on. There are some who have radio and television shows and like to refer to the survivors as "scumbags". How is someone a scumbag when they've survived a natural disaster? We have others who say that New Orleans should be bulldozed. Did anyone bulldoze Los Angeles or San Francisco after the last big earthquake? There is one, a very stupid former first lady, who remarked that the impoverished people staying at the Astrodome were not all that badly affected. This is a woman who probably hasn't touched dirt since she was in Kindergarten. At least now we know where George Jr. got the idiot gene.
And then there are those who claim New Orleans was being punished for the following:
1. Amount of unwed mothers
2. Amount of uneducated people
3. Homosexuality and Debauchery
In the case of the first two, those are problems in just about every major North American city, not just New Orleans. As for the third case, if that's why New Orleans was hit, I'll tell you this: Washington, D.C. would have been obliterated long ago.
I hope the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama can return home soon.
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