Funny thing about the blame game… the tragedy has given me a grindstone for a couple of my favorite axes.
I blame the Republicans. Or, I blame the media. But really, there’s
enough blame to go around for all of us, and my blame game makes me a little
ashamed of myself. On the other hand,
this stuff is true:
The laissez faire
right-christian Republicans and the corporate media
together leverage public opinion to the point where we
are dulled out and not asking the right questions. We have the kind of democracy we deserve. And
in the end FEMA will probably take the brunt of the criticism because they’re
the guys on the ground, but they didn’t send the high water vehicles to Baghdad,
and they didn’t send the first responder best trained Guardsmen to Baghdad
either. And the
State of Louisiana didn’t exactly leap
right in with a well coordinated plan to help people get out of town. I keep thinking about all the extra seats in
the passenger cars on I10 when the storm was still a day away. "Wouldn’t want to put
a colored fellow in the car with us, though. Might be a gangstah or
something."
I blame white privilege for a lot of the suffering that’s going on right now. But at least I don’t Have that Bill Rehnquist to kick around anymore.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Frank,
Thank you for the American Friends Service Community link. Just got my donation in to them. If you trust the organization then I do. That’s what I like about blogs, we can trust our fellow bloggers.
Frank,
I didn’t take time to read that entire disgusting 1st comment. The little bit of it I saw at least did not use skin color as the defining characteristic, and they do come in all colors!
The reason I really came here to comment: don’t rejoice too much over Rehnquist. That’s just another vacancy to be filled by one of Bush’s hunting buddies, who could be as far right but not nearly as bright.
Frank, don’t be ashamed. Please don’t stop. It’s not blaming as much as raising awareness, asking questions, thinking, wondering … all crucial for a viable democracy and patriotic spirit!
Yes - white privilege is to blame and it goes way, way back and it never ever stops because everyone is too full of shame and blame to face it. And this disaster is bringing us face to face with it - as desperate and as tragic as it is.
“We are all punished.” (Shakespeare said that!)
Becuase I was there, I can tell you firsthand that I did not see a single hitchhiker during the mandatory evacuation, black or otherwise. Moreover, this is not a race issue. St. Bernard parish (the predominantly white parish in which the nursing home residents were left to die) received no help at all from FEMA or otherwise for over 5 days. There were Canadian mounties in from Vancouver there long before the feds showed up. If it’s anything discriminatory, it’s strictly a class issue. Honestly, I think it’s much more important that intelligent people like yourself and those attracted to your blog stop pointing fingers and start getting their hands dirty, if positive results are to be achieved. When New Orleans reopens for business, take a trip, spend some money, and help rebuild the local ecomonomy for the million residents of all colors and creeds who need it. It’s something that just about any middle class person could do to help, and people in New Orleans and the surrounding areas will realy need the help. Hell, it’s not like we were doing that well beforehand…