I‘ve been reading lots of news and blog postings that are talking about who to blame for what’s going on in New Orleans, including here, here, and here. I figured it was time to weigh in with my $0.02.
First of all, this had to happen sometime. Obviously you can’t blame anyone for the storm. But it’s my personal opinion that anyone who lives in a city that’s lower than sea level but is close to the sea is just ASKING for trouble! If you are going to live along a coast where there is a history of hurricanes (even if there hasn’t been a huge one in a long time), you’ve got to be prepared. Just like Californians need to seriously be prepared for earthquakes. Because they WILL happen. Eventually.
I read somewhere that New Orleans officials had a computer simulation done a while ago, trying to estimate what would happen if “the Big One” hit, and what the damages (and costs) would be. I’m not sure how much was done about it, but obviously it wasn’t enough. There should have been plans in place that could be acted upon before, during, and after Katrina hit.
At the same time, when you’ve got your city in a huge bowl that’s just been pushed underwater, there’s only so much you can do until the water gets pumped out. What we’re seeing now in terms of pollution, bacteria, dead bodies, and flotsam and jetsam is what any logical person would expect to see. It’s unfortunate but true.
So with regard to the damages and current physical state of the city, I don’t really see how anyone could be blamed. As for the people who have been displaced, killed, or who are still missing, I would wonder why there weren’t more watercraft made available for search-and-rescue operations. I thought there were tons of watercraft of all kinds down there in the bayous, or is that just a stereotype?
Now as for the looting, violence, shooting, and crime that has taken place, who can we blame for that? Nobody but the people involved. If a helicopter is coming to drop food and that start getting shot at, is it the government’s fault? No. It’s the people doing the shooting. You might have a loose element of blame if you try to blame people’s actions on their financial state and you already blame the government for not doing something about that. (The role of the government in finances and poverty is a topic for another blog.) But in the end, it’s the people committing the crimes that have to be blamed. Not everyone chose to loot stores when law and order vanished. And no matter how many MPs you put in place once martial law is declared, you’re not going to be able to cover every street corner. If that many people are going to commit crimes, it would take an impractical number of military police to prevent it.
In that sense, it comes down to human nature. The whole idea of human nature being “basically good” is a lie. Some people may donate money, time, or energy to helping others when tragedy strikes without affecting them personally, but when it comes down to basic survival, “self” comes first. Call it “selfishness” or call it “sin nature” or call it “survival instincts,” but it amounts to the same thing. People are NOT inherently good and if they’re fighting to stay alive (or to at least keep what they had), law and “decency” will usually go out the window. Selflessness is not a natural human trait–every instance of selflessness is the grace of God–and it truly is only natural that people thrust into an anarchical environment will fight for themselves and those close to them, the rest of the world be damned. THAT’S human nature and that’s what we saw in New Orleans.
Could the military or local militias have stepped in quicker or done more to stop at least some of the violence? Probably. But put yourself down there in the same situation and see how much different it would be for you.
Yesterday I heard a coworker respond to an unlikely possibility, saying, “That’s like saying Bush cares about hurricane victims.” Nothing like taking cheap shots at a leader. I can’t imagine ANY president not caring about people in the U.S., whether or not I agree with their political or other views. Imagine yourself as the president. You’re the leader of a country of almost 300 million people. You’ve had the responsibility for them placed on your shoulders. Hearing that thousands in a major city have been killed or made homeless and jobless is really going to result in you not caring about them. Right!
Of course the president cares! And he’s mobilizing all kinds of resources to help these people. But there’s only so much that can be done until the city is drained and cleaned, just the same as for local officials. Sure there probably could have been more done more quickly, same as for the locals, and the FEMA director should have been more proactive. (I’m not dissing the FEMA director or his credentials, because I’ve seen all kinds of instances where someone did a great job without having a ton of experience in the same discipline. That’s not the point here.) Waiting until the storm hit to begin trying to mobilize forces was obviously a mistake.
I think politicians are too keen to equate “mistake” with “need to resign.” Someone in a government position who makes a mistake should admit it, certainly, but I think they should be working to rectify the problem and prevent its future occurence, rather than stepping down because they messed up. It’s no wonder that we have leaders all over the country that many view as inept; if they would learn from their mistakes and improve procedures/precautions/policies, we’d benefit much more as a country than if they quit and got someone else in who would have to make the same mistakes later on.
When an unprecedented tragedy strikes, I find it hard to put too much blame on the president or the administration, no matter what party is in the hotseat. “Unprecedented” means just that. You can only be so prepared for something that’s never happened before. And there are all kinds of levels of leadership from the president on down to the local sheriff’s deputy, all of whom play a part in recovering from a disaster like Katrina. Everyone should learn from what happened and help make it better for the next time, because there will be a next time.
SUMMARY: There’s plenty of blame to go around, from the local individuals right up through the president. Those involved in politics are usually the first to start throwing blame. Politicians need to stop trying to achieve personal political gain by making others look bad, which is what almost always happens in situations like this. Sure there’s blame to be shared, but maybe if people would just SHUT UP and look for ways that they could personally get involved in helping, we could come through this stronger as a nation instead of becoming more divided because of Katrina.
Television, by Paola & Chiara
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