It's a storm. A freak storm. Some said, "I saw it coming, and I said it was going to be bad." Nobody disputed this. Yet, they also didn't say how bad it would be. Not until it was too late.
And when it's too late, bad things result. So, people are REQUIRED to shift blame, here and there, whereever it can be passed on. The Mayor says this, while the Fema director says that, and the President says this, while the Governor says that.
In the middle of all this, two entities are smiling, watching the mud fly. The media and Katrina herself. (We'll say she is a person just for the sake of acknowledging her political power in all this.) The media is the conduit for public displays of self-admonishment and theatrical mis-combubery, gratfully lavishing heaps of responsibility on the next likely being, whether up, down, or across the chain. But, the media, for all it's puppy dog eyed innocence, has nothing more to say than, "Oh, the humanity, the travesty! Who are we to crucify?" Honestly, sitting in the background, behind the cameras, are news-war-rooms, strategically positioning the latest horrible discovery....
...30 found dead at a nurse home...
...mayor estimates 10,000 dead...
...many survivors did not have homes insured...
...shots fired at police, killing 2, while two others committed suicide...
Damn, that's got to get your attention. And it is money to them. The Media doesn't do this for charity. It's not in the habit of making Public Service Announcements. The high stakes that drive the Media is the same dollar you donated to the Red Cross, only, it's airtime, bought by commercial advertisers to sell you and everyone else glued to the latest and greatest crisis all the things we can, will, and frequently purchase. Diapers, cars, diet food (?), marketted special events, new phones with cameras and little windows for reading email.
And we eat it up like candy. I mentioned on someone else's livejournal when she came to realize that it's not helping that it's all we see, that it's like we are revelling if not dwelling on someone else's misery. Katrina brought the blighted south a satellite away from us, and we were glued to the number of deaths from the Persian Wars to not take stock that these people in the gulf states and port cities were going to die come the first big storm.
That's political power. And it's something magical. Like a street card busker, hustling the kids, knowing he can show them the wrong card to pick, it redirects attention to where the next choice will draw them in again, and again, and again.
So, buy into it if you want to. I'm not going to stop you. I can't, being just the wayward opinion I am. But, if this rings in your ears a little bit, listen to this... Pay attention! Don't watch the news, over and over, like some zombie cow chewing on the misfortunate cud of the world. Determine what's worth watching, and what you're missing. There are horror stories out there on the little stations, about low income housing being rennovated for high income apartments, about government graft, about electrical power brokers getting off in court and making high wage positions in power regulation governing.
If we fail to notice these new disasters in the making, like we noticed how badly prepared New Orleans was, and how badly managed the evacuation was, then we are begging for more news to dwell on. Bad news. And, if that's the case, we might as well make it a conspiracy between the powers of the presiding heads of state, the media, and us, the viewing public that directs what notice should be made. If we give up the reigns to Our one remaining political horse, the command over the media which in turn commands the reaction of the government, then we are as guilty of every disaster we failed to prevent as those in power we are asked to blame.
To think, if the locals would have known beforehand they would lose New Orleans because of a levee deficiency, what would they have done? Strengthened it. That would have given evactuators more time to go in and rip people out of ther homes. As it was, the streets weren't safe for National Gaurd troops, much less granny stuck in her wheelchair.
Well, someone knew. They did drills predicting that the levee would break, and predicted 20% would stay, just as both did happen. From this intelligence gathering, nothing effective was done.
Why? I think you know.
And, thus, Katrina, to some measure, has won.
-=T=-
