An all-round disaster

It has now been two weeks since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast, and I have yet to write anything on the subject since the day before the hurricane hit. I have not written anything because what can I say that hasn’t already been said. What can I write that can explain the images that we have all seen on our TVs? What can I post that would put it all into perspective…nothing. I have written and erased many pieces recently but have not published a one because there was nothing that could grasp the scope of either the disaster itself or the massive failure that followed.

As I write this it is believed that the death toll from this debacle may go as high as 10,000. Numbers that we normally associate with disasters in Bangladesh or Indonesia, places comfortably far away not only in distance but in every other respect as well. Numbers unprecedented in this or any other developed country. Close to ten thousand people, men women and children, Americans all, are not here today and for what reason? As much as we try to rationalize that number (as if rationalizing were possible) we must come to the conclusion that while the hurricane itself was a force of nature, blind in its fury, it’s victims are dead because of a grave sin. A sin of omission perperatrated by the very government they elected to protect them.

The further to the right you travel on the ideological spectrum the smaller the scope of the federal government becomes. But even the most strident libertarian will hold on to the idea that the primary focus of the federal government should be to protect its citizens. By any definition this government has failed on a most spectacular and shameful level. In failing to aid the people of the Gulf Coast in a timely manner this government has shamed us all.

I wish I could say that I was shocked by the intensity of the suffering, and the level of indifference and incompetence exerted by the authorities. I wish I could say that because if I were, then that would mean that there is some still some hope in me. That somewhere deeply buried in my subconscious is a belief that despite its flaws and disastrous policies this administration has the best interests of the American people at heart, it clearly does not. Anyone who doubts that statement should compare the rapidity of response to this disaster and the rapidity of response to a solitary comatose woman in Florida. Culture of life indeed.

It would be a mistake to inject (as many have) race into this debate. While most of the city of New Orleans is African American, the truth is that those who suffered in the city did so not because of the color of their skin but because of the size (or lack thereof) of their bank accounts. In the pictures from the Superdome and the convention center there were plenty of white faces that exerted all the same pain and anguish of the black faces. This disaster did not discriminate.

We have reached a point where the impoverished have passed every racial and ethnic minority to become the most oppressed class in this country. Weather that is good, bad, or indifferent is up to individual determination. But when the evacuation order was given those who could leave, black and white did. Those could not, black and white stayed, and therein lays the problem. These people, people who rent, people who toil for 60+ hours a week, people who ride the bus just don’t show up on this administration’s radar. Until, that is, it’s time to go to war, and then they are suddenly sold patriotism as if it were a commercial product. This is a separate topic, but why is it that those with the least to gain are asked to sacrifice the most for their country, but those with the most to gain aren’t asked to sacrifice at all. It is a point worth considering.

Another tragedy here is that there are many people in this country who are still blind to the scope of this disaster. They choose to point fingers at local officials ignoring the fact that it has always been the federal government that steps in and takes over in natural disasters such as this one. In talking about this tragedy I have heard friends who will discuss the looting and lawlessness after the storm, and nothing else. Implicitly stating that while the death of thousands of fellow citizens was merely a regrettable affair, the invasion of the sanctity of Wal-Mart was the true tragedy.

In the end New Orleans will come back. People will return, the dead will be buried, and soon Bourbon Street will recapture the precious spirit of debauchery it has always held. The city will be rebuilt, but some areas will get more attention than others, and in that there will be no real lesson. A flashy memorial will be built somewhere where tourists can see it, and it will speak of the triumph of the human spirit or some crap like that. It will completely gloss over the monumental failures that lead to its construction. And it will sit, standing watch, waiting for the next disaster that will expose the cracks in our society. Anybody heard from the San Andres lately?