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"Alpha" <none@none.net> wrote in message
news:11hmrur28jkev7e@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "> Until you have been in the very same situation as those in New Orleans
> you
>> cannot be a judge.
>
> Amen to that. My relatives are very opinionated about the situation in
> New Orleans. I however, was near the epicenter of the Northridge
> earthquake (I moved since).....you really have to experience this kind of
> disaster to understand (and an earthquake is totally sudden and without
> warning....35 seconds later and you have nothing).
>
>
Heinlein once wrote that every man should be prepared
to turn his back on all the things he has acquired, and start
over with nothing but what he can carry, all without looking
back. There are plenty who have been through experiences
that made that necessary. Uninsured houses have burned
to the ground, farms and business gone belly-up, parents
died, careers imploded, factories closed.
These are not quite the sudden catastrophes that create an
environment where individuals have to rely on their own
resources to insure their own basic survival and the survival
of those they are responsible for. In an urban society where
individual self-reliance is viewed as antisocial, where there is a
philosophy that encourages both dependence and taking from
any you can, whenever you can get away with it, and such
a disaster occurs, what we saw is what you should expect.
In communities of a more rural tradition, with self-reliance
seen as a virtue, and independent practical approaches to
life the norm, responses to total destruction seldom include
strongman tactics and bands of thugs taking from the weak.
There is less "When is the goverment going to soluve all my
problems, sooth my grief, replace my comforts, even save
my life," and more "lets git to work fixing our own
problems".
New Orleans was a special situation in that the authorities
had the ability to block the only entrance to / exit from the
disaster area, so even those with the sense and self-reliance
to try and leave were sometimes prevented from doing so.
So you had a dependent population trapped and not able
to see relief coming. They were on their own. In most
cases, their whole life they had some line to get into that
would address their needs, and some politician who would
"feel their pain" if they didn't get what they thought they
had coming to them. Now you can't expect them to
suddenly stop expecting someone else to be responsible.
There were a good number who did respond in a noble
fashion. They helped and saved many who were so lost
without someone telling them where to go, what to do.
But they were far out numbered by the lost, or those who
were preying on them.
-----------------------------------------------
Now this next will get me labeled a racist for sure.
Where is the sizable White minority of New Orleans,
in the rescue scenes on TV? Are we to believe that
almost all of them got out before the storm or the levee
break? The suburbs are under water also, very very
few of the rooftop rescues I've seen on TV show whites
being rescued.
I don't know what this indicates, but shouldn't there be
more white survivors coming out of New Orleans?
Ok, flame away.
Luck;
Ken
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