What would have been different if those left in New Orleans had been weathy whites? Ignore the fact that wealthy whites don't have to worry about looters and street criminals living among them. Ignore that wealthy whites have cars to flee with and money to rent hotel rooms with. Imagine that for some reason wealthy whites were the people left behind and the street criminals stealing tvs and shooting at the helicopter could not be easily distinguished from the other wealthy whites. How would the governments have behave differently? Would the presence of street criminals have held back the rescue or would it have made the rescue speed up to save the wealthy whites from the street criminals? Would they have refused to bring water and food to large groups of wealthy whites until the could do so in an orderly way with enough food and water for everyone because they feared sparking a stampede and riot? Was the fear of sparking a stampede and riot greater because of the attitudes that americans have about blacks? Would those looting food and water from stores be depicted as resourceful heroes if they were wealthy whites? Would the Red Cross and amatuer rescuers have been kept out if it was wealthy whites in need? Probably the Amatuer rescuers were kept out because that is what government folks are trained to do. My understanding is that the majority of rescuing that was done was done by amatuers. The government needed their help and in my opinion should have broadcast that every body within 500 miles of New Orleans that had a small boat and a friend with a gun to come to New Orleans and help because the government could not get the job done. Would they have bussed everybody to Baton Rouge before losing their busses on a long trip to Houston. Did a fear of what a 100,000 more poor blacks waiting in Baton Rouge would do lead to a different policy than would have been used if it was 100,000 more wealthy whites waiting in Baton Rouge. What if they were wealthy whites?
The fittest survive. So, it is assumed that wealthy people are fittest, smartest and adaptable to the disasters. First they would have information before any impending disaster, whether man-made or natural. They would know, whether the retaining walls will hold, because, they are the ones who built it. They would have access to triple redundant communication and trasportation devices and since they own the politicians in Washington, just a call would make miracles. Wealthy people control their environment, poor people are controlled by it. It helps to be white, but not necessary, you can hire them as your protection services - if you are wealthy, irrespective of your color. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They will now be seeking advice from attorneys on the possibility of sueing the Federal government for their incompetence and negligence that leads to the unnecessary loss of properties and lives.
Good maybe then the courts will force the goverment to have royal commisions (or whatever you call them) and to also hold coronors inquests into the deaths. Seems to me that if you are seriouse about it just being all a mestake or a seriouse of them then eveyone from the president down should be holding inquests into how things could have been done better for next time
Bush would've been on it within a minute's notice, probably. Either that, or he would've lagged along like a retarded rabbit, with him being, you know, Bush and all... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I heard the mayor on TV. He says that when he organized people at the covention center to walk to safety via the Crescent City Bridge, the group he set walking to safety via that route was turned back by machine guns and attack dogs. The event is referenced less dramatically here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/12549627.htm Is that part of why people were shooting at authorities?
About the same sort of thing probably would have happened. Maybe a few more buildings would have held up due to being built to code. I doubt as many idiots would have stooped to looting for TVs and sneakers and there would be less violence. Not much else. The government is limited by the nature of beaureaucracy and physical reality. It takes a certain amount of time to cut through red tape and get the ball rolling. It takes time to acquire and physically transport supplies through an area where 80% of the roads are underwater. Rescues and shipments can only be done through a limited number of helecopters and a limited number of pilots, which need time away for rest or refueling. It takes time to sail a hospital ship from one port to another. And now, on top of everything else, some idiot gangs slow things down even more with shows of violence. Every step of the way, the government must ensure the safety of its workers with armed men in uniform. Paranoia becomes mandatory.
Can't remember who the mayor sai they were. There was a quote from a Louisiana State Police guy in the ledger article. Maybe it was them. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46131 Rivera made his intense plea on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" program, at one point holding a young child in his arms on camera. "There are so many babies here," Rivera said. "Take a look, I want everyone in the world to see. ... Look in the face of the baby. ... People [are] suffering, let them go! ... Let them walk over this damn interstate and let them out of here!" In the same program from another location, Fox's Shepard Smith explained in a excited negative tone that authorities were preventing survivors from leaving the area. "[Authorities] have set up a checkpoint at the bottom of this bridge," Smith said, noting the structure was the gateway to other parishes where the quality of life was better. "Anyone who walks up out of that city is turned around." Smith summed up in an urgent tone the thoughts of the survivors seeking to leave the convention center, exclaiming, "Over there, there's hope, over there, there's electricity, over there, there's food and water. But you cannot go from there to there. The government will not allow you to do it. It's a fact." The convention center has become a symbol of the plight of survivors in the Big Easy. Trash and human waste have been piling up inside since Monday when residents sought shelter from Katrina, and with armed gangs terrorizing nearby streets, even local police have avoided the area.
Race is a red herring. If they had been wealthy black people they would have had the same advantages that wealthy white people have, which is the reason that wealthy people of all skin tones generally fare better in an emergency and why there were so few wealthy people of any skin tone that needed to be rescued. 1. They have connections. The mayor and police chief wouldn't dare leave their biggest benefactors behind. No campaign money or "policeman's ball" contributions next year. 2. They have mobility. Unlike earthquakes and tornadoes, hurricanes announce their arrival days in advance. The rich people all found good reasons to be elsewhere in case it hit. Meetings, vacations, inspecting factories, etc. 3. They live in better locations. I wonder how many rich people live very far below the water line in a hurricane area? It sounds like an idiotic thing to do to me, and people don't get rich by being idiots. 4. They have more resources. They've got staffs, Hummers, boats, perhaps even helicopters. And a well-stocked larder and a police radio in case they somehow do get stranded. And an imposing fence around the place to keep looters at bay if the armed guards don't do it. If you want to talk about why such a high percentage of the poor people in New Orleans are black, then that's a different issue. But don't play the race card as a way of smearing the people who are sworn to protect us. It just doesn't play. As for Bush's response, well geeze the man is a certified moron, why do you think he'd handle this any better than he's handled anything else? (Yeah sorry, there is one way for an idiot to get rich: inherit it.)
Are you sre the folks at the convention center would not have been allowed to walk across the Crescent City Connection Bridge if they were a mostly white crowd?
What I keep wondering is where the hell is/was all of the poor WHITE folks of New Orleans? I see one or two in all of the tv news footage, but they are RARE! Where the hell did they all go? Did they obey the orders to evacuate? It's the only explanation that I can come up with. Baron Max
There were whites in the crowd nirakar. They were stuck as well. Had everyone in the area been wealthy (of whatever colour or race), the toll and the disaster that followed would have been minimal at best since they would probably have been able to afford to evacuate the area before the hurricane hit. And Fraggle.. brilliant post!
Or they stayed in their homes... and I do not want to think about what might have happened to them there... The pictures I saw of the evactuation centres had many faces of all colours. While they were predominantly black, there were many faces of other shades as well. I have to admit however that by the second minute of looking at what was going on, I'd stopped seeing what colour they were. Misery has no colour.
I'd have to disagree and say in this instance it is a distinct ebony brown. But I agree it's largely irrelevent, and am with fraggle that it's a poor/rich thing. To answer the fantasy of the thread starter, yes I would think alot of effort would be put into saving the rich humans from the region. They would never get themselves into that predicament, they didn't get where they are by being stupid. But I've got a decent imagination, and yes I think there would be a more urgent response to their plight if they were in that predicament. And why shouldn't there be? They're the most valuable members of society, it would be like losing priceless resources, what they're losing right now and seeming less than enthusiastic to save are parasites. Drains on society. An element that makes neighbourhoods disgusting and worth less. They take take take and give nothing. (it doesn't matter if what they take is meager and barely enough for an 8ball, there's alot of them taking, and as an entity they take alot). It would be beneficial for new orleans, and america, if the people that are left got swept out to sea never to be heard from again. And this is a purely objective point I'm making here (not "being racist", I'm talking about the poor white people too- although it REALLY does seem like there aren't any in new orleans) it would actually litterally be better for the country, while it would be bad for the country to lose rich people. You should be gratefull they're even considering trying to save these people. If we were a more logical species they wouldn't be. It's not only compassionate of them, it's compassionate to an irrational degree. So for people to go on about how "mean" the government is for not doing more to help them is ridiculous when you think about it. They are going to save something that is detrimental to them, surely that's compassionate enough to be considered good guys (who's goodness borders on idiocy). It's like if your house was burning down and you were crashing through burning doors and jumping out of the way of falling logs of burning wood, risking your life to recover "that rug with shattered glass all through it which has always cut my feet when I walked on it, I've always hated it and it's made living in my house hard. But, when I rebuild a new home I think it should be there, just to make life hell again".
Your whole post was very logical. And you actually read what I wrote and were willing and capable of imagining. I like that. Your Social Darwinistic point of view would be shocking to some but is logically sound. Of course if people know that they are being discarded we should expect them to try to make trouble. Other people who we did not intend to discard but who have loyalties to the discarded might also make trouble. We also might undermine the good social structure of the "keeper people" if we create confusion about to whom the sanctity of life and citizenship applies.
I, all of a sudden today, think the whole race observation is mostly crap.The bush media propagandists twisting the plot to divert a bit of the attention off of his inability to run the country. Better a racist than a moron. I dont think Bush and fema or the national guard etc could've saved the presidents mother off of one of those rooftops. It wasn't complacency is was pure ineptitude. Why in the world the president drag his feet if he could've done otherwise? His public opinion rating is already HORRIBLE!! And Id be willing to consider he didn't know WHO was actually stranded out there anyway. I imagine he sighed a sigh of relief when they announced on the news the katarina had went slightly east of what was expected. If they had been prepared they would've mobilized rescue before the hurricane even hit the coast. Pure ineptitude and nothing else. If there had been wealthy whites there instead of impoverished blacks wed be watching white people die in droves. Think Bush in that little teas classroom after he was informed of the first plane crash that day.. The only kind of situation where he can manage some of immediate response seemingly on his own is when he can wield his violence promising to strike down the problem with it. Im surprised the guy, in a fit of desperation didn't come on tv to denounce radical weather patterns and swear to the nation that we wouldn't rest until each and every hurricane was taken down. that must've taken some self control. He IS unqualified to be the leader of this nation. Period. Just wait and see. If and when there is more of the same, whether at home or abroad, he will fail to get the job done.Thats not my wish by a long shot. To the contrary. Still, thats my prediction based on his record so far. Failing to subvert the 9-11 attacks.. failing to round up those terrorists responsible, failing to find bin laden, failing to find WMDs, failing to establish a democratic Iraq, failing to manage a forecast disaster 1000 miles away from the capitol. Why would I think this pattern is going to turn around?
More than one someone needs to go to jail over this. I also saw on TV that FEMA turned back aid because they didn't have the right permits. PERMITS?!! Who do they think they are? Anyone who requires permits to rescue people from natural disasters should be shot on sight and on site. If the people who are in there knew this, they would be right to shoot at them. This is just to effing much.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/06/149240 FLOYD SIMEON (of the US border patrol): What government? We don't have any government response here. Everything that's taken place has taken place by volunteers and citizens in the area. You know, I don't want to be critical of my government and not supportive. It's just taken so long and it’s so slow. I mean you would think in this situation when you look around me and behind me at all this, why aren't there 50 inflatable boats in the water working a grid making sure all these people are out of here? Why is it just volunteers? That's the only people you see around. And on top of that they're trying to stop volunteers from coming in. It seems like everyone has taken this approach that this has to be handled by the professionals and there's no professionals handling it. And when you look at it and they keep saying people need to stay out, you can't come home, they're telling people in Slidell that, they're telling people in Jefferson Parish that. What really needs to happen is everybody needs to come home and help. That's the only way this is going to get fixed. Everybody has to come back and fix their city. Obviously this area is not ready for people to come back into. But there's places where we can come in. You clear the trees, you clear your roads. Let them hook up to utilities and let's get things going again. It's not just going to happen by everybody sitting and waiting. And that's why we're here. We got tired of waiting. ........................................................................................................... nirakar now, not Floyd: For the Feds I think the issue is incompetence. Maybe they might have been prodded out of their incompetence and moved faster if there had been more wealthy people left in New Orleans. I am hearing things that make it seem that at the bridge by the convention center and at the I-10 Freeway at Causeway Blvd for the Louisiana State police and Jefferson Parish Sheriffs the influence of racism may have may have changed the priority from protecting the crowds that feared their own deaths from dehydration to protecting Jefferson Parish communities from looting and thug violence.
