Look at CNN or this blog site (and scroll down). At this very moment (around 2 pm Central Time here in the US), unspeakable misery and suffering are being visited upon tens of thousands of people in one of America's major cities, and nothing is being done. Meanwhile, brainless idiots on the right prattle away about how "compared to every other nation on the planet, we’re moving at warp speed to address a natural disaster of extraordinary magnitude." 10,000 or more human beings are stranded, in one place, without food, sanitation, or basic health care. Their situation has clearly been progressing towards its present dire condition for at least 48 hours. Warp speed?
How can this be happening? Forget private charities; where is the government? Kieran Healy (Sociology, Arizona) expresses related thoughts. (Update: This comment is particularly apt.)
UPDATE: This may be part of the explanation for why this is happening. And this item, referenced before, is also relevant.
ANOTHER UPDATE: From CNN, try this story and watch some of the video clips.
AND MORE: A reader in Washington, D.C. writes:
Hurricane Katrina has certainly given me an unobstructed view into the true meaning of moral depravity. I'd think that some people could display a tiny modicum of decency in the face of immeasurable human suffering. But, on that account, I'd be wrong.You've already noted the moral monstrosity of Jonah Golberg (who's kept up his classy act, as you'll see here). Meanwhile, some freedom-loving libertarians are virtually salivating at the prospect of gunning people down for the petty property crime of looting. Then, of course, there are the countless theocratic fanatics who say that this just evens things up God's great sin ledger. What to say?
In fairness, we should note that the ever-calm Orin Kerr (Law, George Washington)--the only one of the regular Volokh Conspiracy posters still admissable to polite society (poor Eugene checked out some time ago)--did note some of the, ahem, problems with the "shoot 'em dead" enthusiasm of some of his compatriots.
Meanwhile, a reader in Houston reports:
This afternoon my redneck plumber gave me a rundown on his views on Iraq (bomb it out of existence) and the devastation in New Orleans while working on a blocked sink. Of New Orleans he said that it should not be rebuilt because it will always be a disaster waiting to happen due to its location below sea level. When I mentioned the protective levees, he asked, "Why should we spend so much money to protect that disgusting city?"
Speaker Dennis Hastert has just expressed similar views but he did not say
anything about "disgusting".
So that's the way it is in America on September 1, 2005: one of the nation's major urban centers is plunged into the dark ages, tens of thousands are suffering, the government is paralyzed, and some large portion of the country (who knows how large?) is bonkers, vindictive, delusional, or gloating. God Bless America...since He hasn't blessed the victims.
24 HOURS LATER (Sept. 2, Friday, early afternoon) there is some sign of actual relief efforts. Now here is a simple question: why didn't this happen on, say, Wednesday?
AND ANOTHER SEPT. 2 UPDATE: The stories and pleas for help recorded here suggest that some of the horrors continue unabated.
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