Katrina: Blaming the "Welfare State" and more on Racism

Yesterday I was forwarded this disgustingly ridiculous article from a friend with the following expressions of outrage about it:

I don't want to take too much of your time, but the spin starts. Didn't really read this article (below)- didn't have to. My first thought was: this is the rhetoric of a conservative Bush supporting Republican. So I briefly checked this guy out- seems to be a white guy based out of North Carolina (and yes he's a conservative). This is a complicated issue, but this idiot seems to place all the blame squarely on the victims (and the local Democratic government). Bottom line: he's saying this disaster is the result of the poor not being able to help themselves, and its their fault. He highlights the looting and violence the media focused on as justification for his beliefs (violence that was perpetrated by the few- not the many). Most importantly, he makes no mention of any other long term issues that contributed to this disaster (ie. levees, erosion of the coast line over the decades, etc). Again, this is a complicated issue and I'm not ready to solely blame anybody yet, but tell me the statement below (quoted from the article below) isn't disgusting, pathetic, and the belief of many conservative white Americans:

With respect to the disaster that occurred at the Superdome: "People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complaining
that other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and then
shooting at those who come to rescue them...It is a perfect summary of the 40-year history
of the welfare state and its public housing projects."

P.S. The article below seems to "intellectualize" his argument- to me its just racism packaged a different way.

I had the following to say in response.

You are certainly right. The racism has many names and many faces. This is just one of them.
I learned about this article earlier from one of the blogs, but did not pay attention and was not surprised at all. This idea isn't new. Don't you know? the poor are poor because they are lazy, because they are sinners or perhaps (as the idea bellow seem to imply) because they are, well non-white...
The idea or rather belief has been advanced by the puritans long time ago. Poverty is a punishment from God, and wealth is a reward. It doesn't matter whether the wealth is gained in honest way or through fraud and crookery. You should not question the whether one is a crook or not, his wealthy and that means he is cleared by the almighty. The conservatives today are of' course the descendants of the same puritans (or pretty much their reincarnation).
For all their resentment of Darwin's theory of evolution, they seem to always embrace it's application to the realities of the society. They never have a problem with Social Darwinism.

There is a truth in this proposition of' course. The poverty and race, as we discussed earlier, were the major reasons for the magnitude of the human disaster and such a high level of human losses. But you are right when you say that the victims (the poor) are getting blamed as if it is an inexplicable fact why they are poor. As usual nothing about the causes of their predicament is being discussed nor will it be anytime soon... That's not sexy..that doesn't sell TV time or newspapers, moreover people "shouldn't care about it". Everyone for himself, remember? Wealth still trumps the commonwealth.

Grover Norquist - one of the main conservative ideologues who constantly lobbies of lower or no taxes, and hence for no social spending, has famously said that he would like to cut down the government to the size where "we can drown it in the bathtub". I don't think they cut down the government (actually just the opposite), but it looks like they found a big-enough tub instead... Sadly, it wasn't only the "government" that drowned there...

I heard even more disgusting reports through the independent media. The white residents from the New Orleans area (perhaps unaware of rolling camera), were expressing the pleasure that now all "those people" (black people) will be moved out of there and the place will much better without them. Some were also joking how Texas governor will be voted out in the next election for taking in "those people".
There is no race or class in America? Think again...

P.S. You are only wrong in one thing, when you say that the spin starts now. It has been going on for days now, when they realized that the TV appearance, forming task force and "projecting confidence" (read arrogance and ignorance) was not enough this time and that the press core surprisingly found its human side and expressed outrage. The Right-Wing Noise Machine is already cranking and will soon be at full throttle.
By the way, I don't mean to suggest that those were rumors, but the claims of rape and similar events in the Superdome were never confirmed. Authorities could not find anyone who came forward with those claims. It does however serve the bigger "spin" of "people living in piles of their own waste".

Zero Tolerance. Yes, I agree!

We have been hearing a lot about the zero tolerance policy in the recent days. Everyone from our always hawkish (or rather chicken-hawkish) commentators and pundits to state and federal government officials seem to suddenly turn fans of shoot-to-kill orders. As crazy and inhumane the idea is, what is more astonishing is that they can’t even get themselves to say that an exception should be made for the thousands strained without food, water and closing, who are resolving to the this last choice of “looting” to survive. No, it doesn’t seem to matter whether one carries out a TV set or other electrical appliance, or if it is water and snacks needed to stay alive, shoes to walk over the debris, closing to stay warm or diapers and other essential for so many infants and kids.
So much for compassionate conservatism of our leaders.

I have to admit that I agree with those advocating zero-tolerance policy in principle. However, our disagreement lies with the targets of that policy.
How about zero tolerance for:
- catastrophic incompetence,
- unbelievable carelessness,
- criminal negligence,
- heartless inaction and slow response
- unacceptable ignorance
- shifted priorities
- neglect of people
- lack of planning
- lack of personnel and equipment
- arrogant attitude toward environment
- unquestionable dismissal of Global Warming threats…

The list can go on and on, but how about zero tolerance for mistakes and failure of this magnitude of any leader and any administration.
No, the problem is not the hungry, scared and cold people fighting for their lives by taking what they can find in stores around them, not even those criminals among them that take advantage of the chaos for their gain by spreading violence and intimidation. No, it is those in charge that left the former ones behind in the predicament they are to face and fight the latter ones for a single modest goal – survival.

Simply beyond believe

I just like to share few responses I got from some of my friends after forwarding them this posting.

“…Even though you know where I stand politically, this is one of the most tragic and embarrassing disasters in our history and I blame our entire government. Just proves our American government is totally useless outside of pandering to special interest groups, the wealthy, and corporate America. The birthplace of Jazz and so much else gone (for now)- thousands dead or dying, looting, and we still haven't responded to the extent we need to! Everyone knew this was going to happen. New Orleans sounds like Iraq right now, or a third world country, not America! Did you hear the Mayor of New Orleans this morning- he's totally right. And to show just how out of touch these idiot politicians are with the American people, did you hear what Dennis Hastert said yesterday?”

“…I watched some television coverage on the disaster for the first time last night. There must be a silver lining to this dark cloud. Maybe in time it will bring a greater awareness to the vulnerability of the human race to the wrath of mother nature and to how we treat one another and value life and lives of others. As we each take on a greater personal responsibility to respect the earth, ourselves and others, there is hope of a mass conscious shift.”

My own subsequent reply was:

"Perhaps, in some strange and cruel way, this disaster will bring to the front all those commonly ignored issues of race and class...
People will stop pretending that these notions do not exist in America and will realize that they matter most in everyone's life and future. The things would undoubtedly be different if the racial and class makeup of the victims was different...
In any case, as horrible as the hurricane itself was, what followed after and is still going on is simply beyond comprehension.
So many people in other countries, who are watching what is unfolding now now, cannot believe what they see on TV..."Is this the richest country in the world?" the ask...
If anyone still had any lingering doubts about the priorities of the governing class, should be clear now.
It's profit over people...looks like it always has been."