MY SECOND REBUTTAL TO 'ANONYMOUS'
REGARDING HURRICANE KATRINA
Anonymous:
I have lived in hurricane areas before and in fact have been a person who ignored an evacuation order. Its a funny thing once you have been through one you think you can ride out any hurricane in the future. I can guarantee you that some of these victims had that same attitude. If that's blaming the victim then I'm guilty. but if some one tells me not to jump off a bridge but I stll do it I have no one to blame but myself. (i'm not talking about the people who had no transportation i'm talking about able bodied people who made an informed decision to stay.
Michelle's Rebuttal
The able-bodied stayed because they had NOWHERE to go. Haven’t you read or comprehended a single sentence I’ve written? Even if these people got a ride and headed north, they still would have been affected by the hurricane.
Moreover, if they did get to a safe area, where would they stay? How would they pay for the gas to get that far? How would they pay for lodging, food, and medicine? (i.e. insulin for diabetics and medications for the elderly, etc.) You have to consider the logistics and not assume that just everyone can just ‘up and leave’.
Furthermore, keep in mind that many stayed because they were afraid of looters. I am originally from Wisconsin, and now reside in Indiana--the mentality in the north is significantly different from a crime-ridden city such as New Orleans. The effects of crime have been ingrained and reinforced to these people (of any color). They feel that no one can be trusted and will steal, hurt or kill to get what they want. These people felt they had to protect the belongings they worked so hard for to get. Again, you are forgetting these people are dirt poor. Anything they have is EVERYTHING they have.
Anonymous:
And I'm sorry but I cannot agree that any black person in america has it as bad as an Iraqi under saddam. Over saddam's 30 some years of reign they had rape rooms, they had gased hundreds of thousands (kurds) and torture was a daily occcurance not mention they killed (be-headed) political dissadents. I really don't think you see the plight of american blacks as dire as that over the last 30 years?????? remember that was 1975 hardly the hieght of jim crow or slavery.
Michelle's Rebuttal
I never said or even suggested that black Americans had it as bad as the Iraqis. Again, you aren’t fulling reading my past rebuttal regarding Iraq. I find it odd that our government spends billions of dollars to save other people before they will help own citizens…namely the poor and destitute black population of the south that aren’t registered voters. If they aren't registered voters, what can they do for them? In addition, they certainly don’t equate MONEY to them. As ugly as it sounds, that is the life and reality of politics.
I have to mention that even in 1975 black Americans still struggled with their place in society and felt the strain of overt prejudices. I should have adjusted my date to reflect the 20th century instead regarding “Jim Crow” laws and “Separate but Equal”. Even after those laws were abolished, the mentality of racist people of the south didn’t change.
Anonymous:
The governor could'nt get aid because she was a woman???????? That is insane. That governor plain dropped the ball. Her gender had nothing to do with it give me a break. If a mn had made that statement you would be claiming sexism. Saddam also used to have women's faces pushed into acid. I'm not aware of the Ford administration policy on blacks with regard to burning faces off but I'm sure it didn't exist.
Michelle's FINAL Rebuttal
I did not say that the governor couldn’t get aid because she was a woman. I explained that in Washington it is harder for the politicans of a poor state to get their voices heard; and being a woman in a white male-dominated profession is a double-jeopardy. Don't you realize that our government was considered 'the good old boys' type of club?
I am also assuming you aren’t a woman, therefore you don’t have the experience of not being taken seriously. I am only 32 and have experienced this behavior throughout my entire life.
Moreover, the politicians in Washington didn’t elect her or the Mayor of New Orleans. They were elected by the people of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans. One cannot just pick up the phone and call Bush during his short-lived vacation on what to do. One must go through the arduous and ridiculous bureaucratic channels. This takes time and many are ignored in states such as Louisiana.
In fact, the State of Louisiana has petitioned the Federal Government SEVERAL times for addition federal funding in order to restructure the levy in New Orleans, but were rejected time and again. In fact, Bush decreased their funding during his administration.
I am not going to comment regarding your statement that Saddam had women’s faces pushed into acid. That has nothing to do with what I am trying to get across or the issue at hand.
Thanks for the debate, Anonymous. As I said previously, lets agree to disagree.
No hard feelings, right?
3 comments:
Okay party people…back to your corners for a standing eight count. I don’t check the blog for a couple of days and there is a full on scrap…how fun! I just hope that when either of your party leaders tells you to drink the kool-aid you both will pass. With that being said I’ll get to my take on the situation:
I believe that you are both right and both wrong. I have yet to hear any Democrat not blame Bush & FEMA and at the same time they give the LA Gov and Mayor a pass. At the same time every Republican is doing the exact opposite. It is as if everybody is looking at this event through their own political prism. Let’s face it…all parties involved dropped the ball at some point in this fiasco. There was a request for federal aid before Katrina hit and Bush/FEMA were VERY slow on the draw, but at the same time the local government had 300 school buses sitting in a parking lot.
I think that there were many people that could not leave due to economic status, but there were just as many who did not leave because they believed that they could ride it out (they could have left if they wanted to). If I recall correctly, most news organizations claimed that New Orleans got off rather easy after the hurricane had passed…it wasn’t until the next day that everybody really started dying (due to the breached levy).
Well after all the fussin’ and a’feudin going on between the left and the right about why the system broke down, who diverted funds from levy enhancements or how the socialist left keeps the poor in a constant state of government dependence we must recognize one fact…this catastrophe was caused by a natural disaster…a very powerful hurricane named Katrina. So blame God. …oh wait, he does not exist, but that is a whole other topic. :)
PS Happy late B-Day Michie...mine is today!
Thanks for the comment, Steven. I don't believe that there is a right or wrong answer for this discussion.
Yes, it was a natural disaster. It has nothing to do with the war, the democrats, republicans, or politics in general. This has become a fight by passing the blame for everyone's error and misguided judgments.
We must learn from this experience (as we did with 9/11) and prepare the steps to rebuild, connect people with their families and continue with life.
Mistakes are sometimes good, because if one learns from the error, then it can be handled differently in future events such as this.
This hurricane season is one of the worst in history, and it's not over yet. Let's learn from this tragedy now so we can change attitudes, policies, protocols and procedures.
definately no hard feelings. I also agree we can learn something from this, mother nature is more powerful than most of us realize and it is imperative that our elected officials learn to deal with these events as efficiently as possible. With that said Bush should fire the FEMA director as soon as humanly possible without disrupting the relief effort. I agree with steven we all have our particular political bent and I think that is healthy and our beliefs shoiuld be debated in forums such as this. I will never hold a grudge from anyone so long as they make rational arguements I may disagree with their rational but that does not mean i dis-respect their opinion.
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