Something for the Weekend

September 01, 2005

A little bit of wind... by Tris

Wow, that was a massive hurricane that tore through the Big Easy.

With all such disasters, it is hard to make the situation seem real when all you see are pictures shown through the same medium as all the big Hollywood blockbusters. It does looks like a movie, a massive big budget disaster flick - and when it starts to hit home that this is real, this is not a movie, I feel nothing but compassion for those people suffering.

But, and there is always a but - I can't help but be amazed by the scale of America, both in terms of size and reaction, or lack of it.

You would have thought that America would be well used to, as the English would downplay it, "a bit of wind" by now and thus would be able to deal with it quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of fuss and death. But that hurricane was massive, there was not only a lot of wind but a crap load of water too and for a city that sits under sea level, a crap load of water is no good thing. The sheer scale of the hurricane and the damage is beyond my comprehension.

I am a little surprised that Bush hasn't done more, but he has once again proven himself to be lacking in the, "knowing the right thing to do and not sitting on my arse" department. The looting that is going on is not befitting of the World's last superpower, the shooting at of the rescue helicopter demonstrates the fact that the State have lost control of the situation. Once again the minority have given the rest a terrible name.

Comments

Indeed Mr T, I always find the states puzzling. Blighty is so small, we seem more unified atleast as far a public behaviour and conventions are concerned. I find the differences between states a very unusual concept to grasp. I guess I'm just comfortable with what I know (how narrow!) I wonder how we look to our trans-Atlantic counterparts...?

You're right, it seems like they were woefully underprepared. What worries me is that it seems that these people who have lost everything managed to salvage their guns. Why? In case they got mugged or looted? I'm not sure how much blame you can put on Bush though. Seems to me like the City of New Orleans council, and the state of Louisiana needs to take a long hard look at itself. The way the US is set up means that this is a state issue, not a federal issue.

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