Big Sky Cairn

Mike at Last Best Place has an interesting post comparing the reactions in two places to a disastrous excess of dihydrogen monoxide.

In New Orleans:

When Katrina hit New Orleans and the levees broke, people who had spent a lifetime being neutered by government dependence didn’t know what to do. There were riots, looting and murders. The sick and infirm were left on the side of streets and even inside buildings to die, if they hadn’t already perished, and the National Guard had to be deployed just to bring back order so recovery operations could begin.

In Iowa:

The entire state has been declared a disaster area. Flooding has turned it’s major cities into giant lakes, their farms, long known amongst those in the business as producing the “high yield” winners for corn and occasionally soybeans are ruined. No where in the media have I seen video of people standing on their roofs with signs saying “help me!” No where have we seen rioting or looting. No one has advocated bringing in a fleet of FEMA trailers to house people who will be “permanently dislocated” because of the storm.

Undoubtedly, I will be called a bad person (Mark T will call me racist), but in the aftermath of Katrina, I was embarrassed - ashamed even - by the way the people of New Orleans responded. That was not the neighbor helping neighbor response that makes this country great.

To this day, I am apathetic toward the rebuilding of New Orleans. I certainly don’t plan on visiting there in the near future. The trouble is, the tremendous generosity of the American People was not appreciated. It was expected by an entitled population who felt that they could turn their noses up at the help because it wasn’t fast enough or comfortable enough. Thanks, but there are plenty of people who need more help and that’s where I’ll put my resources - emotional and financial.

I don’t wish this sort of hardship on anyone, but when the times get hard, the true nature of a community go on display for the entire world to see. I am proud of Iowa.

Underlying histories form attitudes. Blacks came out of slavery and had nothing to build on. They had their slave attitudes where they simply performed manual labor and took what came their way. From that we expect them, in a matter of a few generations, to come up with something similar to what we have. They need time - lots of it, like we have had.

You’re right - New Orleans exposed some real problems, and I agree with conservatives who think that we harm people by giving them money and expecting nothing in return. We’ve not done well in offering blacks a hand up. Many of them are locked in two poverties - one of financial means, the other of attitude. That is what New Orleans exposed.

In the past I have talked about the Southern strategy, and how it is race-based. Still true.

Mark, you surprise me. I agree with your conclusions, but not with your blame. I challenge the notion that “we” - I think you mean society here, and not white people - are responsible for breaking these deadly cycles. In fact, I think that by externalizing the changes to an outside agent (”we”) we actually do a larger disservice to the people who need the help by denying them the ability to help themselves.

I blame vitriolic black leaders - Jackson, Sharpton etc. - and the communities that give them leadership. There are plenty of good black role-models - Bill Cosby comes immediately to mind - but when they make the case for change they are chastised and ridiculed.

If there’s a silver lining in the possibility of Obama being elected, it’s that I hope he can provide a different example of leadership for the black communities - one that focuses on hope instead of victocracy.

[savoring the moment … savoring…]

Since we are in basic agreement, I’m going to get on with my life now.

[…] someone who once wrote this: To this day, I am apathetic toward the rebuilding of New Orleans. I certainly don’t plan on […]