The United States of America, those of us who live here are fond of saying, is the greatest country in the world. Such superlatives have extremely little to do with things like American freedom, American opportunity, the American constitution, the American economy, or even American culture. Countries are defined by one simple thing: their people. And America is likewise defined by its people, so if America is the greatest country in the world, it can ONLY be because we have the greatest people in the world. Regardless of their political or religious or social beliefs.
If the American people are judged by their support and assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina — our own fellow Americans — we are not setting the bar very high. Because the way that Katrina victims are being treated is disgusting. Disgraceful. Miserable. Pathetic. And shameful.
Some of us have been this way from the beginning. We've been so much more interested in finger-pointing ("Bush is responsible for this disaster! Brown! Chertoff! Blanco! Nagin!") and gloating ("Serves them right. They should have left when they had the chance." Or, "If they weren't sinners, God wouldn't have punished them so.") that we haven't stopped to consider that it says as much about us as it does about federal/state/local government officials or residents of New Orleans. One person on this very website gleefully announced that they wouldn't be contributing a cent to the Katrina effort because, to paraphrase, "government policies and actions are responsible for this and it's time they cleaned up their own mess for once." It doesn't matter whether he was referring to the U.S. government, the Louisiana/Mississippi government, or the New Orleans government (and Biloxi, and how many other cities that were decimated?)...many who will read this already know to whom I refer. The idea that anyone, of any ethos, would be so selfish and uncompassionate just for the sake of making their political point is absolutely repulsive.
But it's not just people who were selfish and uncaring from the beginning. Many of us did what we could at the beginning and then stopped doing what we could, despite the fact that the recipients of our early goodwill and generosity are still in need of it — many in just as much, or more, need today than they were when the storm hit. We got jaded. We started calling people who were living off of FEMA funds "moochers" and "thieves," never stopping to consider whether those people had any other possible means of survival. When they got evicted from their hotels, or had to live in tents, or couldn't get put in trailers despite the surplus of available ones, we considered it part of the School of Hard Knocks and said that well, it was time that they learned to fend for themselves. Did we ever stop to consider whether they had the means with which to fend? Or did we simply not give a shit whether they did or not? How many of us sincerely believe the simple truth that these people would not live off of our tax dollars if they had any other choice? And again, how many of us care?
Article comments
1 - chantal stone
you're absolutely right, Michael. we never hear the Katrina stories anymore, they seem to have run their course through the news cycles. when the fact remains, there are still families separated, still people with no homes, people in need of jobs and health care.
our attention span, as Americans, is about as long as it takes for the next big story to hit, then we seem to forget what we felt so passionately about yesterday.
thank-you, Michael, for bringing this back to our attention.
2 - JP
Thank you for writing this. Great summation of a lot of my feeelings on the subject.