Selfishness and anger.

Published on September 2, 2005 By dharmagrl In Current Events

I was watching MSNBC's hurricane coverage again yesterday (it's hard to NOT watch it)

A film crew was in Mississippi, interviewing a family who had lost their home to the hurricane. The mom of the family said "I need to get me a phone so's I can call FEMA and have them fetch me a trailer to live in". When the interviewer explained the scale of the devastation Katrina had caused, she (without pause) responded with "well, I NEED one. I aint got nowhere else to go. What am I s'posed to do, sleep in a tent?" (she was white, by the way)

Hmm. There is devastation over a 90,000 sq mile range, people are starving to death in New Orleans, other people are stranded on their rooftops because there isn't any dry land in sight....but this chick wants FEMA to come supply her with a trailer to live in so she doesn't have to camp out in a tent. She's got canned food, she's got bottled water, she's got shelter....but she thinks that her relatively miniscule needs should be the federal government's number one priority.

Another crew was in downtown New Orleans, following a group of folks (again, white people) who were camped out in a rooftop apartment. One of the women in the group was showing how they had barricaded the doors all the way up the stairs to stop looters getting in. She was saying how scared they were; how when the sun goes down she sees gangs of people roaming the streets with bats and guns and bricks...that she was terrified they were going to try and come up the stairs and that she'd have no way to defend herself.

Right after she got done saying how scared she was because of the lawlessness, she got pissed off and started yelling about how she didn't understand how come there weren't covoys of cars full of concerned citizens from other parts of the country, all coming to rescue them.

Again, hmm. She just got done saying how it's not safe in the city and how she's afraid to go out, but she wants others to put themselves in harms way to come and get her. Doesn't matter that the roads getting in and out are flooded and that the ones that aren't flooded are blocked....she thinks that there should be a convoy of folks lining up to get people out.

The last things I saw that really pissed me off were a man at the superdome in New Orleans this afternoon. He was yelling at the trucks bearing food and water, saying that they were too late, that should have been there days ago, and that he for one wasn't glad to see them.

If I had been in charge, I'd have told him that if he wasn't glad to see us he obviously didn't need any food or water, so he could just take his happy ass somewhere else whilst the rest of the refugees got something to eat and drink.

Another woman was bitching about how yes, they got food and water, but they "didn't have no ice" for the water and they had no way to heat the MRE's they'd been given.

My god. She was starving yesterday, and now that she's got food she's complaining about the quality of it? Gimme a break.

It's said that catastrophe brings out the best and the worst in people. The diverse opinions coming out of New Orleans recently have demonstrated that really well.

Some people just aren't going to be happy, no matter what.

Comments

Myrrander

on Sep 02, 2005

I tend to take such emotional responses in the heat of the moment with a grain of salt. People say crazy stuff when they're in shock.

dharmagrl

on Sep 02, 2005

People say crazy stuff when they're in shock.

The dude saying about the trucks not being welcome I CAN agree with, but the other three....I'm not so sure.

There are folks in NO and MS who have been pillars of strength for those around them. Even when their neighbors were dying and freaking out about the lack of water and food, these people were stoic and hopeful; telling everyone that it was going to be alight; that the whole world was watching and they'd get help eventually.

Then there are people like the ones i've described here who think that nobody else's problem is bigger then their own and that they should come first, regardless.

Moderateman

on Sep 02, 2005

goes to show ya ungratefull scum comes in all shapes sizes and colors.

Shovelheat

on Sep 02, 2005

Your very last sentence said it all. A popular saying around here: Some people would bitch if ya hung 'em with a new rope.

Myrrander

on Sep 02, 2005

Well, I don't know how I'd react all wet and clammy and hot and tired and then a camera in my face. I might just say the first thing that came into my head. And that might be, "Gee, I wish I had some ice for this water." It comes off as being ungrateful, and I see your point -- I just try to give the benefit of the doubt to people in that sort of situation.

We had a major tornado that leveled most of my hometown a few years ago, and I remember one of my friends saying that after the fact, all he could think to do was go out looking for chocolate chip cookies -- he was in total shock, wandering around and asking people about chocolate chip cookies. We laugh about the story now, but at the time, his mind had just kina short-circuited and nothing was processing except weird things.

Zoologist03

on Sep 02, 2005

*sigh* Just goes to show you how some people can act....you'd think they'd be grateful for what they have, but alas....they complain even then.

~Zoo

MarcieMoo

on Sep 02, 2005

I don't know how I'd react in this situation. I'm one of those people that absolutely can not stand going without a shower for a day...let alone all week like these people have...I'd probably kill for one if I were in their situations, you know?

All I know is that I feel very bad and wish there was more of something I could rather than just pray for them. You know? NO is a town that's fairly poor, correct? So this hurricane probably hit one of the absolute worst places possible... ANd on top of that, probably 80% of the people that rent or own any type of housing in the hardest hit areas don't have ANY type of insurance at all for their dwelling or belongings...

Frankly, I think they should just pump the town, let it dry out for a few days, then burn it and start all over if that's what they want. I'm completely shocked and saddened by the complete devasation this hurricane wreaked in the South. With how dirty everything is going

pseudosoldier

on Sep 02, 2005

they had no way to heat the MRE's they'd been given.

Are these people daft or just illiterate? The instructions for heating the damnable things are right on the side of the heater. You need:
The packaging of the MRE,
the heater package,
*water* (which they just received, but don't drink it afterward; hell, the water on the ground might suffice), and
a "rock or something" (direct quote, honestly).

Hey, look: a Link to a picture of an MRE heater.

Too busy oral-gazing at free equines to look inside the damned MRE bag, I guess...

(Personally, the only MRE I would heat on a regular basis was the Pork Chow Mein. But many of the new ones taste off if not heated up... some of the old ones tasted worse if heated. As a bonus, you can use the heater to make a nifty noise maker "bomb": crumble the solid chemical plate into an empty 2-liter bottle (dry hands, dry bottle). Add a little water, and cap off. The gas created in the chemical reaction builds up and... *POP*!)

Dr Guy

on Sep 05, 2005

Thanks Dharma. FOr a breath of fresh air.

Dr Guy

on Sep 06, 2005

Why is this a breath of fresh air, Dr.G, because she took great pains to mention that the first 2 people she referred to where white? If race 'doesnt matter' then it shouldnt matter either way, if blacks arent to be indentified as black when spoken of, whites shouldn't either.

Hypocrite.

Are you a mind reader now and can tell what I dont say? Or what I do mean? Perhaps you should confine yourself to reading your own mind, and refrain from guessing.

If I cannot commend someone for posting something I like to read, then perhaps you should blacklist me. HOwever, since this is Dharma's article, and I made no mention of black or white, just that I liked the article, I dont think that will work with you here.

I think before you do your Karnac the Magnificent routine in the future, you learn how to really read minds. And dont call me a hypocrite if you dont know what the hell you are talking about.

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