Hurricane Katrina

[simon]

Originally Posted by darje

You seem to believe that we were taking each and every victim of the hurricane and tagging them as stupid and lazy, which, FOR THE LAST EFFING TIME, is not the case.

You haven't said that they were. I was quoting from posts by other people that criticised the victims generally, not just some of them, calling them lazy or stupid because they didn't leave. The people who wrote those posts haven't said that they had been misunderstood. They have stood by those comments so far.

Originally Posted by darje

Victimacy status does not automatically make you exempt of stupidity.

I've written twice before in this thread that some of the victims are stupid. What annoyed me was the way some people blamed the victims generally. I studied social psychology and I know that victim blaming is a very common reaction to the misfortunes of others - if we can say that their misfortunes are their own fault it makes us feel better, less guilty and not having to face up to the reality that life is deeply unfair.

People who had the means to leave but didn't were ill-informed or stupid. People who didn't have access to transport can't reasonably be blamed for not having walked out of the way of the hurricane. It was an absurd thing to write. People who have hindered the rescuers are bad or stupid, but it is absurd to imply that they represent a significant proportion of the hurricane victims.

[Kappa]

I don't imply that at all, nor mean to. I'm sad for these people who weren't bad or stupid or for that matter even above average, who have lost their whole patrimony. Having said this, I'll stop posting in this thread, it just puts me in an awful mood.

[Lux]

i just ran into a friend's friend at school where he was trying to get supplies for his friend at Tulane University..this kid lost everything, comp, clothes, phone, everything. and he's like "i'm taking all kinds of donations...this kid doesnt even have cigs!!" lmao@that

[madeldoe]

guess who got the non-bid contract to rebuild NO?

one hint: they got the same contract to rebuild iraq.


TAKE A GUESS.

[spyretto]

Dick's company??

[madeldoe]

DING! DING! DING! Thats right! HALLIBURTON.


FINALLY they got rid of Micheal Brown and got someone who actually knew what the hell they are doing.

[freddie]

That Dick Chainey dude... I don't know but looking at him he looks PURE evil. I mean maybe the title isn't even deserved, he's probably just a fat greedy little fuck, but looking at him he looks like a complete demon's seed.

[haku]

I was watching the news earlier and apparently the estimated death toll has been considerably lowered, now it's oficially of about 300 dead but they don't expect it to go much higher than a thousand in the worst case scenario, which is of course good news.

That being said, when you think that some people were saying that this catastrophe was at the same level as the tsunami in south east Asia... 1 to 2 thousand American dead on one side, 150 to 200 thousand Asian dead on the other side... Yeah, same level.


I'm also amazed to hear that the city is actually going to be rebuilt, this is madness. With the climate change, sea levels are going to rise significantly during this century and the next one. New Orleans *will* be flooded again, it's a certainty, rebuilding a city on a land that is going to end up under water in a few decades is just crazy.

[Rachel]

Originally Posted by haku

...rebuilding a city on a land that is going to end up under water in a few decades is just crazy.

An expensive mistake

[Lux]

i read somewhere that a local tribes people had this ancient stream of wisdom that goes, "if you see the ocean in the far distance begin to recede, away from shore, run. drop everything and run inland, as fast as possible." so when the people saw the sea go away from shore way in the distance, that's what they did. and..30 mins later, the stunami hit. they all survived. neat, eh?

[simon]

Originally Posted by haku

I'm also amazed to hear that the city is actually going to be rebuilt, this is madness. With the climate change, sea levels are going to rise significantly during this century and the next one. New Orleans *will* be flooded again, it's a certainty, rebuilding a city on a land that is going to end up under water in a few decades is just crazy.

Bush promised to rebuild New Orleans and it would be typical of him to do so, following the idea that you don't accept the existence of limits on your ability to do what you want (e.g. global warming, Iraq). But this article from the LA Times (requires registration) says that they are only planning to rebuild part of the city. Large areas will never be rebuilt.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...ines-frontpage

[csargen]

The stupidity and darkness being shown in this thread is unbearable. Your logic for the reason this city should not be rebuilt is down right DUMB. To speak in such a way brings to light your inner state which is obviously one of high damage & no chance of being repaired...

Most likely you haven't ever been there! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NEW ORLEANS! New Orleans was never some tiny nothing city and half of it at this moment isn't flooded, isn't badly damaged, and even has power. The water purifaction plants are All running and it will be 90 days before the water in these undamaged areas is drinkable.

Everyone speaks greenly of how wealthy the U.S. is...duhhh. There's no "expensive mistake". The U.S. can clean up the not so lucky parts of New Orleans 20 times over if it wanted to. Get a grip... and a life!

[haku]

Originally Posted by csargen

Most likely you haven't ever been there! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NEW ORLEANS! New Orleans was never some tiny nothing city and half of it at this moment isn't flooded, isn't badly damaged, and even has power. The water purifaction plants are All running and it will be 90 days before the water in these undamaged areas is drinkable.
Everyone speaks greenly of how wealthy the U.S. is...duhhh. There's no "expensive mistake". The U.S. can clean up the not so lucky parts of New Orleans 20 times over if it wanted to.

Oh so now it's no big deal and the US could clean 20 hurricanes Katrina in no time if they wanted to?

So why did you say at the beginning of this thread that it was a disaster comparable to the tsunami in south east Asia if the hurricane is such a benign incident for the US now?

[csargen]

Originally Posted by haku

So why did you say at the beginning of this thread that it was a disaster comparable to the tsunami in south east Asia if the hurricane is such a benign incident for the US now?

First of all, the hurricane is much like the tsunami disaster and second, being a disaster in America, of course it won't be as difficult as it was in Asia to clean up...

The American government just issued debit cards of $2000 each to evacuee families & there is much money going towards repairs in New Orleans (Bush just gave 5 BILLION dollars to the affected areas). The entire downtown area of New Orleans that defined the city is totally fine and the state is letting business owners back in at this moment to assess any damages to their properties and begin to fix up the area.

If you were actually in America to see, you would know that many wealthier Americans are stepping up and offering new homes & cars & thousands of dollars to individual hurricane victims.

And for all of the US citizens on this forum trying to take up the slack for anything the president or country may have done, you need to stop it, because that is not your place. I am almost sure that you would rather live in the US than any of these other places that think America is such a horrible place. You should not lower yourselves to anyone of these people who have No Idea what it is like to be American, especially when you do not know what people in these other countries face. From actually having visited these places and living amongst people who go over seas on the weekend simply for shopping, I know that I would much rather live in America than anywhere else in the world.

[Kappa]

Because, same as us, he knew next to nothing about the disaster's true proportions? That's my take. I could be wrong.

[Kappa]

Originally Posted by csargen

And for all of the US citizens on this forum trying to take up the slack for anything the president or country may have done, you need to stop it, because that is not your place. I am almost sure that you would rather live in the US than any of these other places that think America is such a horrible place. You should not lower yourselves to anyone of these people who have No Idea what it is like to be American, especially when you do not know what people in these other countries face. From actually having visited these places and living amongst people who go over seas on the weekend simply for shopping, I know that I would much rather live in America than anywhere else in the world.

Excuse me while I... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. *Sends the national rofflecopters in csargen's direction.*

[ Edited because I'm hotheaded and I stumbled into the thread while bored. ]

Sorry, mods.

[csargen]

Originally Posted by darje

Excuse me .... your big redneck american throat.

Shameless.... {EDITED}

Sorry mods...

[Kappa]

So I got caught saying a fact. And...?

[csargen]

Originally Posted by darje

So I got caught saying a fact. And...?

And... you don't even know me... I suggest you reread your very own post in the Personal Forum... and reflect.

[Kappa]

In cases when people make it a fact that Americans seem to believe the rest of the world is "jealous of us, our money and power and whateverelseyouthinkisyours", I make an exception to not insulting anybody. Truly, yes, I hate Mexico City at times when what I posted in the Personal Forum happens, but after years of thought I've come to realize that moving to the States would probably mean I'm jumping from the pan into the fire.

Besides, who are YOU to talk about people not knowing New Orleans? I can ask you the same thing about all the towns (ex. Acapulco, that takes hurricanes like a kick in the balls every time they happen, or Cancun, very much an "american" spring break place, that's had had to rebuild twice from the beggining thanks to similar disasters) that get pretty much turned upside down when a disaster of this category happens. Do you know them? Have you seen the Mexican troops or the presidents say "This was worse than the last time, but we're powerful so we'll rebuild" and five minutes later go "Oops, it wasn't so awful. My bad."? No. I'm quite honestly sick of this disaster (and this thread, and you) because when their own are in need, the very Americans that are "helping others" in a country that NEVER ASKED FOR THEIR DAMN HELP are unable to withdraw and rebuild.

I don't need to know you to know that nobody else in this forum would ever say "my country's better than yours even if we can't help ourselves", which is what you just did.