Watersports (or My Obligatory Katrina Post)
Warning: Unpopular Opinions Ahead!
I dodged the Sheehan fiasco. I ignored the Chavez debacle. However, since Katrina isn't just political BS I will throw up the obligatory post on it.
Is it a tragedy? Yes.
Does it suck if you are in New Orleans? Yes.
That being said I am really tired of the faux insincerity that comes out of people during events like this. I can't stand how every other day of their lives people could give two shits about the world around them. It always takes a 9/11 or a Katrina to snap people out of their self involved little bubbles.
"I sat & cried"
No you didn't, you are in fucking North Dakota or Vermont or some other dry fucking place just like the rest of us thinking 'God I love my shit, I'm so glad I didn't lose all my shit'.
I do not believe people across the country are sitting around in tears over the victims of the hurricane. If you are I feel doubly sorry for you since you are exactly the kind of hypocrite I am talking about.
I don't trust people who only care when it is warranted. Caring about others is one of those things you either do it or you don't. If there has to be a natural disaster to stir up your teflon coated emotions, please keep you sympathy to yourself.
Then there is the question of whether or not sympathy is warranted. I feel for those who lost everything & are being shuffled off to Texas like Palestinian refugees. I feel for those too young to comprehend what has just happened. I do NOT feel for the looters armed to the teeth ready to off anyone who screws with them or the dvd player they just hijacked.
Sadly, the looters represent more of this country's mentality than anything else I have seen.
What upsets me the most is the pets. I have long felt that animals were better than people in a lot of ways. Their emotions are genuine, they treat you how you treat them, they are truly noble creatures and they will never be looting with an AK47 strapped to their paws. I know that had I been confronted with a situation like this my pets would be as safe as I was even if it meant I could carry a few less meaningless possessions.
I could go on, but instead I'm just going to leave some pictures I have found particularly relevant to my feelings on Katrina.
Help these victims too:
I dodged the Sheehan fiasco. I ignored the Chavez debacle. However, since Katrina isn't just political BS I will throw up the obligatory post on it.
Is it a tragedy? Yes.
Does it suck if you are in New Orleans? Yes.
That being said I am really tired of the faux insincerity that comes out of people during events like this. I can't stand how every other day of their lives people could give two shits about the world around them. It always takes a 9/11 or a Katrina to snap people out of their self involved little bubbles.
"I sat & cried"
No you didn't, you are in fucking North Dakota or Vermont or some other dry fucking place just like the rest of us thinking 'God I love my shit, I'm so glad I didn't lose all my shit'.
I do not believe people across the country are sitting around in tears over the victims of the hurricane. If you are I feel doubly sorry for you since you are exactly the kind of hypocrite I am talking about.
I don't trust people who only care when it is warranted. Caring about others is one of those things you either do it or you don't. If there has to be a natural disaster to stir up your teflon coated emotions, please keep you sympathy to yourself.
Then there is the question of whether or not sympathy is warranted. I feel for those who lost everything & are being shuffled off to Texas like Palestinian refugees. I feel for those too young to comprehend what has just happened. I do NOT feel for the looters armed to the teeth ready to off anyone who screws with them or the dvd player they just hijacked.
Sadly, the looters represent more of this country's mentality than anything else I have seen.
What upsets me the most is the pets. I have long felt that animals were better than people in a lot of ways. Their emotions are genuine, they treat you how you treat them, they are truly noble creatures and they will never be looting with an AK47 strapped to their paws. I know that had I been confronted with a situation like this my pets would be as safe as I was even if it meant I could carry a few less meaningless possessions.
I could go on, but instead I'm just going to leave some pictures I have found particularly relevant to my feelings on Katrina.
The Good:
The Bad:
The Ugly:
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Help these victims too:
posted by Knina at 2:03 PM
11 Comments:
You know I actually care about people 99% of the time, and I feel bad. But like you I feel worse for the animals. Think about the Bourbon Street Percherons who haul the fat asses of tourists around. That's what makes me sad. I was getting ready to do my obligatory Katrina tragedy post, now I will have to think some more about it.
What you say is well expressed, and correct.
Interesting site, one comment: Amanda is indeed latin, but it is the female gerundive of Amo = I love. It means 'She who is to be loved'.
There is no 'worthy'-ness involved, it is an imperative!
By thw way, your interesting sounding 'Pie Chart of Thoughts' link is broken...
Call it what you will. I liked this post a lot. It was well-written and made a good point. Thanks.
smile,
md-Liz
Thanks for the link tip. Will fix.
Ash - I like your answer better!
Lex - Yeah, I'm a little confused on the 'couldn't get out' crowd as well. Unless I was physically incapable of walking I'd have found someway outta dodge.
PT - I plead the 5th.
This was left for me on Blogexplosion by Nukapi:
For some reason your anti-spam comment system didn't recognise my attempts to copy the letters down, so I'll leave the comment on your Katrina entry here instead.
I think I just fell in love with you (how's that for insincere bullshit, hoho). But seriously: I felt the same around 9/11. I was shocked, of course, like many, many, many people, but it didn't stop me wanting to go on a murderous rampage all of my own to see the millions of overly sentimental yellow-ticker bloggers jumping on the bandwagon. If one of these catastrophes, terror attacks, any of them shakes people into true interest in what happens in the WORLD, good. The cynical me isn't so sure that happens as often as it should.
I enjoy your take on Katrina because it takes the obvious and the sentimentality and sticks it under your nose. Well done. :)
In my obligatory Katrina entry I taught the world to swear really loud. In Finnish.
More WV issues. From Ibis13: Awesome! People who feel the same way I do! I posted about the Katrina issue on my blog (Perfect Human) just this morning.
Keep thinking independently! ;)
Since I am twice your age, you may not take me seriously, but I felt compelled to respond to the bitterness in your post. I've lived through a lot of unfortunate events in my own life, but nothing like these people are enduring. There are compassionate human beings in the world who care about both the people and the animals...some of them cry real tears.Some of them exhibit extraordinary acts of kindness and heroism when the world is at it's worst. Many are full of faith and good will all the time. The plain truth is that there are also some real jackasses and outright criminals running rampant in every culture. Looters, shooters and rapists be damned, but come on...why would you think that you had a special edge on caring and that all of the rest of humanity are insincere? What if you weren't on high ground? Just food for thought. Enjoyed the rest of your blog.
I totally agree. Somehow, so much of it feels, well, not so much insincere, but almost pathological. Most of it is media driven--twenty-four hour, wall-to-wall coverage of the disaster.
But it seems that some [people] seem to want to wallow in the misery. It is one thing to keep up-to-date with the situation. Quite another to be "glued to the television." How precisely does this help anyone?
If this had happened a hundred years ago, very few of us would know anything about it. Of course this would mean no donations or help for the affected folks. But...it would also mean that the rest of us would have continued doing what we always did...living.
The media has created an unnatural situation where we are sometimes emersed in the suffering of others. Sometimes to an unhealthy extent.
And yes, I've donated to the Red Cross and Humane Society. I'm not callous.
QL -- Wisconsin is probably drier than North Dakota! Who are you to talk? At least where I'm from we've had hurricanes!