[lit-ideas] Re: Essay on New Orleans

  • From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:39:11 +0100

Friday, September 2, 2005, 2:55:48 AM, Carol Kirschenbaum wrote:

AA> This makes 9/11 look like a fender
>> bender by comparison.

CK> ck: Damn, you're good with facile comparisons! But of course you're
CK> neglecting to factor in the simple reality that while in the throes of a
CK> desperate situation, the victims really don't know what they're facing. On
CK> 9/11, initially (and later, too), many thought the attack on the WTC was
CK> just the first in a series, possibly close together. More attacks--all over
CK> the US--seemed imminent.


I thought I should reply to this as I didn't take into account the
expectation of further attacks -- sorry

CK> And the aftershocks of grief, with thousands of
CK> people suddenly dead--missing, perhaps worse? But I'm also thinking about
CK> NYer behavior during its many blackouts. Looting is famously minimal.

well yes.  But I think the situation in New Orleans is different in
that the New York infrastructure, anyway stronger than New Orleans',
remained. And there was a common enemy -- as it were -- as a unifier.


CK> However, I came to praise New York, not revile the South. Back to the
CK> hot-weather explanation.  Now, I've lived in plenty of hot climates--central
CK> Texas,  Jackson and Oxford, Mississippi, Fresno, and New Orleans. Only in
CK> New Orleans did I pass out from heat exhaustion. The humidity is 
CK> unbelievable. I wonder how much aggressive, nutsy behavior is directly due
CK> to the lack of drinking water (dehydration can alter mental functioning)
CK> along with FEMA's utter lack of planning.

Oh I think probably dehydration and heat/humidity  have a lot to do
with it, but also the conditions.

CK> FEMA, btw, seems to have few if any sensible plans for *any* disasters in
CK> *any* city.

I think that has to be right.  Apparently a plan for New Orleans was
jettisoned after Bush assumed office...


CK> For instance, in case of any emergency (nuclear war, floods,
CK> whatever) in Austin, Texas, FEMA's plan is to evacuate the entire city north
CK> via Hwy 183, which was a notoriously slow, pot-holed, two-lane road that
CK> inspired the bumper sticker, "Pray for me, I drive 183." Roads surrounding
CK> New Orleans make Hwy 183 in Texas look like a better-kempt Autobahn.

Mad, isn't it? and also culpably negligent









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