Sowing the wind

I spent the last couple of days visiting a good friend down at Purdue, and we had a great time. It was nice to be with someone I knew for a bit.

So that happened and stuff.
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I have spent a great deal of time in the last week glued to the television watching Hurricane Katrina coverage, and my emotions have ranged from detached to verge-of-tears to angry. The devastation is beyond comprehensible, and I believe that the news media has done a good job of getting the real story out there. And for all of the nonsense about a liberal media bias (because they do such a good job of calling the administration to the carpet), I was glad to see some actual criticism of the handling of the catastrophe. As one reporter on CNN said, "If we can get our van here, why can't food get through?" (And yes, I know that right now it is more important to help the people than to place blame, but I can multi-task quite well.)

But what worries me are the images of the people who were left behind, and the fact that they are all poor and black. I am worried because what should happen as a result of these images is that the nation will open a serious dialogue about race, poverty, and disenfranchisement in our country. But what will happen is that the images will reinforce stereotypes about the lazy, shiftless, looting black people. Our country always ignores causation in these situations. Off course, many conservatives say that there is no such thing as disenfranchisement -- people make their own beds. What closed-eyed poppycock. (Oh, I said it.)

Kanye West picked off a big national scab in his recent observations about the news media: "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food." If you don't think he's right, you've never watched television.

And Frank Rich, in the New York Times, compared the response to Katrina to Titanic: "The inequality of the suffering has not only exposed the sham of the relentless photo-ops with black schoolchildren whom the president trots out at campaign time to sell his 'compassionate conservatism'; it has also positioned Katrina before a rapt late-summer audience as a replay of the sinking of the Titanic. New Orleans's first-class passengers made it safely into lifeboats; for those in steerage, it was a horrifying spectacle of every man, woman and child for himself.

I like people who respond to the criticism by saying things like "Bush did not cause the hurricane." No shit. But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to reap the whirlwind.

Another interesting read is from Reuters, and it discussed how the world is viewing our response. Check it out for some other opinions.

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Addendum: I see that my friend Jake has very similar things to say in his recent post. Great minds . . .