Katrina Notes
 There are a couple of more things about Katrina worth noting. The first is that it appears that President Bush has issued an executive order to suspend the minimum wage in the recovery area. Sounds mighty suspicious to me. The second is that the FEMA is doing all it can to block reporters from taking photos of those killed by the hurricane. Supposedly they want to show respect for the dead, but it's more likely they're covering their asses after such colossal failure. Most likely the media will comply because U.S. journalists generally do not have spines. Fortunately Americablog has hired a correspondent. You can read his dispatches there. Or check out What Really Happened for a small gallery. (There are some dead bodies, nothing particularly graphic, but if that's the sort of thing bothers you, you might want to pass.) |
posted by Wasp Jerky at 6:38 PM
Comments on "Katrina Notes"
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Kc said ... (9/10/2005 07:02:00 PM) :
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Nicole said ... (9/11/2005 01:48:00 PM) :
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Wasp Jerky said ... (9/11/2005 05:07:00 PM) :
post a commentThis is so sad. If these were your family is this what you’d want for them? Perhaps this is how you’d like to learn of their death? The media had no desire to broadcast the tsunami dead, why us?
The Tsunami was a different set of circumstances. Unpredictible, no opportunity for mitigation before the event, and although it did bring to light the need for a Tsunami warning system on the pacific rim, there was not the massive failure of intervention and the diversion of resources that caused as much death.
I feel much of Katrina's dead are victims of poverty, government misappropriation of funds, and so forth. The broadcast of pictures is an indictment of the structures of our society, especially certain government officials, which are unjust and negligient.
Hundreds of Katrina's deaths were/are after the fact, due to the horrible conditions that could have been prevented.
I think Nicole is right, kc. I think you're sort of straining at gnats. What should be offensive to me? That someone photographed and posted reality online? Or that tens of thousands of people are dead, many because of inept governmental and civic leadership, institutional racism, and the apathy of the human race?
This isn't about being tasteful. Newspapers print the names of dead people and victims of violent crimes all the time. This is about the corporate media and the fact that in the past four years, when the Bush Administration has told the media to jump, the media has asked how high?
Besides, if you bothered to look at the photos, you would find that there isn't a single one that shows the face of a deceased person. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to identify someone based on looking at those pictures.