States of Fear and Hurricane Katrina
“How is this possible?” screams the mind, while I sense great distress, sadness, revulsion and anger in my body for the senseless and needless loss and destruction of so many human lives. A loss and destruction that takes hold in so many different ways. I do not even live in the USA but long before the hurricane hit I was listening to reports on the radio of the likelihood of the breaching of the New Orleans protection system and the serious flooding of the city. If it was also obvious to me living thousands of miles away that if the city was flooded then looting, rioting and chaos would be a strong likelihood, and that extremely large amounts of help in the form of soldiers, medical, food, supporting units, rescue vehicles, helicopters and places for the people to go, would be necessary. So “How is it possible that this happened” if these things were so obvious to someone like me living so far away? Why were these things not in place and available before the hurricane hit? Even if it was for no other reason than simple precaution? Even after the hurricane hit why did it take so long for these things to be made available and actually in action? And why was a President on holiday at such a time? Why weren’t the president and his staff gathered together in Washington ready for immediate action before the hurricane hit? After all, even I knew that this was most certainly not an “ordinary or average hurricane” that usually hits the coastal regions of America! Even I knew that this was something far bigger and far more serious and dangerous! Even I knew that New Orleans was at very great risk! Even I was aware of the many previous warnings of what might, or is even likely to, happen to New Orleans.
Strangely enough when the hurricane hit New Orleans I had just finished reading Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear”. This is a novel centred on the environmental debates! This is perhaps not the time and place to go into this environmental subject but the title of the book and the relevant part of the novel where this title arises is worth noting, “State of Fear”. An old professor character argues in the novel that we live in “States of Fear” where the fear element is used and even created (in his words by a PLM complex: = politico-legal-media complex) to control populations, earn money and gain power. This is then to him the real “environmental disaster”. In fact this is nothing new in human society and clearly George Bush is a master in using this technique to achieve his personal (psychological) aims and have power, either directly or indirectly, over many people and resources in many countries over the world. He concentrates almost all his power and any other power he can possibly manipulate on his almost single (psychological) obsession and in doing so creates and brings destruction, directly or indirectly.
Has a natural disaster in New Orleans fallen prey to this other even greater disaster? In my opinion it has! Those many lives and livelihoods, those dreams and hopes and futures and securities have been sacrificed. Yes, the word is sacrificed! Perhaps an unpleasant expression for many to hear or swallow, but surely true; if we truly open our eyes and hearts see what is really going on (and in the terrible plight of so many how can we fail not to do this?). Sacrificed for a (psychological) obsession and after so much destruction connected to this obsession is it not time for us to wake up, stand up and say: enough is enough, stop with this! That it is the poor, aged and the blacks that seem to have suffered the most only adds even greater shame and sense of disgust to what has gone on here.
Even as people were still dying and thousands of dead lay strewn about President Bush finds time to joke about his student visits to New Orleans and the good time he had there. Amazingly we are told (several days after the hurricane hit) that the main priority is to rescue people, which is perfectly correct and understandable, but surely with the vast resources available to the USA was it not possible to also respectfully clear away those dead bodies at the same time? Instead we see photographs and video films of scenes like soldiers standing around a dead body taking photographs. The soldiers have the time to take photographs but not to remove the dead bodies! I don’t suppose the fact that the body (and most of the bodies) was (might likely be) that of a black man (black people) has anything to do with it! That this is a poor (black) part of America!
Now with a another major hurricane threatening Texas, lessons learnt from the disaster in New Orleans have been put into place and better preparations are thankfully being made. That Texas is the Presidents home state and that Texas is not a poor and black area will of course not have influenced the better preparations in any way at all. Of course no one is going to suggest that!
Strangely enough when the hurricane hit New Orleans I had just finished reading Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear”. This is a novel centred on the environmental debates! This is perhaps not the time and place to go into this environmental subject but the title of the book and the relevant part of the novel where this title arises is worth noting, “State of Fear”. An old professor character argues in the novel that we live in “States of Fear” where the fear element is used and even created (in his words by a PLM complex: = politico-legal-media complex) to control populations, earn money and gain power. This is then to him the real “environmental disaster”. In fact this is nothing new in human society and clearly George Bush is a master in using this technique to achieve his personal (psychological) aims and have power, either directly or indirectly, over many people and resources in many countries over the world. He concentrates almost all his power and any other power he can possibly manipulate on his almost single (psychological) obsession and in doing so creates and brings destruction, directly or indirectly.
Has a natural disaster in New Orleans fallen prey to this other even greater disaster? In my opinion it has! Those many lives and livelihoods, those dreams and hopes and futures and securities have been sacrificed. Yes, the word is sacrificed! Perhaps an unpleasant expression for many to hear or swallow, but surely true; if we truly open our eyes and hearts see what is really going on (and in the terrible plight of so many how can we fail not to do this?). Sacrificed for a (psychological) obsession and after so much destruction connected to this obsession is it not time for us to wake up, stand up and say: enough is enough, stop with this! That it is the poor, aged and the blacks that seem to have suffered the most only adds even greater shame and sense of disgust to what has gone on here.
Even as people were still dying and thousands of dead lay strewn about President Bush finds time to joke about his student visits to New Orleans and the good time he had there. Amazingly we are told (several days after the hurricane hit) that the main priority is to rescue people, which is perfectly correct and understandable, but surely with the vast resources available to the USA was it not possible to also respectfully clear away those dead bodies at the same time? Instead we see photographs and video films of scenes like soldiers standing around a dead body taking photographs. The soldiers have the time to take photographs but not to remove the dead bodies! I don’t suppose the fact that the body (and most of the bodies) was (might likely be) that of a black man (black people) has anything to do with it! That this is a poor (black) part of America!
Now with a another major hurricane threatening Texas, lessons learnt from the disaster in New Orleans have been put into place and better preparations are thankfully being made. That Texas is the Presidents home state and that Texas is not a poor and black area will of course not have influenced the better preparations in any way at all. Of course no one is going to suggest that!
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