Originally posted by Zepherian
And why blame them for that? They were in the middle of chaos just trying to survive. What happened happened and the insurance companies should pick up the tab. If I were caught up in that hellhole and freezing cold, the last thing I would be doing is trying to find the store owner to pay for the coat I need. People in NO lost everything, and with the absence of aid for days of course they needed to ignore normal law and order to survive. Normal law and order ignored them...

This thread is infested with mildly disguised racism and no common sense.

I am mixed, there is a good point here, but the circumstances are a lot different...but I think your post fails to address why looters in NO stole TV's and other electronics...stuff that aren't a "staple" to life. I don't think it's a race issue, I think it's a cultural issue...New Orleans residence that were effected the worst had low incomes and were more than likely drawing from Welfare, so of course they would turn to the government...but in no aspect does that justify their looting and killing. Again, I think that is a cultural aspect, not a racial aspect, that needs to be addressed. It all boils down to, why does American society cling to tightly to possessions...and why are a large portion of residence in all colors and creeds living off of the government. I am going to have to blame the education system, that has robbed people in "inner cities" of holding value to anything but possessions, have no core values, and why are we treating them in a despicable manner by not educating them properly....education is key, and we don't educate well here in the states, especially not in the "inner city" regions of America.

Originally posted by Zepherian
The diference is 1) You have a more rural setting with smaller communities that have more personal relationships and less concentrated damage per square mile, 2) You don't have so much of a population that was victim of racism and has a collective trauma and an understandably negative view of the white population, 3) these people weren't abandoned for days in an urban setting and left to their own devices while the police promptly defended the richer population and restricted access to aid while cadavers were floating, 4) you don't have white supremacist morons in new orleans spreading the feel good factor to other white supremacist morons.


[edit on 19-6-2008 by Zepherian]

First, I am NOT going to be politically correct here, so if you are offended then tough. I don't care what the background situation is/was in NO-LA. the general demeanor of the people there were "What are you (Bush/FEMA) going to do to help?" The people in Iowa/Illinois said "We can handle this." And they did. The difference is in the perception of entitlement. Many southern blacks feel that after years of slavery, and bigotry and racism, they are entitled to restitution.

Well not on my tax dollars! I am sick and tired of the whining and moaning about lack of government support. Go get a job and work instead of complaining about welfare not paying enough. If you are in bad situation, and need assistance, that is what "Christian charity" can handle, not government entitlements.

And I am not racist, I feel that everyone should be treated equal, and nobody is entitled to live off of my tax dollars while I have to work, submit to random drug testing to keep my job, pay the high cost of fuel to get there and back, and still pay my bills and feed my family.

How many welfare "TAKERS" are required to submit to drug UA test? And how about illegal aliens?
Jefferson said, “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”- “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

NO and Iowa have nothing to do with race and everything to do with where they live.

People who live in the city are savages. I'd say they act like animals but even animals don't act like they do.

People who don't live in cities are nice, calm, good people. If you have a flat in a city you'll be robbed and raped before you get it changed. If you have a flat tire in the country you'll have to beat people off with the tire iron as they come to help you.

It wouldn't have mattered what the race was. In fact they even showed white people robbing stores. Except Fox usually had "Find" while blacks "Stole".

Its something about city life that makes people crazy.

I never thought I'd say I agree with Limbaugh, but.... I live south of Houston, a few miles from the bay, and was under a mandatory evacuation notice for hurricane Rita, which was a category 5 before landfall with winds up to 230 mph. At that speed, pieces of my house would have been blown to Oklahoma. It eventually dropped to a category 3. I sure made my decision to get the heck out before the government told me to. I keep an emergency box set up for this situation with a supply list, and I keep frozen water bottles at all times. I have boards ready at all times for my windows. I had a plan. My neighbors had plans. My friends in other cities, close by had plans. If you live where hurricanes hit, you have a plan. The point is, we had some kind of plan other than sitting on our backsides, waiting for the government to "do something."

Within 3 miles of my house, traffic was building. 15 miles later it was the biggest traffic jam you can imagine where I clocked average driving speeds of five miles per hour several times. That's just about walking speed. It took me 14.5 hours to go 110 miles. My plan was to get to Brenham, Tx.. People were having problems--cars breaking down, pets getting too hot, etc.. People were stopping to help each other. I know a family that was offered a place to stay by a complete stranger. I promise you that if I had seen someone walking down the side of the road with a bag in their hand, I would have picked them up, and I am sure others would too. Traffic was so slow that a person could have literally ridden on a car's trunk fairly safely. If I had known an elderly person in my neighborhood, I would have checked on them before I left and taken them with me if they didn't have a way out.

Evacuation is almost like anarchy and just about anything goes, the goal being to get out, so walking, riding on the outside of a car/truck, vehicles with outdated inspection stickers, grandma tied on the roof, etc.. would have been overlooked in the interest of getting people out.

This is a long way to get to the point, but if those "poor" people in NOL had started walking instead of sitting on their backsides waiting for help, many COULD have got out, if they wanted to. It's all about action instead of reaction.

"I see devastation in Iowa and Illinois that dwarfs what happened in New Orleans."

Is this a serious statement?

The amount of hate and ignorance in this thread disturbs me.

There are too many variables in situations like this to understand exactly how and why things play out. I understand that you guys are all so intelligent and strong that you would have handled the situation so much better than all the stupid lazy people did but you should try to get over your own arrogance a little bit to have a little compassion.

You don’t know what it’s like to be in some one else’s situation and you don’t know how you would have reacted. But even if you are so awesome that you would never need any help, not everyone is you. If are so amazing and strong, why don’t you have a little empathy for those weaker than you?

The fact that so many people have contempt for other people because of their situations and weaknesses is really disgusting.