190 replies to this topic

[UncleVinny]

Yeah, Farley, but it might be a matter of focus too.
Probably for every looter there are 100 people who are lending a hand, helping a neighbor, giving to the Red Cross, saving a pet, or helping to rebuild. Tragedies have a way of brining out the Good Samaritan in people.

[CostcoLover]

Who says it has to be one or the other? Like most other cases, it's both.

Maybe it's 70/30, 80/20, 90/10, or 98/2, but do we know one thing - there is good and bad in every group...

[ngilbert]

Probably no other countries will help us.

I wouldn't be surprised if Canada does. Seeing as how New Orleans is something of a French Canadian territory

I kid, but there's an affinity between the Cajuns and their homeland there.

[ngilbert]

I have a friend who lives with her family in Pensacola.  They went through Ivan last year, and fortunately, no damage to their home, but their cousin's was destroyed.  She runs a retirement home just over the border in Gulf Shore, Alabama, and they had to ride Ivan out there because they couldn't evacuate their residents.  Pretty scary stuff. 

A little gallows humor, but we have friends in Gulf Shores (for those who don't recall that's where Ivan hit shore and all the alligators got loose from the zoo). They had a really nice condo there with a view of the beach until one day someone built a house right in front of theirs and blocked their view. They were out of town for Ivan (fortunately) but they saw the helicopter news footage of the flooded town. We asked them if they still had the condo. They said "yes - the bad news is that the swimming pool is now full of sand - but the good news is we got our view back"

[CostcoLover]

Here's one...

I wonder how many countries will be providing aid to the US in the aftermath of this natural disaster.

Probably no other countries will help us.

Venezuela's Chavez hopes to better US relations
Tue Aug 30,10:13 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.co...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he hoped to improve rocky relations with the United States, holding out hurricane aid as an olive branch.

[Steve Heard]

I am sad to say that New Orleans has been in moral decline, and I'm not talking about Bourbon Street, for 30 years.

Poverty, lack of jobs, and ignorance have seemed to converge, making it a dangerous and sad place, once you are a few steps from the night life.

It has become so violent and so depressed.

Some of the looters, however, not the ones stealing TV's and such, but the ones stealing food, have to do it.

Can you imagine your home being gone and all of the reachable shelter being gone and stores closed? Horrible.

Please give what you can to the Red Cross. The water keeps coming, and it's getting worse.

[Chad Vander Veen]

I'm sure you've all seen what is happening in New Orleans with no authority in place...people are going crazy with crime.

It leads me to wonder, are humans being inherently evil? I think they are and the "thin blue line", so to speak, is all that keeps people from acting like animals...as you can see on the news.

Thoughts?

[Steve Heard]

I posted this on the looting thread, but think it's worth repeating.

"I am sad to say that New Orleans, my beloved home town, has been in moral decline, and I'm not talking about Bourbon Street, for 30 years.

Poverty, lack of jobs, and ignorance have seemed to converge, making it a dangerous and sad place, once you are a few steps from the night life.

It has become so violent and so depressed.

Some of the looters, however, not the ones stealing TV's and such, but the ones stealing food, have to do it.

Can you imagine your home being gone and all of the reachable shelter being gone and stores abandoned? Horrible.

Please give what you can to the Red Cross. The water keeps coming, and it's getting worse."

I visited my old neighborhood last summer, against the advice of relatives. There were abandoned and boarded up homes on my old street, people hanging out on the corners, and a guy sleeping, I think he was sleeping, on his back, across the sidewalk.

My wife and kids were scared and wanted to leave. I photographed my old house and split.

Just 3 blocks away is the beautiful Garden District.

All are apparently under water now.

The looters take the material things, but will have no where to put it, and no way to use or protect it.

To answer your question, I'll tell you what 2 people told me:

*An old muslim friend of mine said that mankind is naturally savage and evil, and that's why Islamic law is so strict. He says that although Westerners see women covering themselves as opression, he and others see it as protection from men.

*A martial arts instructor friend likes to remind me that mankind has savage instints, and although we act civilized, many will revert to those old instincts if opportunity arises or necessity dictates it.

[folsomBlondie]

Governor: Everyone Must Leave New Orleans

http://news.yahoo.co...zkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[camay2327]

Some people broke into a K-Mart and took all their guns and ammo. That is one of the things that I was worried about.

Banks is another thing. Who is going to break in an rob them blind?

Food and clothing is one thing, TV's and other large items (GUNS) are a NO NO.

Give as much as you can....

[Brett911]

I am sad to say that New Orleans has been in moral decline, and I'm not talking about Bourbon Street, for 30 years.

Poverty, lack of jobs, and ignorance have seemed to converge, making it a dangerous and sad place, once you are a few steps from the night life.

It has become so violent and so depressed.

Some of the looters, however, not the ones stealing TV's and such, but the ones stealing food, have to do it.

Can you imagine your home being gone and all of the reachable shelter being gone and stores closed? Horrible.

Please give what you can to the Red Cross. The water keeps coming, and it's getting worse.

Add to that one of if not the highest sales tax rate in the US.

If I recall correctly, when I did business in NO, the state and local parish combined sales tax rate was 9.75% (we sold computer software). This was higher than Seattle which if I recall correctly again, 9%.

NO is so depressed, you can see it when driving from the airport to the French Quarter.

A beautiful city is was. Lets hope they can rebuild better than they were before, although a part of me says if the ocean has reclaimed it then let it be. It's just not safe to have a city below sea level sitting on the gulf.

[bordercolliefan]

I was surprised and saddened to see the evident poverty among so many of the people affected by Katrina.

Those of us who have never been there picture New Orleans as an affluent, fashionable town. Indeed, I believe I have seen several elegant refurbished New Orleans homes featured in home decorating magazines.

I guess the reality for the majority of New Orleans residents is quite different.

I am sad to see so much looting, but when people live in poverty on the very edge of survival, the calculus tends to be different. Mostly I feel compassion toward them rather than outrage.

[Steve Heard]

I was surprised and saddened to see the evident poverty among so many of the people affected by Katrina. 

Those of us who have never been there picture New Orleans as an affluent, fashionable town.  Indeed, I believe I have seen several elegant refurbished New Orleans homes featured in home decorating magazines. 

I guess the reality for the majority of New Orleans residents is quite different. 

I am sad to see so much looting, but when people live in poverty on the very edge of survival, the calculus tends to be different.  Mostly I feel compassion toward them rather than outrage.

You have no idea.

It is such a violent and sad place, outside of the Quarter, the Garden District, Magazine Street, and a few residential areas.

There is so much poverty. Jobs just aren't there. I've seen windowless housing projects, as the window frames had been taken and sold for scrap.

People are desperate. Life is cheap.

Everybody knows someone who's been robbed, raped or murdered.

I had a young cousin who fled to Alaska, wanting to get as far away from there as possible.

I took my family back for a visit, and my daughters were shocked at the poverty. You get constant warnings from the locals as to which areas to avoid.

So many people have nothing and will take what you have, if given the chance.

It's my hometown, and I love to go and visit. So many of the people are warm, generous and friendly, but you always have to be wary of those who are not.

[Brett911]

it's one of the best party cities outside of vegas. really good, cheap food and the beer flows, well, like water (no pun intended).

it's got such a great old feel to it and it's very alive there at night, live music every where!

[CostcoLover]

I'm sure you've all seen what is happening in New Orleans with no authority in place...people are going crazy with crime.

It leads me to wonder, are humans being inherently evil? I think they are and the "thin blue line", so to speak, is all that keeps people from acting like animals...as you can see on the news.

Thoughts?

This could be a rather lengthy thread onto itself.

If we consider the millions of years of evolution and that what we refer to as "modern life" is relatively recent on that scale, then we're much like babies on an evolutionary time scale.

To a degree, we're still very much animals with a human veneer. We like to think of ourselves as 'evolved', but I suspect that if you look at humans one million years into the future, they would very much consider us as savages.

Does that make humans inherently evil? I'm not so sure. There are some that are evil, others that are not. How many of us in a situation like LA without access to working ATMs, credit cards and all modern means of payment, wouldn't take food from someplace? Specially when search/rescue and no other sources are available?

I read of some banker stealing food. I'm sure if he could, under normal conditions, he'd pay for it, but this isn't life as usual.

I'd like to think that if we were inherently evil, much more law enforcement would be required.