WTF?!?

[leighblack]

Seriously, if you're not already reading interdictor's firsthand account of what's really going on in New Orleans, you should be. His calling it Lord of the Flies II: Escape From New Orleans seems to be right on the money. Why are people SHOOTING at the rescuers??? They're trying to HELP you, even though you chose to stay when you were told to get OUT! This is completely fucking ridiculous! What these people don't seem to be able to comprehend is that the city is GONE. They will have NO choice. They have to get out. It's going to take weeks for them to fix the levees and pump out the water. After being submerged for so long, all of the buildings under any amount of water will need to be leveled. They won't be able to salvage them at all. That's MOST of the city at this point. And if you're wading through the water to get anywhere, you are a most likely a walking corpse at this point. That water is DEADLY. Maybe not instantly, but it's still rife with bacteria and things you don't even want to think about. Can imagine trying to live in a city that's mostly covered in that stagnant water for a month?? Ever seen/smelled what stagnant water is like? Multiply that by miles, add a couple thousand rotting bodies and 90+ degree days with glaring sunshine. NOT a good mix.

They've had to suspend evacuations of The Superdome because of shots being fired and fires blocking the paths of the buses. Not to mention the hoards of people trying to rush onto the buses. They NEED the military down there to help keep order! Oh wait...they're in Iraq fighting a pointless war. I keep forgetting. =/

Comments

[cyberwuzzle.livejournal.com]

Part of this is a big socioeconomic mess. See, a lot of those people couldn't leave -- didn't have cars, no money for transportion or lodgings, no family/friends to stay with elsewhere. The poor people were left behind. (Some people just thought they could ride it out, I'm sure, but I'm not talking about them.)

So the poor people see the rich people able to leave and know they got the shaft because they're poor...so now I bet a lot of them feel entitled to sack the city and take anything they want. They're pissed off because once again they got screwed because they're poor. They probably lost everything, don't have insurance....

Then there's the panickers and the chaos-lovers and the thugs....

Escape from New Orleans, yup.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

I understand that. I understand that they're hot and hungry and thirsty and tired and cranky. And don't know what's going on because there's little to no communication. But, you can either try to bond together to make it through. Or you can have roving gangs of armed people marauding through the city. People there who might be able to brave the flooding are now needing to evacuate because they're so threatened by the violence. There's tales of rapes at the Superdome. Of small children. How does four days without food escalate to a war zone??

At what point do you say fuck 'em? If they don't want to be helped, leave them in the filth and let Darwin take over? Emergency personnel can't do their jobs if their doging bullets constantly. Good, helpless people are going to get left behind.

[cyberwuzzle.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't excusing it, hon. Just saying that's how it is.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

I know. It's just frustrating.