Sep 9th, 2005, 06:33 PM
"desperation is understandable, but the abandonment of humanity is not. there is no excuse, not hunger or thirst or the discomfort of displacement, for rape and murder. "
I think you'd be hard pressed to find a single individual who thinks tyat any aspect of the hurricane and it's aftermath are an excuse for rape or murder. Seriously, is anyone saying that? What percentage of the several thousand people in the Superdome do you think were comitting rape or murder? Those people should be found and should face the full penalty of the law, obviously. Since no one thinks rape and murder are excusable, I suspect these terms are being used as substitutes for Looting and robery. I think some of the looting (and all of the assaults and muggings) and inexcusable but a lot of the other looting (food, water, diapers, medicine and things to trade for food, water, diapers and medicine) are totally excusable. I think this sort of tirade is a bullshit excuse to say that the people of New Orleans were in some way deserving of their poverty and deserving of the fact that an incompetant government failed to do it's duty. AND I think doing good and stroking ones ego are not mutually exclussive activities. You know who's done some of the most effective rescue and relief work in the gulf so far? Walmart. Any idea what I think of their motivations? But I'm really, really glad they are doing even if it's only to improve their deservedly rotten PR. Bravo. I wish everyone took their shitty motivations and did good things with them. Sean Penn is a loudmouth, overated, egotistical actor. He's also a guy who got in a boat and rescued people when he could have been in a five star hotel getting blown by a small crowd of whatever sort of people he likes. Bravo. And bravo to you for giving time and money and I have no reason to question or care about your motivation.
"A church-going pharmacist in Des Moines would be ashamed of herself for giving only 10% of her modest salary. But Sean Penn can take himself, an entourage and a personal photographer – that’s three or four people in a four-person boat – and show us all how incredibly big and down-home he is by sailing off a few feet to rescue people, before the boat sinks from the incompetence of failing to put in the drainage plug."
That's a nice bit of guess work, and it may well be true, except for the part about the pharmacist who is a fictional construct invented for the purpose of his argument as opposed to Sean Penn, who, bloviated though he may be has the distinct advantage of existing. Lets see a fictional pharmacist even get in a boat. This guy doesn't like Sean Penn. Neither do I. But he's just a fucking actor. I don't expect him to come down and help out at all. It's not as if he's a fireman or a guy employed by Fema or the President of the United States.
"That’s when I realized that whether it’s the Murderous Regime in Iraq, or the Murderous Regime in Iran, or the Murderous Storm in Louisiana…ultimately, it’s all about Sean Penn."
Maybe that's true for Sean Penn. maybe it's even true for members of the Sean Penn fan club if there is one, but SO WHAT? Okay, Okay, I get it, Sean Penn is a metaphor for the evil, self absorbed celebrity worshipping TRIBE. Know what? I agree. They're all assholes. But honestly, they don't get in my way that much and if you rounded 'em up and shoved 'em in the superdome, I don't think there'd be any more raping and killing than if you shoved this Asshole and all his TRIBE in there. AND I don't think any of them would have established a blessed hope beacon either. Sean thinks it's all about ean, and this guy thinks it's all about his TRIBE best exemplified by him, who by the way I still have no name for. Does this piece have an author or is he anonymous?
"If such a thing is not self-evident to you, please get off my property. Right now. I should tell you I own a gun and I know how to use it. I assure you that the pleasure I would take in shooting you would be temporary, minimal, and deeply regretted later. "
What is this, Vinth on good grammar? "I hate people who believe blacks and whites face some inherently different problems on account of the color of their skin so much, I'd kill them".
"I'm so fucking sick of the race issue that I could cry and then, I don't know, run over someone or something. "
You know I think it's much more about class than race, and I'm just asking here... do you think there is no race issue? Is America all cool on tyhe whole Black/Whitething these days?
"I can't feel any sympathy for the governor or the mayor, especially after reading reports of their gross mismanagement of levee funds and disaster relief funds. why did they take money that was supposed to improve the levees and deepen a commercial canal that is rarely used by another six feet?"
Fair enough. I may well agree. Can you feel any sympathy for Brownie and Bushy and Chertoffy?
As for 9/11, A friend of mine from New Orleans who was lucky enough to own car and live outside of the city to begin with put it like this. There is no comparison between Katrina and 9/11. If planes had still been hitting buildings on 9/12, 9/13, 9/14, 9/15 etc. No disrespect at all for the heroic souls of New York or on the plane over Pensylvania. But wait a while, will you? I promise there will be plenty of heroic stories coming out of New Orleans, and there will be plenty of Grey stories even though the vast majority of really poor people in NO are, demographically, black. I've spent a good deal of time in NYC and I promise you, had 9/11 been an ongoing phenomenon, you'd have seen plenty of looting, raping, and pillaging.
It's nice this guys got such healthy self esteem. But my guess is if you take a few thousand people and put them in a really shitty situation, a few will behave really badly, a few will behave really well, and a whole lot will stand around looking confused and unhappy. That's the tribe I come from. It's called the human race. Fuck this no name dipstick. He needs to gt of my lawn. I have a boot and I know where to put it. And you know what? I wouldn't regret it the least little bit afterwards.
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