"Tell someone to come get me please. I want to live."
Should emergency workers risk their lives to rescue people who chose to stay in their homes despite the warnings of how bad this could get?
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Comments (3)
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A fair question regarding those who have cars ... but about a third of New Orleans residents don't own cars. (There is, or was, a pretty good bus system.) To fully evacuate the city would have taken a minimum of 72 hours, and 72 hours before landfall, the hurricane was still over the southern tip of Florida.
Posted on August 29, 2005 3:56 PM
Good observation Lex. From what I have seen many of those who did not leave were the poor, the elderly who had no one to assist them or were more afraid of leaving than they were of staying since many of them had lived through other hurricanes. Some, as I saw last night did not leave because they thought they were being macho/brave. Those were the ones in the bars that remained open somehow after the curfew . On those folks, I don't have much pity. The others, Yea, I would certainly go the extra mile for them. Now we have the situation of those who did seek shelter in the Dome are having to be moved to somewhere. Last I viewed hundreds were sitting along the roads awaiting transportation to somewhere. My God have mercy on them.
The places I have viewed on TV are worse than any war zone I have ever been in.
Posted on August 30, 2005 11:34 PM
Writer Cherie Priest has some thoughts on this subject:
* * *
It was mentioned in the comments of [a blog entry] that the locals shown on the news tended to be the blustery type — "Evacuation be damned! I’m going to stick it out!" It's easy to put these people on TV, because they make for good soundbytes -- and they make it easier for the masses to care less when they get killed. Why, they practically asked for it! Darwin’s system is at work, and those too stupid to escape got what was coming to 'em.
But the truth is this: people with no resources and no possibility of evacuation would rather look stubborn and angry than helpless and trapped. There is dignity in the appearance of willfullness, and in obstinate defiance of authority. It saves face to say, "Screw you all! I don’t want to leave and you can’t make me!" rather than to admit the truth, which is that they couldn't go even if they wanted to.
* * *
Just a thought.
Posted on August 31, 2005 5:20 PM