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Not All About You
Author: Raine
Date: 08/29/2011 13:12:31
Thursday I wrote a blog, Life is Fragile, Handle with Care and since then most regular members of the this blog experienced something we call Irene. It may have been a hurricane or tropical storm.
Lost in thought over the weekend was the Anniversary of Katrina- one of the nations most expensive deadly and mismanaged disasters. On August 29, 2005, after the brunt of the storm hit, the Greater New Orleans levee system failed. 80% of the city was underwater. Please note-- this was AFTER the hurricane hit the New Orleans area.
I mention this because I have been reading a small but consistent murmur that Irene storm was over-hyped. A big brunt of it came from Howard Kurtz, WaPo's media critic and Host of CNN's "Reliable Sources". Brad Freidman had a very good response to Kurtz' column yesterday: He goes on, but you get the gist of it. Perhaps someone should remind what Mr. Kurtz tweeted last July after a severe DC power outage "Day 4, no power--shouldn't Obama call in Pepco CEO like he did Tony Heyward? The capital is crippled. This isn't change I can beileve in." (that wasn't a typo, btw.)
There is something to be said about the stupidity of many reporters and that can be a blog for another day. That said, I believe saying this storm was over-hyped is wrong. Just because you and I didn't have a disaster at our doorstep should not make the severity of the warning from officials any less valid. I am fairly convinced that many many lives were saved because of the warnings. As much as I personally despise the guy, Governor Chris Christie may very well have assisted in saving countless lives along the coast of NJ. What we saw with Irene was how governments on the Federal State and Local levels are supposed to work to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. There are causalities, and there possibly be more, but considering this: Over 65 Million people were and still are being affected.
As I wrote last Thursday, after the East Coast Earth quake, "This was not Katrina, nor was it a terror attack, I hope people understand that I am not trying to conflate the two things. Nothing really can compare to them, but the feelings that are left are real. There's nothing wrong with feeling them. I know the west coast is used to earthquakes, but many of us from DC and NYC became sensitive to something very different on September 11, 2001. The Gulf coast experienced something else six years ago this week. It was a far different situation, but I suspect they too had their psyche forever altered.
There are still scars. We may not all share the same experiences as each other, but I would hope we would try to be mindful of our fellow humans. For some, this was just an earthquake, for others it was a reminder of something else. As one person said, life is fragile, handle with care. " I believe that even more today. Irene may not have been the Katrina of the east coast, but try telling that to the people of Upstate NY, Massachusetts and Vermont. It wasn't the levees that broke, and thank god it wasn't such a loss of life, but they are devastated right now. Their devastation is real.
My friend Tom (@tlw3 on twitter) wrote this yesterday: There was this from our friend Lizz:That same sentiment goes for the summer workers all along the east coast.
The next time a catastrophe doesn't happen to you, take a moment and think about other people. Then count your blessings. Sometimes it isn't all about you. My prayers go out to the people suffering the effects of Irene and those still struggling to recover from Katrina.
and 
Raine
Lost in thought over the weekend was the Anniversary of Katrina- one of the nations most expensive deadly and mismanaged disasters. On August 29, 2005, after the brunt of the storm hit, the Greater New Orleans levee system failed. 80% of the city was underwater. Please note-- this was AFTER the hurricane hit the New Orleans area.
I mention this because I have been reading a small but consistent murmur that Irene storm was over-hyped. A big brunt of it came from Howard Kurtz, WaPo's media critic and Host of CNN's "Reliable Sources". Brad Freidman had a very good response to Kurtz' column yesterday:
Setting aside that at this time following 2005's Hurricane Katrina --- the morning after --- most in the media were breathing a sigh of relief that New Orleans had "dodged a bullet", one wonders if the folks in Wilmington, Vermont today...or in the Catskills of New York are inclined to agree with insightful media critic Howard Kurtz' assessment that Irene amounted to little more than "A Hurricane of Hype":Um, surely Howard knows that category rankings for hurricanes refer to wind speed and velocity, not the amount of moisture in the storm or the possibilities of life-threatening floods that may accompany it, along with the storm surge to follow, right? Surely he has many reliable sources that have explained that to him by now, doesn't he?National news organizations morphed into local eyewitness-news operations, going wall to wall for days with dire warnings about what would turn out to be a Category 1 hurricane, the lowest possible ranking.Dunno, Howard. Would a storm bearing down on Ft. Lauderdale have some 65 million people in its path, as Irene had? Please, Howard, have some apples with your oranges...Does anyone seriously believe the hurricane would have drawn the same level of coverage if it had been bearing down on, say, Ft. Lauderdale?
There is something to be said about the stupidity of many reporters and that can be a blog for another day. That said, I believe saying this storm was over-hyped is wrong. Just because you and I didn't have a disaster at our doorstep should not make the severity of the warning from officials any less valid. I am fairly convinced that many many lives were saved because of the warnings. As much as I personally despise the guy, Governor Chris Christie may very well have assisted in saving countless lives along the coast of NJ. What we saw with Irene was how governments on the Federal State and Local levels are supposed to work to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. There are causalities, and there possibly be more, but considering this: Over 65 Million people were and still are being affected.
As I wrote last Thursday, after the East Coast Earth quake, "This was not Katrina, nor was it a terror attack, I hope people understand that I am not trying to conflate the two things. Nothing really can compare to them, but the feelings that are left are real. There's nothing wrong with feeling them. I know the west coast is used to earthquakes, but many of us from DC and NYC became sensitive to something very different on September 11, 2001. The Gulf coast experienced something else six years ago this week. It was a far different situation, but I suspect they too had their psyche forever altered.
There are still scars. We may not all share the same experiences as each other, but I would hope we would try to be mindful of our fellow humans. For some, this was just an earthquake, for others it was a reminder of something else. As one person said, life is fragile, handle with care. " I believe that even more today. Irene may not have been the Katrina of the east coast, but try telling that to the people of Upstate NY, Massachusetts and Vermont. It wasn't the levees that broke, and thank god it wasn't such a loss of life, but they are devastated right now. Their devastation is real.
My friend Tom (@tlw3 on twitter) wrote this yesterday:
Instead of complaining about the hype, be thankful you and your property are safe, if that's the case. A lot of people DID lose power and property due to this storm. Tell THEM it was all hype. If you bought supplies just for this storm, secure them away as insurance for the next.
My fellow New Yorkers: I have been talking to a lot of friends who's apartments had major water damage and their horrible landlords are absentee. When you are broke and your stuff gets wrecked and all the sudden you have mold and a whole host of other problems, it is a BIG deal. The city may not have been destroyed but life was made a lot harder for a lot of people barely getting by already. Don't get too smug. The stink of privilege is a turn off.
The next time a catastrophe doesn't happen to you, take a moment and think about other people. Then count your blessings. Sometimes it isn't all about you. My prayers go out to the people suffering the effects of Irene and those still struggling to recover from Katrina.
and Raine
