The depths of the human psyche are intriguing. At heart you and I trained animals; cause and effect, action and repercussion, are the things that make us civilized.
Suppose you were down there. Your entire family is dead. Your home is wiped off the map. The place you worked is gone. Your entire life is destroyed. Top that off with being trapped in a huge ruined city, clumped together with thousands of other people, in miserable heat and completely unsanitary and unregulated living conditions--with no near end in sight.
It is a horrible thing, if you really sit there and think on it. Not knowing if your friends and family are alive, and even so, knowing that you have nothing to go back to, not a penny to your name, and that tens of thousands of others are in the same boat as you (no pun intended). It is horrifying.
Iyce, I don't think you're quite on the right page with your points about Florida, if only because Florida (while suffering plenty of damage) was never completely wiped off the map for all intents and purposes. Florida also never had dozens of thousands of homeless refugees trapped in a stadium. So there are differences.
@ZeroNightmare: First of all, either be constructive in your contributions or keep them to yourself. I will not be as lenient as the other moderators are; consider yourself lucky, as I would have warned you with extreme prejudice for your behavior in this thread.
Most importantly of all, I will restate for the record of the forum that I work at a major metropolitan area newspaper company in the Metro-Boston area, and I have seen and heard both sides of the coin on this one. What they say is true; amplified, to a small degree, but mostly true. And that is straight from the newsroom, not some website.
At one point an effort to round up local civilian boaters and make a concentrated evacuation effort was sanctioned by the authorities. It was going well--there are apparently a lot of boat owners in the area. Before long, one of the people they had 'rescued' pulled a gun and hijacked the boat that he was on. He left the other passengers--including the boats' OWNER--on the banks. Since that incident authorities had to demand that all civilian efforts be ceased, which only contributes to the problem.
Also, the plumbing and power in the city is easily completely and utterly destroyed. These stories of having to live in filth are plenty realistic; I doubt there is a working septic system anywhere in that part of the state thanks to the pipe and plumbing damages (not to even mention flooding).
I think people do the bad stuff because they are at the end of their rope, not because they think they can get away with it. They probably feel like they're going to die there. I mean, as it is, another good storm would decimate the population and it wouldn't even have to be a mean one like Katrina. Hell a simple thunderstorm could cause some serious damage down there at this point.
I don't think people are thinking, "I can get away with this." I think they are thinking nothing at all...or, at best, "Do I really have anything left to lose?"
Either way I'm disgusted by this. The federal response to September 11th was phenomenal; the rescue efforts, the aid, everything. Interesting how we were not even remotely prepared for this storm, by contrast, was well forecasted at minimum several days before hand. This thing with New Orleans...it's really just an awful, awful mess.
Another fine example of America in 2005. What a frigging mess. I'm ashamed to call myself an American these days for several reasons...I guess this really tops off the list, though.
Just remember, if any of you want to double check the facts as far as the legitimate news knows, you can ask me and I can find out, if necessary. DON'T come into threads with political charges, and definitely don't come into threads with ZeroNightmare's "I own the forum" attitude. I will be watching.
I only hope those poor souls can somehow find a way out of this mess.
