With all the discussion as far as the racial delicacy of the situation in New Orleans, it is with a mixture of shock and outrage that I compare and contrast these two news stories.
Look, if people are being mutilated, raped, and/or murdered at the convention center or the Superdome then that's big news. I understand the fog of disaster reporting on this stuff, but this is having quite a few real-world implications, especially given all of the finger-pointing now going on. I gather that at least some of the foreign press is reporting on the now-retracted cannibalism claims. I see Michelle Malkin has an index of some of the other debunked claims.
I understand tensions are running high (mine certainly are, after talking first-handing with a number of new students at my college who had formerly attended Tulane University), but dear God, let's not let things get out of hand. The real horror is certainly bad enough.
I'm in Baton Rouge and the coverage from the local channels has been 24-7 since the hurricane. I can't attest to whether there are any actual rape victims, but I have seen a credible TV report of one woman who said a man had attempted to rape her in the convention center and that she had broke her ankles while fleeing. Apparantly, the rumor is that a man raped a child in the bathroom, but I don't even know whether that was a rumor started at the Superdome by frightened victims. I got sick of watching the TV coverage days ago. Either scenario, real rape or fear inflamed rumors, is plausible. Certainly multiple people at the Superdome and convention center have expressed thier belief that people were raped, but whether they are simply repeating what they were told or whether they have good evidence I couldn't say. If true, it shouldn't be that shocking. People get raped in New Orleans even when there isn't a disaster and an obvious break down of public order.
I will say that there has been alot of rumors flying around the city lately, much of them I know to be false. So, the best policy is probably to believe nothing until alot of solid evidence arrises.
As for the mutilations, I find that implausible. I do know that about a dozen elderly people expired in the area of the superdome from complications resulting from old age, and that in the heat and humity things down here decay really fast. On a related note, I think when the final numbers come in, you'll find that a person's age was a far better indicator of whether they survived this than thier race.
As for the cannibalism, that's just ridiculous. It takes alot longer than 4 days worth of hunger to turn people into cannibals, especially in situations in which thier actions are under observation. I'm shocked that people would even make that accusation. It's completely new to me.
One should be shocked by nothing in politics. Look at Andrew Jackson
Jackson's first campaign for the White House in 1824 ended with his winning the bulk of the national popular vote but losing the presidency when his failure to gain a majority in the Electoral College threw the race to the House of Representatives, which preferred John Quincy Adams. It was a particularly dirty contest, as Adams' backers strove to undercut Jackson's appeal in any way possible. Their tactics included ridiculing his lack of education and accusing him of everything from blasphemy to land frauds and murder. They even resurrected allegations that Rachel Jackson had been a bigamist and adulteress.
Those last charges stemmed from Rachel's first marriage to a rabidly jealous Kentucky businessman named Lewis Robards. The pair had wed in 1785, but Robards believed that his wife was unfaithful and sought a divorce in 1790. A year later, assuming that she was once more a free woman, Rachel married Andrew Jackson, an ambitious, red-headed young attorney whom she'd met when he boarded at her mother's home in Nashville. Not until 1793 did the Jacksons learn that Robards had only just been granted a divorce and that they'd been living very publicly in sin for more than two years.
To quash further scandal, the Jacksons promptly retook their vows. Yet claims of Rachel's immorality haunted the couple. Early in the 1828 presidential race, rumors arose again in pro-Adams newspapers, one of which asked in an editorial, "Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband to be placed in the highest offices of this free and Christian land?" Jackson went on to win that election, becoming the first president from the emerging West and creating what is today the Democratic Party. Yet when Rachel died of a heart attack less than three months before his inauguration, Jackson blamed the political defamers for hastening her demise. "May God forgive her murderers," the president-elect said at his wife's funeral, "as I know she forgave them. I never can."
While you were mentally medicating yourself by reading one of the great loudmouth ignorant bigots of our time (and on top of that to be dense enough to link to her), here's something you may have missed, over in the rational world:
"Finally, it's being reported in one place.
Even as Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf Coast that Sunday night and early Monday, Aug. 28-29, and the National Hurricane Center was warning of growing danger, the White House didn't alter the president's plans to fly from his Texas ranch to the West to promote a new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
By the time Bush landed in Arizona that Monday, the storm was unleashing its fury on Louisiana and Mississippi. The president inserted into his speech only a brief promise of prayers and federal help.
He continued his schedule in California, and he didn't decide until the next day that he should return to Washington. But it took him another day to get there, as he flew back to Texas to spend another night at his home before leaving for the White House.
Once the president was in Washington, the criticism only intensified.
NEVER forget that this is what your President was doing while an American city was being wiped out and while thousands of Americans were dying."
Speaking of medication, Not Michelle M, have you missed yours?
Evidently he/she/it has, Dave. Since we have the ludicrous meme about the triviality of where the President is located and/or doing at any particular moment. The meme of the insignificant.
What I'll remember about the President and the approaching hurricane is that he had to get the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans on the phone to urge them to do their jobs.
I hate it when the rational world communicates by using unattributed quotes.
To supply this deficiency, here is the AP story from which Not Michelle Maglalang's quote was taken.
While the quote accurately reflects the tone of the AP report (patented MSM-liberal bathos disguised as an analysis about "perceptions", suitable for the New York Times style section) the damning sentence "NEVER forget that this is what your President was doing ..." has been added, as it does not appear anywhere in the story.
Given the obviously disadvantaged nature of the rational world, we should excuse them if they must resort to doctored quotes. And the occasional forged document, of course.
How dare the President go to the bathroom while people are dying!
While I object to any politician touring disaster sites, the President presides from wherever he is. If the federal government were so precariously teetering as to require constant tweaking from the top as from Johnson or Carter, I would worry. Bush has good plans and good men, and expects them to perform.
Perhaps it is time to abolish all state and local governemnts and place all authority in Bush's hands. He's supposed to be directly managing everything, right?
How much of this rumor mongering is fueled by the fact that many/most of the people in the Superdome etc are black?
I have to confess my own guilt here: Everytime I heard about gunmen and armed looters, I wasn't thinking about white people.
We hear rumors of rape, shooting and cannibalism(!) and we think, "Hmm, could be. 'Those people' are pretty oversexed, violent, amoral/evil," and we might not even realize the subconcious racism of so easily accepting those claims.
If this same catastrophe were happening in, say, Boise, Idaho, we would probably be a lot slower to believe rumors of cannibalism.
Cannibalism!
Now, that said, when 'those people' have a popular culture that absolutely wallows in violent music and misogynist posturing, it certainly makes it easier to believe that, given the chance, they might act out some of the lyrics to their songs.
It's going to be a sad sad day when windsofchange finally gets fully invaded by the trolls. Every time one of the idiotarians comes here and posts, something inside me breaks.
Please, for the love of the community, don't feed the trolls. Don't respond to them. Don't acknowledge them. It only encourages them. It's impossible to hold a reasoned discussion with a troll. The assumption that you are dealing with a rational actor is false. You might as well hold an argument with a chat bot.
"Finally, it's being reported in one place.
Even as Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf Coast that Sunday night and early Monday, Aug. 28-29, and the National Hurricane Center was warning of growing danger, the White House didn't alter the president's plans to fly from his Texas ranch to the West to promote a new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
By the time Bush landed in Arizona that Monday, the storm was unleashing its fury on Louisiana and Mississippi. The president inserted into his speech only a brief promise of prayers and federal help.
He continued his schedule in California, and he didn't decide until the next day that he should return to Washington. But it took him another day to get there, as he flew back to Texas to spend another night at his home before leaving for the White House.
Once the president was in Washington, the criticism only intensified."
Better?
But to get back on topic, what was the topic? Is it that the press is acting in a typical fashion and chasing the latest, goriest, most headline grabbing rumor? No real surprise there. Is it that some truely crazy stuff may be happening? agin no surprise. Or is this a subtle call to stop talking about the problems?
And yes Malkin (not her real name btw) is a creep whom you should avoid using as a link. Especially when it comes to issues involved in any way with race. She is pro-internment camps ya know. Or maybe you like that sort of thing?
Please discuss.
Thanks for the link to Malkin. She has an excellent site and is a great source on many issues. Thanks again.
What I find well, indicative is that those who call Michelle Malkin a racist, always make insulting comments on her ethnicity and background. She does indeed think Internment of the Nisei during WWII was correct. That's not neccessarily racist.
It is IMHO 100% wrong; and I think people ought to be mature enough to see the difference.
As for the rumors, it has been reported that there was an arrest at both the Astrodome in Houston and River Center in Baton Rouge for sexual assault. Those familiar with the routine nature of horrific crimes committed by the thugs in the projects (think Cabrini Green, or Nickerson Gardens on a smaller scale) were not suprised.
There has been reports today of folks shooting at Telephone repairmen in New Orleans.
New Orleans and Louisiana have for more than a century underinvested in infrastructure, including education AND public safety. Louis Armstrong complained about the violence in his youth, nearly a century ago. I would not be surprised by rapes, murders, and assaults in each large location because it happened BEFORE during the nineties when I was living there. In one infamous incident a Catholic Priest in collar was murdered after leaving a jazz performance at Cafe Brazil in the Fauburg Marigny.
I seem to recall, but haven't been able to confirm, that Malkin is of Philippino background. I've wondered whether that might influence her attitude about the Nisei internment. It doesn't seem surprising that some people from those Asian regions conquered by the Japanese might feel little sympathy for the experiences of Japanese Americans during the war.
Max:
My point was that I think we need to be careful about getting carried away with the New Orleans reporting if there's a chance that it's being sensationalized. I have no opinion on the subject, but if the situation is indeed as racially charged as some have suggested, it's probably not a good thing to fan the flames, yes?
As for linking to Malkin, I wasn't aware that linking to someone conveyed a 100% agreement with their opinions. I have made it perfectly clear that I disagree with her on the issue of internment in the past for a variety of reasons, though I don't really think that's any more relevant to this particular discussion than her last name is. She provided a round-up of stories on the issue of urban legends on Katrina that I thought was useful, so I linked to it. If another source had provided the same information earlier, then I would have linked to them, but I didn't so there you go. If you find something particularly objectionable to this practice, you have a lot more people than myself to criticize.
This is a huge failure on all fronts, but the Federal government had the power to do something and they didn't.
Whatever the excuse is, tell somebody who is taking notes, because I am not. I think it is plain as day, water, food and medicine could have been dropped in. NO was only one of the worse. The response was terrible. The plan was terrible. If this happens in your city, you might be dead before you could change your mind about our Federal government providing assistance within a decent timeframe.
-Hype
to #9 who is "we"?
amoral/evil? like in uh... white slaveowners sleeping with slaves (and a lot of "these people" their descendants) or
oversexed? like ...white ex-presidents? or
violent? like...the present and prior bush/dopes who drop/ed bombs for oil on innocents and call the surrounding people who come to help fight the invaders "insurgents". you can call people what you like but "we" don't all think like "you".
oh yeah, and as for "those people" having a popular culture wallowing in violent music and misogynist posturing"? have you ever heard of popular music? be it hard rock or country or soul? the lyrics are full of misogynist posturing and violence. who did all the so-called gangstas learn from? from poppa, who buried his rig in the local motel, or me and all my rowdy friends?
oh yeah, #9, and as for "those people" having a popular culture wallowing in violent music and misogynist posturing"? have you ever heard of popular music? be it hard rock or country or soul? the lyrics are full of misogynist posturing and violence. who did all the so-called gangstas learn from? from poppa, who buried his rig in the local motel, or me and all my rowdy friends?