I had a strange night last night. I fell asleep fairly early then woke up at about midnight and could not get back to sleep sometime around 2:00 a sort of news/Holywood gossip/entertainment features program came on. I don't remember what it was called or the name of the blonde anchoring the show. I was trying not to watch. Trying futilely to get back to sleep.

Then she started a story on Katrina. It began with the standard line about how large numbers of Americans are angered by the poor response of the federal government, not bothering to mention the large number of people who are equally angry over the failures of New Orleans and Louisiana governments. Then there was an interesting twist. The story was focusing on how people's response to the federal government's failure was to begin to think that since they can't count on the government to save them, perhaps they should take some responsibility for themselves.

This is some sort of revelation?

Regardless of the fact people should have taken responsibility for their own safety long before Katrina was a developing low pressure system in the Atlantic i.e, they should have been doing it all along, the fact that some people are finally figuring this out is probably going to be one of the most important “lessons learned” from this disaster.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 01:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment