anarchy; that's the word that graced today's straits times. katrina danced her dance and now, the historic city is in chaos.
people are looting, gangs are talking over, child molestation, rape cases, beating in the streets, dead left to rot with the living, deplorable living conditions, lack of food and water, insufficient medicines for the sick and junkies breaking into hospitals to get their fix. to think that about a week ago the city was great, full of life and filled with tourists and people enjoying themselves with the renowned jazz and seafood. its just an awakening of sorts.
we would expect a super-power like america to deal with the problem efficiently and get everyone to safety swiftly. we would expect all this mess to be handled in an orderly fashion. after all, america did respond almost immediately when the tsunami hit last boxing day, so we wouldnt be unreasonable in stating that she should be prepared for something like this happening on her own turf. but why the delay? people have been cramped up in the superbowl for almost a week now and the conditions have been deteriorating ever since. necessities have not been provided for and the people in the police force are giving up. even the mayor is 'pissed' and i dont blame him for lashing out at washington.
it just goes to show that even a super-power is not as super as we think now is it? bush should really cut down on his holiday time. also, this is a frightening display of how the mesh of social stability is so quickly destroyed once one is not prepared to deal with any crisis that may come along. at one moment we live in what may seem to be a socially coherant society. where we have roles to play and we play it well. a place where we think that we can handle almost anything that comes our way because we think that we have a strong and capable government on our side, with the resources to help us and take us through everything. even when we know that there are things that go on in our society that is less that what we deem as moral (drugs and prostituition and what not), we do not have to think about it simply because it does not concern us at all and we choose not to be a part of it. but the strange thing is is that we are not even aware that this structure exists because we are just plain human beings and we have an awful tendency to take things for granted.
however, it is when calamity strikes and this network unwinds because of under-preparation to deal with the situation, fear, uncertainty and all things human nature, we finally see how important that network was, how we are really dependant on structure and the prementioned mesh. we are suddenly everywhere and nowhere; forced to deal with things that we do not usually have to handle. forced to see death in its blatant glory, forced to mingle with violence and to interact with junkies. we are put into a situation where things fall apart fast and there is nothing that one person can do about it. all we can do is learn to live with what we have, not because we are resillient, but because we have to, until help arrives and transports us to a temporary asylum, allowing us to reconstruct the social mesh that we are so used to living in.
scary isnt it, the fragility of society and how just one factor can cause so much harm? be thankful for what you have and i do hope that all those affected by katrina (that bitch) will be alright in the end.
people are looting, gangs are talking over, child molestation, rape cases, beating in the streets, dead left to rot with the living, deplorable living conditions, lack of food and water, insufficient medicines for the sick and junkies breaking into hospitals to get their fix. to think that about a week ago the city was great, full of life and filled with tourists and people enjoying themselves with the renowned jazz and seafood. its just an awakening of sorts.
we would expect a super-power like america to deal with the problem efficiently and get everyone to safety swiftly. we would expect all this mess to be handled in an orderly fashion. after all, america did respond almost immediately when the tsunami hit last boxing day, so we wouldnt be unreasonable in stating that she should be prepared for something like this happening on her own turf. but why the delay? people have been cramped up in the superbowl for almost a week now and the conditions have been deteriorating ever since. necessities have not been provided for and the people in the police force are giving up. even the mayor is 'pissed' and i dont blame him for lashing out at washington.
it just goes to show that even a super-power is not as super as we think now is it? bush should really cut down on his holiday time. also, this is a frightening display of how the mesh of social stability is so quickly destroyed once one is not prepared to deal with any crisis that may come along. at one moment we live in what may seem to be a socially coherant society. where we have roles to play and we play it well. a place where we think that we can handle almost anything that comes our way because we think that we have a strong and capable government on our side, with the resources to help us and take us through everything. even when we know that there are things that go on in our society that is less that what we deem as moral (drugs and prostituition and what not), we do not have to think about it simply because it does not concern us at all and we choose not to be a part of it. but the strange thing is is that we are not even aware that this structure exists because we are just plain human beings and we have an awful tendency to take things for granted.
however, it is when calamity strikes and this network unwinds because of under-preparation to deal with the situation, fear, uncertainty and all things human nature, we finally see how important that network was, how we are really dependant on structure and the prementioned mesh. we are suddenly everywhere and nowhere; forced to deal with things that we do not usually have to handle. forced to see death in its blatant glory, forced to mingle with violence and to interact with junkies. we are put into a situation where things fall apart fast and there is nothing that one person can do about it. all we can do is learn to live with what we have, not because we are resillient, but because we have to, until help arrives and transports us to a temporary asylum, allowing us to reconstruct the social mesh that we are so used to living in.
scary isnt it, the fragility of society and how just one factor can cause so much harm? be thankful for what you have and i do hope that all those affected by katrina (that bitch) will be alright in the end.
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