OK, I totally lied...

[katallison]

...when I said I was going to stop posting Katrina-related stuff. That was a silly thing to say, really, given that the consequences of this week's events are going to play out long-term and in ways we can't even predict, and which I'll probably be moved to babble about.

And in so doing I'll probably incense some people I've seen deploring the "politicization" of this disaster, which on one level I get--making electoral hay out of ongoing suffering and death is debased--but on the other hand, you know what? While hurricanes may be utterly apolitical, the action (or lack thereof) taken in response to them is almost entirely a governmental affair, beyond the scope of private organizations or individual citizens, and as such is inextricably political in nature. Politics infuses the whole thing, from our very conceptualization of the role of government in local affairs to the detailed logistics of relief deployment, and the consequences of Katrina hit every level--perhaps most importantly at the very top, by which I don't mean the Oval Office and who happens to occupy it, but the larger debate about the role and responsibilities of government.

Which said--I just wanted to note in this post some strange bedfellows who are joining in the chorus of outrage about the mismanagement of the disaster. Lately I've seen conservatives/Republicans voicing anger and shame just as vehemently as us long-time Bush-loathers have been. killabeez has been quoting such overheard conversations from her right-wing Florida neighbors. And Andrew Sullivan (who's been on a roll this past week) recently posted an e-mail he received, which (as Sullivan himself writes), says it all. And in his latest entry he quotes a fellow conservative blogger, Martin Kelly, on the status and future of neoconservative ideology: "...what can an ideology based on the global projection of national power do when confronted with a crisis which shows it to be nationally powerless? Nothing. The collapsed levees of New Orleans will have consequences for neoconservatism just as long and deep as the collapse of the Wall in East Berlin had on Soviet Communism; for when hacks and fulminators like John Podhoretz are openly criticizing the president, the Great Leader, the ideology is on the way out. And hopefully all of those who urged the ideology on, myself included, will have a long time to consider the error of our ways."

ETA: If you can get the video to load, this Fox News segment from last night with Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera is pretty amazing. I have long *despised* Fox News, but one got the clear sense that these two guys have broken loose from Central Control; Smith bitter, hard-faced and scathing, and Rivera, hysteroid as usual, but seeming genuinely moved to the point of tears and freaked-out incoherence by the suffering in the convention center, and both of them yelling back at that asshat O'Reilly.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

great email. thanks for the link!

[bluster.livejournal.com]

I saw the segment live and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I was stunned that Hannity, who is ostensibly a human with a beating heart, could be that insensitive and equally amazed that Smith was as passionate and bitter as he was. It somehow made me feel better, although I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't repercussions for him at some point.

[luminosity]

I watched that segment last night, and I was floored. Not at the squalid conditions, not at the inaction of the government (I mean, "floored" doesn't begin to cover it), but at the (finally!!!) outrage of these reporters, and they *should* be. It's intolerable. How dare Hannity sit there in his air-conditioned ivory tower and tell Shep to "get some perspective." WTF.

I'm sitting here in my house. I just got power back two days ago. Land line phones still don't work, and my brand new a/c has cut out on me so it's Africa hot, and yet? I'M SO FREAKING GRATEFUL. I have a house. I have power. I have family, and I know where most of them are.

Between you and me, I'd rather see the blame-throwing than the insufferable congratulations and back-slapping that was going on a couple of days ago. How DARE they. HOW *DARE* THEY? There's nothing to be congratulatory about. The entire country is embarrassed at our government. That's not to say that I haven't been wallowing in embarrassment for it for years now, but finally. FINALLY. (I'm shouting).

I need want a watermelon. :)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

One reporter on Friday encapsulated the burning shame and anger that many of us are feeling.

"The only difference between the chaos of New Orleans and a Third World disaster operation was that a foreign dictator would have responded better."

[kestrelsan.livejournal.com]

Part of the anti-politicization argument is administration spin, but part of it is exactly what you're talking about--the assumption that politics is about arguing the number of angels on the head of a pin and not about the fundamentals of the role and responsibility of government.

And what kills me is that Bush's brand of conservatism is so deeply unpopular that he usually resorts to misinformation and outright lies about it, or even more covert means to institute his ideology, like not taking advantage of union labor in Iraq because it was ideologically unrepublican, or the more obvious Social Security misinformation campaign. And now with Katrina, the ideology of privatization and the notion that the free market will take of everything in some kind of imaginary self-regulating way is just so obvious in everything Bush is (not) doing.

If this kills the neoconservative movement, then at least it's one good thing to come out of it. Not that I'm bitter. Or maybe a little ranty *g*. OK, maybe I should go back to my toys now.

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

Amazing vid. Thank you for the link. I've never seen Shepard Smith before, but that was one of the best remote segments I've ever seen -- that's exactly what news should be, IMO. No spin, no bullshit, no easy answers. Not even any dramatics -- just the hard, cold fact. Get him out of Fox News and I'll watch him anytime.

Just wanted to comment on the "politicization" idea. That's the first time I've heard that, and it *enrages* me. I mean, if politics is "the public's business", then the fact that we have a government that *won't* act to take care of people after a disaster of this magnitude is very clearly a political issue. What else *should* we be doing, if we're not demanding accountability from our government? The people who are involved are just trying to stay alive. It's the job of the rest of us to be speaking up for them.

I just read a story about Kanye West speaking out on live TV last night, and the network trying to smooth it over as if it's bad taste to call the president a racist who's not helping people who need it. Like the important thing right now is not offending the president and his supporters. Grr. The network should have just left that alone IMO.

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

There was a great exchange last night between Anderson Cooper and Bill Maher. Bill asked that if there was a "bright lining" to this, wouldn't it be that the media was finally asking tough questions of the government like they should have before the war. Anderson, having been down there since before the storm hit land, was having none of it even though his conversations with Landrieu and Lott are being held up as examples of it. He's far too close to the tragedy to be able to consider that question, much less answer in a thoghtful way.

I agree that the response, or lack thereof, is completely political and that between now and the midterm elections it needs to be examined on all levels (the state and local governments are not blameless in this, either). But there will always be those folk who are too close to the situation and/or cannot separate the human tragedy from the political reality denoucing the political as heartless and callous.

I hope that Maher is right, and this is a tipping point for the MSM. Without a watchdog press, the hard questions are not going to be answered

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

While hurricanes may be utterly apolitical, the action (or lack thereof) taken in response to them is almost entirely a governmental affair, beyond the scope of private organizations or individual citizens, and as such is inextricably political in nature. Politics infuses the whole thing, from our very conceptualization of the role of government in local affairs to the detailed logistics of relief deployment, and the consequences of Katrina hit every level--perhaps most importantly at the very top, by which I don't mean the Oval Office and who happens to occupy it, but the larger debate about the role and responsibilities of government.

Thank you for this concise and insightful summary of the role of gov't in this situation. I have been struggling with a friend who does not see politics in quite the way I do, trying to help him understand my position and this is a brilliant help. As ever Kat, I appreciate your clarity. Please keep posting.

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Check out this FAQ on why the Red Cross isn't in New Orleans.

http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. At first glance I was pissed the military aren't letting them in, but on the other hand, they don't want the RC's presence to be interpreted as a sign that it's time to return, or think about returning. Interesting.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link--have crossposted.
twistedchick noted some conseratives who are screaming just as loudly, some of whom are actually linking to Slate, which stuns *me*.
She also commented that this will have *huge* political repercussions in the 2006 elections, that it will change the literal demographics of southern politics, let alone any further political repercussions from the increasing outrage. I'm afraid I hadn't been thinking nearly that far forward from it--blink, blink!!