His response? He told the reporter that one of the major differences was that, this time, the order to evacuate was given and people were taking it seriously.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I don't know if I am unique, but I consider myself fairly risk averse. Even so, the last time there was a tornado warning and we were advised to seek shelter, my husband and I ignored it. However, we called my son, who was babysitting at the time and advised him to take the kids downstairs for safety. But we did nothing. In fact, had our son been home along with us, we probably still would have done nothing. But we were spurred to action by the responsibility our son had for someone ELSE's children.
In fact, I believe that most people refuse to think that the worst could possibly happen to them. We have been warned about so many things that I think we are becoming fear-immune. We are constantly threatened and warned of new crises every minute. If we don't die of a catastrophe caused by global warming, we will suffer brain cancer from our cell phones, heart disease caused by our diets, or killed in a terrorist attack. The problem? These things rarely happen, when they do, they affect a relatively small number of people and we all are much more likely to be killed in a car accident or die from smoking than to perish as a result of disaster.
The MSM, eager for our attention, screams warnings of doom. We were told that Hurricane Katrina would kill tens of thousands of people and render New Orleans uninhabitable due to toxic soup for years to come. So the combination of natural human inclination to think that nothing will happen to us and the constant dire predications that fail to materialize leave us skeptical and less likely to take reasonable precautions.
So, just like in the story of Chicken Little, we begin to ignore the warnings that "the sky is falling" until it is too late.
Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco's ineptness, indecisiveness and reluctance to call in help from federal authorities only added to the skepticism and sent the wrong message to their citizens--especially those most in need of guidance--the poor and the elderly.
But the media will pat themselves on the back for 'exposing' the failures of the federal government and make it appear as though they (the media) are responsible for the change in behavior from the feds. From the AP this morning...
Stung by the relentless criticism of their faltering response to Hurricane Katrina, federal officials raced Wednesday to prepare for the devastation that Hurricane Rita could inflict on the Texas coast.
So, yes, the federal government is being somewhat more pro-active in preparing for Rita. But not drastically so. It is ridiculous to suggest that in a matter of a few weeks, (and while
STILL up to their eyeballs in the aftermath of Katrina) the federal government has completely changed its practices and approach to disasters, or that the firing of Michael Brown turned FEMA around overnight.
The AP story never mentions one other important difference. The Mayor of Galveston and the Governor of Texas are not sending out mixed, ambiguous messages to their citizens. They are not ignoring their own disaster plans. They are not directing people to a facility that they know they cannot secure. They are clearly telling people to evacuate and making arrangements for people with no transportation to get out of the area.
And, while it may have nothing to do with it whatsoever, it is interesting to note one other difference. The Mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana are Democrats. The local Texan authorities happen to be Republicans.
I don't know about you, but although I do not live in a geography affected by tropical storms, I know which way I would vote in the next local elections if I lived in the Hurricane zone.
Don't hold your breath waiting to see THAT analysis in the mainstream media.
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