Katrina Reflections #3

A friend who I was discussing this with in e-mail said the following:

One of the other things that just bites about this is the inhumanity of the authorities. People at the Superdrome discovered that there was a supply of food and water there, and broke in to prepare it and distribute it. The National Guard showed up and they were ordered out of the kitchens, at gunpoint, with the stated threat that they would be shot if they didn't go.

I heard a guy showed up with 500 hot dogs at the Superdome to give them, and he was turned away, because police said they had no way of knowing whether the hot dogs were safe to consume.

Or there's the kid who was being evacuated, and they made him leave behind his dog because there was a no-animals policy. The kid begged, pleaded and cried so hard he started to throw up, and they wouldn't budge. Gee, do you think the kid might have lost everything else he had and was clinging to the one shred of his own life that was left? Would it have been so unthinkable to have some basic human compassion?

Aside from the fact that no one knows what even "good" hot dogs are made of (all things considered, they probably have shelf lives longer than Twinkies), it's clear that rules that make sense in regards to maintaining a society break down in the face of overwhelming human suffering and immediate need.

People in New Orleans have no access to food or water (essentials without which they will quickly perish), no personal shelter, no possessions, no extra sets of clothes. They have nothing but their own bodies, and even those are at high risk.

But at least they are protected from consuming simulated and heavily-preserved meats of nebulous origin (sans buns?)

I wonder if the boy was alone except for his dog, or if he still had his parents with him. I hope someone was there.