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Hurricane Katrina
Nature has unleashed its fury upon America. The death and destruction left behind in its wake has been one of the largest, if not the largest natural disaster in our history. We won't know the complete death toll for quite some time, but I'm sure we will know the total cost at some point in the future. The whole nation is focused on the disaster, but really only a small portion of the disaster. The media seems to be riveted to New Orleans and those that were displaced from New Orleans. They mention Alabama and Mississippi occasionally, and show a remote now and then, but their main focus seems to be on New Orleans. It also appears that the media believes they should cover the story, but not offer any assistance.
During the first days of the aftermath, they had numerous remotes from reporters in different areas of New Orleans, but I never saw any of them offer any kind of assistance to those they said were without food and water. It was obvious at the time that the law enforcement was incapable of taking care of the problem, but the media never tried to get assistance to any of the groups they kept talking about. They had excellent communication with their respective networks, but didn't use that capability to interface with the Red Cross or FEMA to get the supplies where they were needed. All they did was talk about how horrible it was. I couldn't watch all of the coverage on all of the stations, but I did watch a fair amount of coverage on both CNN and Fox News. I didn't see any of the media attempting to help anyone they reported about on either of these channels with the exception of Bill O'Reilly. He did attempt to assist some of the people he interviewed on his show. I didn't see that kind of involvement from any of the rest of them. It seems ridiculous to me that they call themselves Americans, but yet they stood by while fellow Americans desperately needed assistance and didn't offer any. They just reported on how terrible the government response was. As the days have progressed, we have come to realize that the issues with the response lie primarily with the governor of Louisiana. It is now evident that she was neither prepared nor capable of directing the effort needed to assist the people of her state.
In contrast to this, the states of Alabama and Mississippi had governors that were more than up to the task that lay ahead of them. They and the people of their states have pulled together to get through this disaster. The destruction in both states was just as severe as what happened in Louisiana. The difference is there were not people stranded on roofs, waiting for someone to rescue them. Most of them no longer had roofs to wait on, and judging from their personal responses, they would have found a way to help themselves even if they had been in a situation similar to New Orleans. The media has chosen to focus on New Orleans because it makes for good human drama. They prefer to report on negatives and Alabama and Mississippi although having suffered major devastation, have presented themselves as a group with positive attitudes about their futures. They have picked themselves up and are moving on with their lives. Having suffered through 3 hurricanes last year myself, I know how difficult that can be. I applaud all of the victims that are moving on and trying to recapture their lives. This is what makes the American people so great. Self reliance and perseverance are the mainstays of our incredible country.
I'm not sure what is going to happen to New Orleans. I'm sure it will be rebuilt in some form, but I have to believe that common sense will prevail and we'll rebuild it outside of the bowl it presently sits in. If it is rebuilt where it now stands, we will be reliving this disaster in the future. Hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes and build a better New Orleans in an area that resides above sea level.