It appears the [lowest depths of conduct][1] in the Katrina disaster came not from the tens of thousands of stranded New Orleans citizens and visitors, but instead from the people who claim to be our saviours and tell _us_ that we cannot be trusted to survive without their protection and control: the city, state and federal governments:
[1]: http://www.cosmobaker.com/nola.html
>Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. “Taking care of us” had an ominous tone to it.
> Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was
correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of
his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, “Get off the
fucking freeway”. A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blowaway our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his
truck with our food and water.
The information coming out of New Orleans now only confirms what Solnit wrote in “[The Uses of Disaster][2]” ([linked yesterday][3]):
[2]: http://harpers.org/TheUsesOfDisaster.html
[3]: http://blog.unquiet.net/archives/2005/09/09/the-uses-of-disaster/
> “even the selfish, the sordid and the greedy became transformed that day … and true humanity reigned.” This phenomenon of “surprising” human kindness and good sense is replicated time and again [yet] official disaster-preparedness scenarios nonetheless presume that human beings are prone to panic and in need of policing.
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