As in: News

Lots of horrible and horrifying things coming out of the news. I keep thinking of a book I just read, called Isaac's Storm, about the "worst" hurricane to hit the United States. The hurricane hit Galveston Texas near the turn of the century and killed around 8000 people. The book documents the movements of the town's U.S. Weather Service rep and his failure to save either the town or his wife. The stories of people huddled in their houses as the water rose come back with vivid clarity as I read about helicopter crews chopping their way into attics. The key subtext in Isaac's storm is the blistering arrogance of the rational scientist. Isaac thought he knew weather--he'd written papers about how Galveston was impossible for a hurricane to hit. I wonder how well we warned about the severity of this storm?

Most disturbing to me is the fact that the water is polluted and dangerous. I keep trying to imagine the tsunami--where this sort of thing happened across whole countries. I'm also hit by this paragraph:

The poorest 20% (you can argue with the number -- 10%? 18%? no one knows) of the city was left behind to drown. This was the plan. Forget the sanctimonious [hooey] about the bullheaded people who wouldn't leave. The evacuation plan was strictly laissez-faire. It depended on privately owned vehicles, and on having ready cash to fund an evacuation. The planners knew full well that the poor, who in new orleans are overwhelmingly black, wouldn't be able to get out. The resources -- meaning, the political will -- weren't there to get them out. (from boingboing)

The same could be said about the tsunami in Asia--California has offshore sensors to warn of such waves, but there are no such sensors in the countries hit by the tsunami. I can't help but see the everyone for him/herself attitude as part and parcel of the capitalist mentality. Best and worst thing to happen to humankind indeed.

Posted by briley at August 31, 2005 3:10 PM