- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
While it's well and good to blast the government's response to the disaster in the Gulf Coast, to say that the rest of America had dropped the ball or forgotten is absurd. Vast amounts of supplies were shipped with great speed and great care to the region--clothes, food, temp. housing; you name it, it went to LA and MS. Often these supplies came from some of the poorest regions in the US: tractor trailers from Kentucky, SE Ohio, W.VA headed south packed to the hilt. Now the people of the region have to do what has to be done. It's their region, after all. Many have voted with their feet--New Orleans/the Gulf Coast in an inherently unsafe area in which to live, and people have moved away in droves. Others try to return but there is a dearth of jobs and basic services, so they simmer at the government, other people, God. The truth is, however, New Orleans, esp., prided itself on not being part of America; it prided itself on being a world apart. As the saying goes, pride goeth before the fall. Millions of Americans went the extra mile to help the area, and now they expect the area to help itself. It's a cold view of the world, but also a very American one. Empathy never lasts long in our society. To expect a sea change in America's underlying philosophy of self-help is naive. It's been a long time since Washington cared about anything but Washington. It too has become a world apart. LA/New Orleans politics are notoriously crooked and built around enriching a small minority of movers and shakers and letting everyone else rot. Two worlds apart, one major crisis, and a culture based on every man for himself: this doesn't make for a recipe for putting New Orleans back on its feet. And let's face it, do we want or need a simulcra of the old New Orleans? Because that is the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is another hurricane before the city's protections are radically upgraded. So blame Washington, blame the area's longtime lack of a working political infrastructure, but don't blame your fellow Americans for being, well, your fellow Americans.
