Travis, this is probably going to be the first serious post i've had in your live journal. Now let me start by saying that i am in agreement with your insinuations about our nation as a whole. This is, by far, one of the greediest nations in the world. That being said, you know that. Were you honestly expecting any differently in the situations you've laid out? An attack on our nation is viewed as just that. A natural disaster is viewed as a tragedy, but nothing more. There are no feelings of anger that flare up against nature after a hurricane comes through. Weather is an everyday occurrence. Granted, storms of that measure are not, but they are viewed as inevitabilities. Terrorist attacks, although they are realistically just as inevitable, are viewed as something that can be stopped. Something that we can fight. Hence the "war on terror" that our nation has been "heroically" involved in for years now. I put the word heroically in quotes not because i don't think our troops are heroes (and heroines), i feel exactly the opposite. I said it because we are not fighting some heroic war, which is the way it is portrayed by the media. We are fighting the war because we got involved prematurely and now have to finish what we started because there is no alternative. But i've began to sidetrack myself. You're obvioulsy surprised by the looting that is going on in the face of disaster. However, look around to any other crisis. Crisis is always accompanied by chaos, and chaos by such things as looting. It happens in countries everywhere, not just here. Also, despite the fact that the people affected by these disasters need and should have help, we are a selfish nation. With 9/11 there was more in it for the people helping. It was an attack on the nation, which was interpreted as an attack on individuals. This is why more people helped. People that don't live in New Orleans are distanced from the event. They feel no real close ties to it. Sure, they feel bad, but why help when there's nothing to gain. That's a bad attitude that lots of people in our country have. Let me ask you something: how many people in our school do you think sent money to the hurricane survivors? Did you? Did I? Does that make the people of our school deplorable human beings. No. Does it make them selfish? Yes. With do not live in a perfect world. To expect perfection from this world is to kid yourself. I'm not saying i disagree with you, because i don't. I am merely trying to add some perspective to your post. I agree that our nation is greedy, but what does you and i sitting here writing posts in your live journal do about it?
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