Philosopher Bush
After New Orleans was hit by hurricane Katrina, I, as did many other people, remained glued to the tv watching the news reports of the horrendous happenings down near the gulf. I wasn’t really surprised about the destruction, since I had seen hurricane damage before. What I couldn’t believe was the complete lack of aid from the federal government.
This country has always prided itself in being a leading superpower. The nation has even gone as far as thinking itself as advanced citizenry. Never in our minds traipsed the thought that in 2005 an American city would be abandoned by its government as it slowly descended into lawlessness and chaos. Yet this is exactly what we all saw. We heard politicians giving speeches about how they would help, and yet they claimed difficulty in reaching the damaged areas. At the same time hundreds of reporters and volunteers were able to reach those same “inaccessible” areas.
New Orleans was not the only city affected by the hurricane. Mississippi was also heavily damaged. One of these areas was also the home city of Senator Trent Lott. I saw the news reports displaying Senator Lott, accompanied by senate colleagues as he visited the site of his destroyed home. I heard them speak of the American spirit and how that house would be rebuilt better than before. At the same time New Orleans mayor Nagin was on tv pleading for help and accusing the federal government of doing nothing. As I watched these news reports it seemed incomprehensible to me how politicians including the President could gather at this one house and still avoid heeding the call for help from thousands of poor people trapped in an inundated city.
After nearly a whole week, the federal government finally made it to those people trapped in the convention center. At the same time the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, was giving interviews all day. I watched one of those interviews and suddenly it all made sense to me. When CNN reporter Paula Zahn asked FEMA’s boss why it had taken so long for those people to get the help they had been begging for on tv for days, Brown said that the federal government had not known about the people in the convention center until that very day. He repeated this statement when Ted Koppel interviewed him later. That was when I knew that Bush and his government weren’t evil uncaring cretins, they were simply students of Aristotle. I guess it’s easy to confuse them.
Aristotle once wrote about the art of drama. Within his treatise he educated us in the true meaning of tragedy. In his Poetics he stated that tragedy was something that “shows” action instead of telling it. History tells us “what” happens, Tragedy tells us what “may” happen. Also, true tragedy only happens to important people, not the common ones. For example, should a farmer have an accident and break his back, the event is not tragedy, only an accident. Should a King or Prince fall off his horse and break his back, then it is a tragedy. The life of common people are the fodder which feeds the plots of comedies, never tragedies.
That was precisely what was occurring before our eyes. President Bush was on vacation and could not be bothered to take control of the situation when only poor people were being affected. But there he was, on September 3, giving a speech about the tragedy in which he said, “Out of the rubble of Trent Lott’s house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch.” Thousands of minorities were suffering of starvation and injuries, but all that mattered was that the senator’s house was destroyed.
That was when I knew the reason the federals took so long in helping the needy people. They didn’t believe what was happening was truly happening. In their minds they weren’t witnessing the effects of a class 5 hurricane striking land. They were simply watching what “could” happen if the hurricane had been real. The hurricane and the suffering wasn’t real to them until it toppled over Senator Lott’s house. It was then, when an important person was affected, that it became a tragedy.
So you see, President Bush isn’t an uncaring man who doesn’t care about minorities, he is simply a college boy who loves his Aristotle.
This country has always prided itself in being a leading superpower. The nation has even gone as far as thinking itself as advanced citizenry. Never in our minds traipsed the thought that in 2005 an American city would be abandoned by its government as it slowly descended into lawlessness and chaos. Yet this is exactly what we all saw. We heard politicians giving speeches about how they would help, and yet they claimed difficulty in reaching the damaged areas. At the same time hundreds of reporters and volunteers were able to reach those same “inaccessible” areas.
New Orleans was not the only city affected by the hurricane. Mississippi was also heavily damaged. One of these areas was also the home city of Senator Trent Lott. I saw the news reports displaying Senator Lott, accompanied by senate colleagues as he visited the site of his destroyed home. I heard them speak of the American spirit and how that house would be rebuilt better than before. At the same time New Orleans mayor Nagin was on tv pleading for help and accusing the federal government of doing nothing. As I watched these news reports it seemed incomprehensible to me how politicians including the President could gather at this one house and still avoid heeding the call for help from thousands of poor people trapped in an inundated city.
After nearly a whole week, the federal government finally made it to those people trapped in the convention center. At the same time the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, was giving interviews all day. I watched one of those interviews and suddenly it all made sense to me. When CNN reporter Paula Zahn asked FEMA’s boss why it had taken so long for those people to get the help they had been begging for on tv for days, Brown said that the federal government had not known about the people in the convention center until that very day. He repeated this statement when Ted Koppel interviewed him later. That was when I knew that Bush and his government weren’t evil uncaring cretins, they were simply students of Aristotle. I guess it’s easy to confuse them.
Aristotle once wrote about the art of drama. Within his treatise he educated us in the true meaning of tragedy. In his Poetics he stated that tragedy was something that “shows” action instead of telling it. History tells us “what” happens, Tragedy tells us what “may” happen. Also, true tragedy only happens to important people, not the common ones. For example, should a farmer have an accident and break his back, the event is not tragedy, only an accident. Should a King or Prince fall off his horse and break his back, then it is a tragedy. The life of common people are the fodder which feeds the plots of comedies, never tragedies.
That was precisely what was occurring before our eyes. President Bush was on vacation and could not be bothered to take control of the situation when only poor people were being affected. But there he was, on September 3, giving a speech about the tragedy in which he said, “Out of the rubble of Trent Lott’s house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch.” Thousands of minorities were suffering of starvation and injuries, but all that mattered was that the senator’s house was destroyed.
That was when I knew the reason the federals took so long in helping the needy people. They didn’t believe what was happening was truly happening. In their minds they weren’t witnessing the effects of a class 5 hurricane striking land. They were simply watching what “could” happen if the hurricane had been real. The hurricane and the suffering wasn’t real to them until it toppled over Senator Lott’s house. It was then, when an important person was affected, that it became a tragedy.
So you see, President Bush isn’t an uncaring man who doesn’t care about minorities, he is simply a college boy who loves his Aristotle.