Politicising Katrina
I'm having trouble articulating just how angry I am at pundits, both in the media and the blogosphere, who are capitalising on this disaster to score political or ideological points. It's everywhere, the crisis is still unfolding and the first thing the keyboard warriors do is seek out someone to blame - and who more convenient than their favourite political enemy, whoever that may be. Obviously for most it's Bush. Then they pull out their battleaxes and start hacking away.
For so many of these people, the human cost of the tragedy is secondary to the political mileage that it can fuel. They don't really care about the victims, they care about the politics, and they will politicise this horrible event for their own ends. Every one of these disasters is seen only as an opportunity to be exploited for political or ideological gain. Hundreds of people are dying in New Orleans and surrounding areas, and all they do is bleat about how it's all George Bush's fault and how he should be impeached and charged with treason. They are jumping for joy - it's terrible that all those people have died, but look, we get to take another shot at Bush, every cloud has a silver lining.
I made the same point after the London bombings. Look what happened there, hours after the explosions, George Galloway came out and accused the Blair government of being responsible for the attack because of the war in Iraq, as did many, many others. On Kos, it was revealed that the Republican governor of California, Arnie himself, had sex with a 16-year-old, under the age of consent, 30 years ago. The first response was to use it to get rid of him. "Excuse me, I have to go CELEBRATE!," said one commenter. It wasn't about the event, it was about the politics, and they were gleefully going to exploit it. The best call of the thread was "if this is how Kossacks think they are going to take back offices from Republicans, then the site has outlived its purpose."
Every time there is an apolitical event, both the left and right will do their very best to politicise it and use it to hurt their opponents, because that is what they care about. For some that is all they care about. It's like politics is one never-ending football season, with each team trying to score as many points as they can before the end of time, or at least the next election. Because, y'know, what's more important in life? Yeah, screw the people actually affected, let's use it to attack Bush, let's use it to attack Clinton, let's use it to attack France, let's use it to attack America.
The vultures circle and continue to circle at this very moment, trying to use this tragedy in their sole aim of kicking Bush out of office. Clearly the people affected are far less important. Some people make this very clear.
"I'm sick of footing the bill for George W. Bush and the rest of his so-called compassionate conservatives... You 60 million losers who voted for this loser open YOUR wallets... You want disaster relief? Impeach George W. Bush."
It touching, isn't it? A clear statement of priority. Even more disgusting was this from Joseph Cannon:
"So why was I thinking of starting a movement against giving aid to the stricken areas?
Because these are red states. They voted for Bush. These ninnies obviously wanted these policies, and they deserve to live with the consequences of their votes.
A large part of me still believes that many of these W-worshipping numbskulls deserve to suffer and to die. They brought it on themselves. Let them look to Jayzuss for aid: It's time they stopped leeching off the more productive blue staters..."
Screw the dying people, let me kick Bush, because that's always more important. To these people, their political and ideological viewpoints are always the most important thing. "But let us make one thing clear: We WILL politicize this issue," Cannon says later in his diatribe.
All this has happened before, all this will happen again, into eternity, as pundits, activists and those riding on their coat-tails and hanging on their words struggle to climb over each other to with the politics an ideology wars on every front by using everything conceivable as a foothold.
It's disgusting, and I refuse to have any part in it.
CNN reporter Anderson Cooper interviewed Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu and attempted to essentially blame the government for the disaster and demand someone take responsibility, but Landrieu kept her head and said exactly the right things.
There is a time and a place, as I said after London and as Landrieu said yesterday, for the reasons why this occurred to be examined and to ensure any mistakes are not made again - the suggested bipartizan investigation would be a good place for this to start. The time is not now. Right now the only thing that should be occurring is trying to save the lives of those still in affected areas, to get refugees housed, treated and fed, and to work out how to restore order and begin the cleanup. That is the priority now, not the abhorrent political point-scoring that has been rampant from day one.
Constructively criticise those who were responsible, for now just help out. Instead of bleating about how it's all Bush or whoever's fault, get of your arse and let some refugees into your home, send in some fuel and supplies to refugee camps and those still holding out in New Orleans, and if you can't do anything directly, then whip out your credit card and donate and the hundreds of available funds to help the victims.
This is probably quite badly written but I'm livid, so I'm not making much sense right now.
For so many of these people, the human cost of the tragedy is secondary to the political mileage that it can fuel. They don't really care about the victims, they care about the politics, and they will politicise this horrible event for their own ends. Every one of these disasters is seen only as an opportunity to be exploited for political or ideological gain. Hundreds of people are dying in New Orleans and surrounding areas, and all they do is bleat about how it's all George Bush's fault and how he should be impeached and charged with treason. They are jumping for joy - it's terrible that all those people have died, but look, we get to take another shot at Bush, every cloud has a silver lining.
I made the same point after the London bombings. Look what happened there, hours after the explosions, George Galloway came out and accused the Blair government of being responsible for the attack because of the war in Iraq, as did many, many others. On Kos, it was revealed that the Republican governor of California, Arnie himself, had sex with a 16-year-old, under the age of consent, 30 years ago. The first response was to use it to get rid of him. "Excuse me, I have to go CELEBRATE!," said one commenter. It wasn't about the event, it was about the politics, and they were gleefully going to exploit it. The best call of the thread was "if this is how Kossacks think they are going to take back offices from Republicans, then the site has outlived its purpose."
Every time there is an apolitical event, both the left and right will do their very best to politicise it and use it to hurt their opponents, because that is what they care about. For some that is all they care about. It's like politics is one never-ending football season, with each team trying to score as many points as they can before the end of time, or at least the next election. Because, y'know, what's more important in life? Yeah, screw the people actually affected, let's use it to attack Bush, let's use it to attack Clinton, let's use it to attack France, let's use it to attack America.
The vultures circle and continue to circle at this very moment, trying to use this tragedy in their sole aim of kicking Bush out of office. Clearly the people affected are far less important. Some people make this very clear.
"I'm sick of footing the bill for George W. Bush and the rest of his so-called compassionate conservatives... You 60 million losers who voted for this loser open YOUR wallets... You want disaster relief? Impeach George W. Bush."
It touching, isn't it? A clear statement of priority. Even more disgusting was this from Joseph Cannon:
"So why was I thinking of starting a movement against giving aid to the stricken areas?
Because these are red states. They voted for Bush. These ninnies obviously wanted these policies, and they deserve to live with the consequences of their votes.
A large part of me still believes that many of these W-worshipping numbskulls deserve to suffer and to die. They brought it on themselves. Let them look to Jayzuss for aid: It's time they stopped leeching off the more productive blue staters..."
Screw the dying people, let me kick Bush, because that's always more important. To these people, their political and ideological viewpoints are always the most important thing. "But let us make one thing clear: We WILL politicize this issue," Cannon says later in his diatribe.
All this has happened before, all this will happen again, into eternity, as pundits, activists and those riding on their coat-tails and hanging on their words struggle to climb over each other to with the politics an ideology wars on every front by using everything conceivable as a foothold.
It's disgusting, and I refuse to have any part in it.
CNN reporter Anderson Cooper interviewed Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu and attempted to essentially blame the government for the disaster and demand someone take responsibility, but Landrieu kept her head and said exactly the right things.
There is a time and a place, as I said after London and as Landrieu said yesterday, for the reasons why this occurred to be examined and to ensure any mistakes are not made again - the suggested bipartizan investigation would be a good place for this to start. The time is not now. Right now the only thing that should be occurring is trying to save the lives of those still in affected areas, to get refugees housed, treated and fed, and to work out how to restore order and begin the cleanup. That is the priority now, not the abhorrent political point-scoring that has been rampant from day one.
Constructively criticise those who were responsible, for now just help out. Instead of bleating about how it's all Bush or whoever's fault, get of your arse and let some refugees into your home, send in some fuel and supplies to refugee camps and those still holding out in New Orleans, and if you can't do anything directly, then whip out your credit card and donate and the hundreds of available funds to help the victims.
This is probably quite badly written but I'm livid, so I'm not making much sense right now.