Everyone's responsible for themselves.
I hear, consistently, four arguments against the critics of the current government response to the hurricane in southern Louisiana. They are:
1.) Everyone should be responsible for themselves.
2.) They had three days of warning down there, if they stayed, it's their own fault.
3.) It was stupid to build a city in a soup bowl. They knew this would happen.
4.) Now is not the time to point fingers, now is the time to help out.
And my favorite argument so far, which is not widely accepted, is that God destroyed the city because it was a city of sin.
Let me address these issues in reverse order.
God destroyed the city of sinNew Orleans may have been a city of sin. Who says this? The Christians, amongst others. I find it ironic, however, because all cities are cities of sin. All people are sinners. The proper Christian response, however, should be one that conforms to one of the two commands that Jesus gave. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Or, at least, in the spirit of the two other charges he gave: "Feed my sheep" and "Make disciples of all nations."
While I will not attempt to judge the mind of God, as He may well have destroyed the city for whatever reasons He has and this makes sense to Him and would not make sense to me, much as I am a computer programmer and could no more explain to an ant what "pass by reference" means than God could explain to me His reasons. I would, however, say, that judging the mind of God is not something that would help anybody down there.
I think, personally, that the proper response by these televangelists should be one that urges their followers to donate to the red cross. The response, as it stands now, is one that says to their followers "the people of New Orleans were bad and they were destroyed by your God and you were not destroyed so you are better than they are." Who doesn't like to feel better than somebody else? It is especially potent when it comes from the eyes of an all powerful, all knowing, higher being.
Now is not the time to point fingersThis is, perhaps, the most important time for well over 99% of the nation to point fingers. Political leaders may benefit from it, they may also be hurt by it. Ultimately we are a nation "of the people, for the people, and by the people." We elect congress. We elect the president. It is our job to elect the people who will serve us, and our neighbors here and abroad, the best. If our current leadership is not doing its job, we need to point fingers at them. They will either do their job, or they won't have one.
It was stupid to build a city in a soup bowlWhere is it safe to live here? We have coasts to the east and west. We have droughts and extreme temperatures in the south. We have blizzards, ice storms, and extreme cold in the north. We have tornadoes right up the middle. We have the threat of terrorist attacks in the big cities. Where can you live, safely, in the US and not expect a disaster of some sort?
While New Orleans may have been built in a silly place, but some people didn't have a choice but to live there. If you were poor and you didn't have the funds to move or a job elsewhere, how would you leave? Lets say you were even the father of a middle class suburban family. If you didn't have a job elsewhere, or the money to relocate, how would you leave?
Just because people lived in a dangerous place doesn't mean that nobody should help out. If you attempt to commit suicide, will the hospital let you die and not try to help? What if you just put yourself in a bad situation. Say you drove a car that was unsafe (whether it was just stupid or it was because it was the only car you had and you did not have money to fix it up), and you were involved in an accident because of a mechanical failure that you knew you had a risk of encountering (say, the brakes failed or the axle broke) ... Should the doctors refuse to help, or give you substandard care because you should have known better?
Three days of warningThe 80 year old man in the hospital who had enough trouble going to the bathroom by himself is expected to leave under his own power? What about the doctors who, by leaving, would doom other people to die? How about the homeless man who has no tv, fm radio, cell phone, neighbors, friends, computer with internet connection, car, or gas money? A coworker of mine suggested that "these people would steal a car and shoot you in a dark alley, but they couldn't get out of the city?" I think his argument is absurd enough to not need refuting.
Everyone should be responsible for themselvesHow is it that we live in a society which does not understand the basic functions of society? Even in New Orleans right now people are relying on each other in the form of tribalism. While one person cannot defend himself against two people, twelve people certainly can. While one person may not be able to defend himself or his possessions while he sleeps, a band of twelve people can take shifts. While a mechanic cannot treat his broken leg and a doctor cannot repair a car, they can work together to achieve both goals.
The government is a form of specialization. I cannot head up efforts to recover from disaster. I cannot organize and lead a standing army. I cannot handle foreign relations, nor can I head up an intelligence operation. I can, however, work and give 25%, or more, of my paycheck to an organization of individuals that have been specially trained to do the things that I cannot.
Lets say I give $10,000 / year in taxes. I could not directly translate that money into roads, a bodyguard, a spy, and an emergency response coordinator. However, if you multiply $10,000 by 200 million plus citizens who are able to pay taxes, then we might just have enough to build roads that we all share, hire bodyguards who will protect us, set up an intelligence network who will warn us of threats, and put money in an emergency fund that will help me if I'm the victim of a tornado, or you if you're the victim of an earthquake, or a family in Manhattan who was the victim of a terrorist attack.
We need to stop trying to justify this embarrassment and start trying to fix it.
1.) Everyone should be responsible for themselves.
2.) They had three days of warning down there, if they stayed, it's their own fault.
3.) It was stupid to build a city in a soup bowl. They knew this would happen.
4.) Now is not the time to point fingers, now is the time to help out.
And my favorite argument so far, which is not widely accepted, is that God destroyed the city because it was a city of sin.
Let me address these issues in reverse order.
God destroyed the city of sinNew Orleans may have been a city of sin. Who says this? The Christians, amongst others. I find it ironic, however, because all cities are cities of sin. All people are sinners. The proper Christian response, however, should be one that conforms to one of the two commands that Jesus gave. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Or, at least, in the spirit of the two other charges he gave: "Feed my sheep" and "Make disciples of all nations."
While I will not attempt to judge the mind of God, as He may well have destroyed the city for whatever reasons He has and this makes sense to Him and would not make sense to me, much as I am a computer programmer and could no more explain to an ant what "pass by reference" means than God could explain to me His reasons. I would, however, say, that judging the mind of God is not something that would help anybody down there.
I think, personally, that the proper response by these televangelists should be one that urges their followers to donate to the red cross. The response, as it stands now, is one that says to their followers "the people of New Orleans were bad and they were destroyed by your God and you were not destroyed so you are better than they are." Who doesn't like to feel better than somebody else? It is especially potent when it comes from the eyes of an all powerful, all knowing, higher being.
Now is not the time to point fingersThis is, perhaps, the most important time for well over 99% of the nation to point fingers. Political leaders may benefit from it, they may also be hurt by it. Ultimately we are a nation "of the people, for the people, and by the people." We elect congress. We elect the president. It is our job to elect the people who will serve us, and our neighbors here and abroad, the best. If our current leadership is not doing its job, we need to point fingers at them. They will either do their job, or they won't have one.
It was stupid to build a city in a soup bowlWhere is it safe to live here? We have coasts to the east and west. We have droughts and extreme temperatures in the south. We have blizzards, ice storms, and extreme cold in the north. We have tornadoes right up the middle. We have the threat of terrorist attacks in the big cities. Where can you live, safely, in the US and not expect a disaster of some sort?
While New Orleans may have been built in a silly place, but some people didn't have a choice but to live there. If you were poor and you didn't have the funds to move or a job elsewhere, how would you leave? Lets say you were even the father of a middle class suburban family. If you didn't have a job elsewhere, or the money to relocate, how would you leave?
Just because people lived in a dangerous place doesn't mean that nobody should help out. If you attempt to commit suicide, will the hospital let you die and not try to help? What if you just put yourself in a bad situation. Say you drove a car that was unsafe (whether it was just stupid or it was because it was the only car you had and you did not have money to fix it up), and you were involved in an accident because of a mechanical failure that you knew you had a risk of encountering (say, the brakes failed or the axle broke) ... Should the doctors refuse to help, or give you substandard care because you should have known better?
Three days of warningThe 80 year old man in the hospital who had enough trouble going to the bathroom by himself is expected to leave under his own power? What about the doctors who, by leaving, would doom other people to die? How about the homeless man who has no tv, fm radio, cell phone, neighbors, friends, computer with internet connection, car, or gas money? A coworker of mine suggested that "these people would steal a car and shoot you in a dark alley, but they couldn't get out of the city?" I think his argument is absurd enough to not need refuting.
Everyone should be responsible for themselvesHow is it that we live in a society which does not understand the basic functions of society? Even in New Orleans right now people are relying on each other in the form of tribalism. While one person cannot defend himself against two people, twelve people certainly can. While one person may not be able to defend himself or his possessions while he sleeps, a band of twelve people can take shifts. While a mechanic cannot treat his broken leg and a doctor cannot repair a car, they can work together to achieve both goals.
The government is a form of specialization. I cannot head up efforts to recover from disaster. I cannot organize and lead a standing army. I cannot handle foreign relations, nor can I head up an intelligence operation. I can, however, work and give 25%, or more, of my paycheck to an organization of individuals that have been specially trained to do the things that I cannot.
Lets say I give $10,000 / year in taxes. I could not directly translate that money into roads, a bodyguard, a spy, and an emergency response coordinator. However, if you multiply $10,000 by 200 million plus citizens who are able to pay taxes, then we might just have enough to build roads that we all share, hire bodyguards who will protect us, set up an intelligence network who will warn us of threats, and put money in an emergency fund that will help me if I'm the victim of a tornado, or you if you're the victim of an earthquake, or a family in Manhattan who was the victim of a terrorist attack.
We need to stop trying to justify this embarrassment and start trying to fix it.