How does it get to be called "looting" when you are wading through a flood to an abandoned grocery store to get food and non-oil-soaked beverages to keep yourself and your family/friends/neighbours alive? Says Bush in his zero tolerance against so called crime in the disaster zone speech, "If they want food and water, we'll get them food and water." Uh, okay...when?
Apparently it's also called looting when you see women walking out of abandoned stores carrying Huggies and baby formula. One big party indeed.
I am also reading a lot about the current shortage of National Guard Troops & appropriate equipment in the Gulf states. A lot of stuff has been shipped elsewhere. (I'm talking to you Iraq, but not really you Iraq, ...you know what I mean)
Yeah I saw that picture too. What a crook! Diapers have such massive resale value.
Also, I'm not super comfortable with this increasingly obvious notion of the upperclass that certain members of the population are expendable. It's incorrect as well as morally wrong and, for another thing...would I have left town? Unlikely... If I was a citizen of New Orleans, right now I'd be testing the innate nature of my humanity in the toxic alligator infested stink-hole with the rest of the no-car owning looters. And I'm out of shape.
http://www.cbc.ca/includes/photogalleries/katrina20508/images/cswat_team.jpg
speaking of iraq.
Here is a link to a James Wolcott diatribe making the argument that this is the right time for politics.
my cousin (who's also an artist who was teaching at loyala university before the hurricane) lives(-s +ed) in new orleans. she evacuated to my uncles house in florida just before the hurricane hit. she has since gone back to the bayou, with a generator and other supplies she bought in texas, and headed to her partners parents house which apparently is still standing about an hour outside new orleans. she was telling my mom that this is the third time in a span of a few months they have been told to evacuate. so thinking that nothing too horrible was going to happen, because she was getting so used to the routine, she didn't pack much stuff and thought of it as a visit to my uncles before the new school year. which i think is an important thing that people are leaving out when they're blaming people for not heeding the warnings about getting out. the desire to heed warnings fades with repetition, and repeated costs of fleeing. she was indeed lucky/privledged, because she had the means to leave, and a place to go. she lost only her house and job. (big onlys but given the horrible stories, it's not that much)
when i first started hearing about looting, i thought, that's not looting, that's stock that could be put to good use in this emergency. i read tons of knee jerk posts on craigslist new orleans, where people were getting angry at "looters" and saying crap like "i'll help when they stop looting!!" i'm thinking, what is so hard to comprehend? their immediate world is ending, they have nothing. and some media accounts are acting all righteous like it's a greedy capitalism thing. maybe some of it is but really, who cares. the city's decimated, so's the stock. i mean, so what if people are taking things to make their situation more endurable, to survive, to help people. it's such a dumb thing to focus on. i mean, bush, whatever - like we needed more evidence for his idiocy but he keeps providing it. blah.
It's remarkable to look back to just hours after the hurricane, survivors were going out of their way to scale trees and poles to hang the flag of the country and government they are so proud of. Flash to now..........after days without water, food and medical supplies, I bet they are re-thinking that exhausting gesture.
they flew our flag for what it stands for, the spirit of the people and as a statement of personal survival after making it through a category 5 hurricane. not for our current corrupt government. interesting you taking this opportunity to get that off your chest thom.
The meanings of flags are multi-layered and complex, no? From our postion outside US, the stars and stripes are pretty much read as a symbol of the state, rather than the individuals.
The flag is still a symbol of hope and generosity to many in the US--it is unfortunate that it currently stands for the party of stinginess, aggression, as Bill says, corruption, and I would add, jug headed stupidity.
Myfawny, I know what you are saying! The initial rush to not empathise with these stranded people was really disillusioning. I was trying to imagine: if I was told to leave Toronto and I didn't have any relatives in nearby towns, what would I do? Where would I go? I would need some seriously potent psychic future reading ability to motivate me to just up and leave my home and head out of town with no destination. What possessions would I carry? What about my work, friends, pets, plans for the next day, etc? Unless I'd already experienced a disaster like that, I'm sure I'd stay home, even though I have the money for a bus ticket.
The media is better now, though. Oddly enough, CNN seems to be taking a leadership role! Here's a report from a cable-TV owning friend of mine: Jack Cafferty on CNN is hitting the issues head on. He is the first
person to say it: "Almost all the victims we are seeing in desperate
conditions in New Orleans is black and almost everybody is poor." The
Cafferty File question is currently "What is the role of race and
class in the Gulf Coast crisis?" I am sure he will get hate mail for a
decade for saying that.
Wolf Blitzer agrees and says that this is going to raise a lot of
questions. A dubious claim. He also has been raising the issue that
many scientists have been warning about the vulnerablity of the Gulf
Coast.
Reporters are clearly shocked by the situation, and the term "embarrassed" is starting to show up, both from journalists and from viewers.
And this suprising exchange between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, transcibed at Think Progress.org.
Good that Anderson Cooper's doing that, but just to try to put it in perspective: People are also ashamed about the needless slaughter in Iraq, but the coiffed, high paid media is not going after Bush the way Cooper is going after this more local politician. They're big tough interlocutors when they think they can get away with it.
good point Tom. Though I'd like to think this is a sign that even the coiffed ones might eventually rediscover the idealistic thrill of journalistic integrity and lose interest in the party line.
"From our postion outside US, the stars and stripes are pretty much read as a symbol of the state, rather than the individuals." look ive seen you freaking out on this page about americans and flags on the fourth of july. and im well aware of your (you) reading outside of america of the flag as a symbol. i think it betrays a willful lack of understanding of what the flag means to individual americans who identify with the flag personally rather than institutionally. thoms post and your follow up comment show an incredible lack of empathy or just shear ignorance of what raising an american flag to those people in the disaster zone means. they had all the right in the world to fly it upside down as a sign of distress, but didnt. they flew it straight and proud. the bloggers on these dmt pages have spoken out against this phony government for coming up on five years. there is 49% (more really) of america that dont buy into the bush program. we hope to take back our country and mend the damage those bastards have done asap. but that doesnt mean we dissociate ourselves from or forfeit our flag. we try to maintain it as a symbol of freedom and democracy in the world and for some, a statement of personal survival in their own back yard.
"it is unfortunate that [the flag] currently stands for the party of stinginess, aggression, as Bill says, corruption, and I would add, jug headed stupidity."
I should have said "if" rather than that. I hate to give in to despair that we can't take the country back from the fascists. It is going to be hard with so much power concentrated in multinationals who finance a 24/7 propaganda blitz to keep Americans deluded.
i doubt that if that had happened in canada, anyone would have really put energy into putting up our flag. it's not that there's no patriotism or a lack of interest in freedom & democracy, i think it's more about a practical rather than romantic mindset. ie "looting" during catastrophe isn't stealing, putting up a flag is time that could be used to loot for some bottled water, food, diapers, shoes, flashlights.
i can see how many might gain strength from putting a flag up, given the kind of romanticism that surrounds notions of democracy & freedom, and given that people believe in it. i can't imagine myself gaining strength from anything other than humour and witnessing amazing acts of other peoples strength if that happened here.
but that's because I AM.....CANAD...
um. ok maybe i would have put up ontario's flag. if i could find one. anywhere. anybody seen any lately?
Sorry Bill. My response was meant to ameliorate, not cause further offense. As Myfanwy points out, Canadians really don't often respond personally to flags, any flags. I think, as the only Canadian blogger on DMTree, I do frequently show my solidarity with, and respect for, those of you struggling to express your resistance to the Republican regime. And I am certainly, on this thread, in utter empathy with the people in New Orleans. And I am in empathy with you, as I can tell you have been hit personally by this awful thing. As far as me "freaking out" about 4th of July I don't know what you are referring to. There was a pretty calm and mutually respectful thread here that involved flags back in 2004. Maybe it was something I said on your pages?
Bill, I must leap in full Joan of Arc armour to Sally's defence. She doesn't "freak out" over Americans and flags. (yes Sal, I just weakly brandished a mighty sword on your behalf)
That said, most other citizens of the world are genuinely puzzled at the visibility and emotions that are packed into the symbol of the American flag. At times, to us, it feels as if an American triumphalism is being waved at us. Personally, I don't feel that, and recognize that other resonances are at play. America is way too complex and fascinating for anyone to reduce that symbol to simple platitudes.
I think I once mentioned before about the Chicago writer, Nelson Algren, who was often accused of anti-Americanisms (was considered a red by some). A critic once defended him by stating that Algren was in love with America and therefore broken hearted with the America he was seeing around him.
I do have a question for our American friends reading this blog. Its always been my impression that America can raise more money than God, so is the crisis in New Orleans due to a logistical failure within the big big Department of Homeland Security?
I think I can also speak to everyone's incredulity over the current catastrophic social events in the storm region. In our idealistic hearts we want to believe (in the very basic tenet) that any government's most important role is to ensure Civil Society. Civil society isn't simply made up of civil servants, but of a citizenry that believes that they have a stake in the larger picture. (and more importantly believes that it can afford this) You have to draw your own conclusions about what a given group of people thinks they can afford, but we are seeing the high price in every way possible of an institutional and structural breakdown.
As a Canadian, I believe that we cannot get too smug about our social programs, civil structures, multicultural policies etc. we haven't really been tested with any catastrophic events in our lives. We were tested in the 70's with the October crisis, and blew that one in terms of civil liberties. We were also tested with our governments complicity in the deportation of Mahar Arrar, and this one, we failed ...miserably. There's more to come in our future.
You're right L.M., and there's plenty more black spots where those came from! Japanese internment camps, devastation of aboriginal people, extreme anti-semitism at the beginning of the 20th century, dismantling of the railroad system, police brutality and persecution of marginalised citizens... Toronto police penchant for shooting guys who are holding little hammers...lots more... obsessing on USA policy can be an escape/distraction from resisting injustice at home.
Of course, in a very real way US policy affects us—we may even sometimes feel complicit as the privleged little neighbour—and yet we don't have any voice. Frustrating. Since the last US election, however, it has become increasingly clear that plenty of US citizens feel the same way. They may be able to vote, but they don't have the political representation.
Not only that, but resistance in the US is dangerous - much more so than it is here. So those groups and individuals who are speaking out require all the support and respect we can give them. This doesn't mean we have to salute the US flag, but I think it does mean we should try not to trample on the feelings of our struggling friends and allies.
In answer to LM's question, the current government hates the "welfare state" and the breakdown in N.O. is the first broad scale effect we're seeing of Republican lobbyist/think tank guru Grover Norquist's scheme to "shrink government down to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub." The word drown being sadly prophetic here.
In other words, huge tax cuts and beefing up "essentials" like defense (welfare for defense contractors) leave no money for the feds to build levees, or help with "local" emergencies. The Repubs believe states, municipalities and especially individuals have to "take care of themselves," much like Bush took care of himself with a lifetime of independent hard work.
And if the city in question is full of poor people, black people, and lazy bohemians blowing on saxophones and shooting heroin, well--perfect place not to help and to begin to force that program of "adult" self-reliance, that is, after the inevitable Mad Max scenario thins the population.
Monstrous? An affront to the very idea of civil society? You bet. That's our Bush and his crew.
I swear I wrote that before seeing this post on Daily Kos.
"black spots", funny considering the context of the posts. Smuggness? Have you ever listened to a.m. talk radio in Toronto?
Thanks Tom. And Holy Shit to that Daily KOS link.
To anonymous, think of the words "black spots" as a form of sly restraint (Jane Fucking Austen lives!) rather than Full Caps Bold Font form of discourse that is heard on Toronto Talk radio. Personally I rarely listen to it, but I do read a lot right & left wing commentary, and I don't have a problem with a well argued polemic, because I want to hear people clarify their positions, not screech them. I agree the smugness is already on location in its full spectrum, even if I share certain beliefs (about who we are as citizens) with my friends, I would warn that our circumstances can change and we don't know if we will live up to our ideals.
Sly restraint? Yes! now I get it! Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see if we ever "live up to our ideals". Unfortunately, some people have been waiting a very long time.
And the flag thing? What a silly way of distinguishing ourselves from Americans. I'm sure for every Katrina survivor putting up a US flag, there are half a dozen Canadians stitching a maple leaf on their backpacks when traveling (to Europe of course). Anyway, I don't mean to distract from the main post, but the political forces we're so critical of in the US have identical counterparts and strong support here in Canada, as you know from your many readings of right wing commentary. We might be playing on a smaller playground, but the bullies are the same.
Bill-----I too did not mean to cause further offense. And I sincerely apologize for my comment which has obviously offended. But read it again.......it wasn't my intention. What appears to be a 'knee-jerk' statement on my part, was really meant as an observation from an outsider into these small moments of symbolic display that I'm watching. I do understand your view that there are multitudes who DO fly the flag at moments such these in that spirit of hope and survival. But Sally is correct-------meanings of flags are multi-layered and complex. I had just finished watching news coverage of people dying and sick from lack of essentials......and then they were criticized by the government for looting! What went through my mind is what I wrote at that moment. It wasn't a situation of "oh-----not that damn flag again!" It was an observation of "Yes!----we will rise!".....and it slowly became" Not only are we starving and sick......we are criminals!" What I was referring to in "getting this off my chest", was yes indeed, if it was me, I would be rethinking that exhaustive gesture. That's all. Sorry if it struck a raw nerve.
I agree that the bullies are the same, but I'm not clear on the substance of what you are attacking in these posts. (I'm reading the sneering loud and clear, and will soon be forced to abandon the lovely bonnet I have been trimming and attack you with my crocheting hook.)
wow......this whole flag thing has stirred up some dust. I am one who should have predicted as such. As an artist, illustrator and graphic designer, I lecture my students weekly on the differences of UNIVERSAL vs. PERSONAL symbolism, and how we use this everyday. This was a great example.
I think maybe the dust was kicked up by the implosion of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, not the less relevant flag issue.
Nicely put, Tom Moody.
yeah, what sally said.
I want to take the flag back, as in ...
It's too often a banner for what's wrong with the US.
in case you thought i was making it up : Until now it had been possible to get around without credentials. But with the National Guard banging on doors, telling people they had to leave the city, out came the most outlandish fake ID's I had laid eyes on since high school. One fellow got around on a Marriott Hotel security badge, another dummied up a laminated picture of himself that said he was a doctor. On Louisiana Avenue, one of the world's leading dealers of African sculpture, Charlie Davis, answered his door to National Guardsmen. He told them he was employed by newspapers as a photographer, but when he turned to get his (fake) press pass, he told me, "the guns went up." When asked how much force he would use to remove people from their homes, Police Chief Eddie Compass said that he couldn't be precise because "if you are somebody who is 350 pounds, it will obviously take more force to move you than if you are 150 pounds." (Compass has since resigned.) Even the people who had come back home in Russian assault helicopters made a hasty exit, invariably leaving behind them, flying from a porch, the American flag. It was a symbol not of liberty but of personal defiance, a tribute to underdog-dom. It was aimed at the enemy and said, Take that! The Confederate flag had become unnecessary.
from the sunday times magazine section.
|
How does it get to be called "looting" when you are wading through a flood to an abandoned grocery store to get food and non-oil-soaked beverages to keep yourself and your family/friends/neighbours alive? Says Bush in his zero tolerance against so called crime in the disaster zone speech, "If they want food and water, we'll get them food and water." Uh, okay...when?
- sally mckay 9-01-2005 5:00 pm
Apparently it's also called looting when you see women walking out of abandoned stores carrying Huggies and baby formula. One big party indeed.
I am also reading a lot about the current shortage of National Guard Troops & appropriate equipment in the Gulf states. A lot of stuff has been shipped elsewhere. (I'm talking to you Iraq, but not really you Iraq, ...you know what I mean)
- L.M. 9-01-2005 8:07 pm
Yeah I saw that picture too. What a crook! Diapers have such massive resale value.
Also, I'm not super comfortable with this increasingly obvious notion of the upperclass that certain members of the population are expendable. It's incorrect as well as morally wrong and, for another thing...would I have left town? Unlikely... If I was a citizen of New Orleans, right now I'd be testing the innate nature of my humanity in the toxic alligator infested stink-hole with the rest of the no-car owning looters. And I'm out of shape.
- sally mckay 9-01-2005 10:40 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/includes/photogalleries/katrina20508/images/cswat_team.jpg
speaking of iraq.
- anonymous (guest) 9-02-2005 6:12 am
Here is a link to a James Wolcott diatribe making the argument that this is the right time for politics.
- L.M. 9-02-2005 8:15 am
my cousin (who's also an artist who was teaching at loyala university before the hurricane) lives(-s +ed) in new orleans. she evacuated to my uncles house in florida just before the hurricane hit. she has since gone back to the bayou, with a generator and other supplies she bought in texas, and headed to her partners parents house which apparently is still standing about an hour outside new orleans. she was telling my mom that this is the third time in a span of a few months they have been told to evacuate. so thinking that nothing too horrible was going to happen, because she was getting so used to the routine, she didn't pack much stuff and thought of it as a visit to my uncles before the new school year. which i think is an important thing that people are leaving out when they're blaming people for not heeding the warnings about getting out. the desire to heed warnings fades with repetition, and repeated costs of fleeing. she was indeed lucky/privledged, because she had the means to leave, and a place to go. she lost only her house and job. (big onlys but given the horrible stories, it's not that much)
when i first started hearing about looting, i thought, that's not looting, that's stock that could be put to good use in this emergency. i read tons of knee jerk posts on craigslist new orleans, where people were getting angry at "looters" and saying crap like "i'll help when they stop looting!!" i'm thinking, what is so hard to comprehend? their immediate world is ending, they have nothing. and some media accounts are acting all righteous like it's a greedy capitalism thing. maybe some of it is but really, who cares. the city's decimated, so's the stock. i mean, so what if people are taking things to make their situation more endurable, to survive, to help people. it's such a dumb thing to focus on. i mean, bush, whatever - like we needed more evidence for his idiocy but he keeps providing it. blah.
- myfanwy (guest) 9-02-2005 5:49 pm
It's remarkable to look back to just hours after the hurricane, survivors were going out of their way to scale trees and poles to hang the flag of the country and government they are so proud of. Flash to now..........after days without water, food and medical supplies, I bet they are re-thinking that exhausting gesture.
- thom (guest) 9-02-2005 6:09 pm
they flew our flag for what it stands for, the spirit of the people and as a statement of personal survival after making it through a category 5 hurricane. not for our current corrupt government. interesting you taking this opportunity to get that off your chest thom.
- bill 9-02-2005 6:32 pm
The meanings of flags are multi-layered and complex, no? From our postion outside US, the stars and stripes are pretty much read as a symbol of the state, rather than the individuals.
- sally mckay 9-02-2005 7:04 pm
The flag is still a symbol of hope and generosity to many in the US--it is unfortunate that it currently stands for the party of stinginess, aggression, as Bill says, corruption, and I would add, jug headed stupidity.
- tom moody 9-02-2005 7:15 pm
Myfawny, I know what you are saying! The initial rush to not empathise with these stranded people was really disillusioning. I was trying to imagine: if I was told to leave Toronto and I didn't have any relatives in nearby towns, what would I do? Where would I go? I would need some seriously potent psychic future reading ability to motivate me to just up and leave my home and head out of town with no destination. What possessions would I carry? What about my work, friends, pets, plans for the next day, etc? Unless I'd already experienced a disaster like that, I'm sure I'd stay home, even though I have the money for a bus ticket.
And this suprising exchange between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, transcibed at Think Progress.org.The media is better now, though. Oddly enough, CNN seems to be taking a leadership role! Here's a report from a cable-TV owning friend of mine:
- sally mckay 9-02-2005 7:16 pm
Good that Anderson Cooper's doing that, but just to try to put it in perspective: People are also ashamed about the needless slaughter in Iraq, but the coiffed, high paid media is not going after Bush the way Cooper is going after this more local politician. They're big tough interlocutors when they think they can get away with it.
- tom moody 9-02-2005 7:26 pm
good point Tom. Though I'd like to think this is a sign that even the coiffed ones might eventually rediscover the idealistic thrill of journalistic integrity and lose interest in the party line.
- sally mckay 9-02-2005 7:30 pm
look ive seen you freaking out on this page about americans and flags on the fourth of july. and im well aware of your (you) reading outside of america of the flag as a symbol. i think it betrays a willful lack of understanding of what the flag means to individual americans who identify with the flag personally rather than institutionally. thoms post and your follow up comment show an incredible lack of empathy or just shear ignorance of what raising an american flag to those people in the disaster zone means. they had all the right in the world to fly it upside down as a sign of distress, but didnt. they flew it straight and proud. the bloggers on these dmt pages have spoken out against this phony government for coming up on five years. there is 49% (more really) of america that dont buy into the bush program. we hope to take back our country and mend the damage those bastards have done asap. but that doesnt mean we dissociate ourselves from or forfeit our flag. we try to maintain it as a symbol of freedom and democracy in the world and for some, a statement of personal survival in their own back yard.- bill 9-02-2005 8:12 pm
"it is unfortunate that [the flag] currently stands for the party of stinginess, aggression, as Bill says, corruption, and I would add, jug headed stupidity." I should have said "if" rather than that. I hate to give in to despair that we can't take the country back from the fascists. It is going to be hard with so much power concentrated in multinationals who finance a 24/7 propaganda blitz to keep Americans deluded.
- tom moody 9-02-2005 8:25 pm
i doubt that if that had happened in canada, anyone would have really put energy into putting up our flag. it's not that there's no patriotism or a lack of interest in freedom & democracy, i think it's more about a practical rather than romantic mindset. ie "looting" during catastrophe isn't stealing, putting up a flag is time that could be used to loot for some bottled water, food, diapers, shoes, flashlights.
i can see how many might gain strength from putting a flag up, given the kind of romanticism that surrounds notions of democracy & freedom, and given that people believe in it. i can't imagine myself gaining strength from anything other than humour and witnessing amazing acts of other peoples strength if that happened here.
but that's because I AM.....CANAD...
um. ok maybe i would have put up ontario's flag. if i could find one. anywhere. anybody seen any lately?
- myfanwy (guest) 9-02-2005 9:08 pm
Sorry Bill. My response was meant to ameliorate, not cause further offense. As Myfanwy points out, Canadians really don't often respond personally to flags, any flags. I think, as the only Canadian blogger on DMTree, I do frequently show my solidarity with, and respect for, those of you struggling to express your resistance to the Republican regime. And I am certainly, on this thread, in utter empathy with the people in New Orleans. And I am in empathy with you, as I can tell you have been hit personally by this awful thing. As far as me "freaking out" about 4th of July I don't know what you are referring to. There was a pretty calm and mutually respectful thread here that involved flags back in 2004. Maybe it was something I said on your pages?
- sally mckay 9-02-2005 9:27 pm
Bill, I must leap in full Joan of Arc armour to Sally's defence. She doesn't "freak out" over Americans and flags. (yes Sal, I just weakly brandished a mighty sword on your behalf)
That said, most other citizens of the world are genuinely puzzled at the visibility and emotions that are packed into the symbol of the American flag. At times, to us, it feels as if an American triumphalism is being waved at us. Personally, I don't feel that, and recognize that other resonances are at play. America is way too complex and fascinating for anyone to reduce that symbol to simple platitudes.
I think I once mentioned before about the Chicago writer, Nelson Algren, who was often accused of anti-Americanisms (was considered a red by some). A critic once defended him by stating that Algren was in love with America and therefore broken hearted with the America he was seeing around him.
- L.M. 9-02-2005 9:41 pm
I do have a question for our American friends reading this blog. Its always been my impression that America can raise more money than God, so is the crisis in New Orleans due to a logistical failure within the big big Department of Homeland Security?
- L.M. 9-02-2005 10:08 pm
I think I can also speak to everyone's incredulity over the current catastrophic social events in the storm region. In our idealistic hearts we want to believe (in the very basic tenet) that any government's most important role is to ensure Civil Society. Civil society isn't simply made up of civil servants, but of a citizenry that believes that they have a stake in the larger picture. (and more importantly believes that it can afford this) You have to draw your own conclusions about what a given group of people thinks they can afford, but we are seeing the high price in every way possible of an institutional and structural breakdown.
As a Canadian, I believe that we cannot get too smug about our social programs, civil structures, multicultural policies etc. we haven't really been tested with any catastrophic events in our lives. We were tested in the 70's with the October crisis, and blew that one in terms of civil liberties. We were also tested with our governments complicity in the deportation of Mahar Arrar, and this one, we failed ...miserably. There's more to come in our future.
- L.M. 9-02-2005 10:42 pm
You're right L.M., and there's plenty more black spots where those came from! Japanese internment camps, devastation of aboriginal people, extreme anti-semitism at the beginning of the 20th century, dismantling of the railroad system, police brutality and persecution of marginalised citizens... Toronto police penchant for shooting guys who are holding little hammers...lots more... obsessing on USA policy can be an escape/distraction from resisting injustice at home.
Of course, in a very real way US policy affects us—we may even sometimes feel complicit as the privleged little neighbour—and yet we don't have any voice. Frustrating. Since the last US election, however, it has become increasingly clear that plenty of US citizens feel the same way. They may be able to vote, but they don't have the political representation.
Not only that, but resistance in the US is dangerous - much more so than it is here. So those groups and individuals who are speaking out require all the support and respect we can give them. This doesn't mean we have to salute the US flag, but I think it does mean we should try not to trample on the feelings of our struggling friends and allies.
- sally mckay 9-02-2005 11:23 pm
In answer to LM's question, the current government hates the "welfare state" and the breakdown in N.O. is the first broad scale effect we're seeing of Republican lobbyist/think tank guru Grover Norquist's scheme to "shrink government down to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub." The word drown being sadly prophetic here.
In other words, huge tax cuts and beefing up "essentials" like defense (welfare for defense contractors) leave no money for the feds to build levees, or help with "local" emergencies. The Repubs believe states, municipalities and especially individuals have to "take care of themselves," much like Bush took care of himself with a lifetime of independent hard work.
And if the city in question is full of poor people, black people, and lazy bohemians blowing on saxophones and shooting heroin, well--perfect place not to help and to begin to force that program of "adult" self-reliance, that is, after the inevitable Mad Max scenario thins the population.
Monstrous? An affront to the very idea of civil society? You bet. That's our Bush and his crew.
- tom moody 9-03-2005 12:29 am
I swear I wrote that before seeing this post on Daily Kos.
- tom moody 9-03-2005 12:38 am
"black spots", funny considering the context of the posts. Smuggness? Have you ever listened to a.m. talk radio in Toronto?
- anonymous (guest) 9-03-2005 12:47 am
Thanks Tom. And Holy Shit to that Daily KOS link.
To anonymous, think of the words "black spots" as a form of sly restraint (Jane Fucking Austen lives!) rather than Full Caps Bold Font form of discourse that is heard on Toronto Talk radio. Personally I rarely listen to it, but I do read a lot right & left wing commentary, and I don't have a problem with a well argued polemic, because I want to hear people clarify their positions, not screech them. I agree the smugness is already on location in its full spectrum, even if I share certain beliefs (about who we are as citizens) with my friends, I would warn that our circumstances can change and we don't know if we will live up to our ideals.
- L.M. 9-03-2005 1:08 am
Sly restraint? Yes! now I get it! Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see if we ever "live up to our ideals". Unfortunately, some people have been waiting a very long time.
And the flag thing? What a silly way of distinguishing ourselves from Americans. I'm sure for every Katrina survivor putting up a US flag, there are half a dozen Canadians stitching a maple leaf on their backpacks when traveling (to Europe of course). Anyway, I don't mean to distract from the main post, but the political forces we're so critical of in the US have identical counterparts and strong support here in Canada, as you know from your many readings of right wing commentary. We might be playing on a smaller playground, but the bullies are the same.
- anonymous (guest) 9-03-2005 2:41 am
Bill-----I too did not mean to cause further offense. And I sincerely apologize for my comment which has obviously offended. But read it again.......it wasn't my intention. What appears to be a 'knee-jerk' statement on my part, was really meant as an observation from an outsider into these small moments of symbolic display that I'm watching. I do understand your view that there are multitudes who DO fly the flag at moments such these in that spirit of hope and survival. But Sally is correct-------meanings of flags are multi-layered and complex. I had just finished watching news coverage of people dying and sick from lack of essentials......and then they were criticized by the government for looting! What went through my mind is what I wrote at that moment. It wasn't a situation of "oh-----not that damn flag again!" It was an observation of "Yes!----we will rise!".....and it slowly became" Not only are we starving and sick......we are criminals!" What I was referring to in "getting this off my chest", was yes indeed, if it was me, I would be rethinking that exhaustive gesture. That's all. Sorry if it struck a raw nerve.
- thom (guest) 9-03-2005 2:54 am
I agree that the bullies are the same, but I'm not clear on the substance of what you are attacking in these posts. (I'm reading the sneering loud and clear, and will soon be forced to abandon the lovely bonnet I have been trimming and attack you with my crocheting hook.)
- L.M. 9-03-2005 2:56 am
wow......this whole flag thing has stirred up some dust. I am one who should have predicted as such. As an artist, illustrator and graphic designer, I lecture my students weekly on the differences of UNIVERSAL vs. PERSONAL symbolism, and how we use this everyday. This was a great example.
- thom (guest) 9-03-2005 3:11 am
I think maybe the dust was kicked up by the implosion of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, not the less relevant flag issue.
- tom moody 9-03-2005 4:15 am
Nicely put, Tom Moody.
- sally mckay 9-03-2005 5:54 am
yeah, what sally said.
- bill 9-03-2005 6:29 am
I want to take the flag back, as in ...
It's too often a banner for what's wrong with the US.
- mark 9-04-2005 6:51 am
in case you thought i was making it up :
from the sunday times magazine section.
- bill 10-11-2005 11:15 pm