Tip of the hat to The Anchoress that that links this Katrina: What the Media Missed that is related ot Instapundit's post HO HUM, A GOVERNMENT SUCCESS STORY: that relates ot the current Midwest flooding . It is a 2006 story but worth looking at again as we enter Hurricane Season. There were a lot of heros those weeks and it si good to look back because we might need them again
It tells the story of the Louisiana national Guard and other agencies and what went RIGHT!! I had a very good friend that was in the Dome and on the Interstate. He said the anger of the Guard toward the news media was intense because not only were they not reporting what was happening but creating a Crisis.
Imagine being a Guardsman having to convince thousands of people in the Super dome that the radio reports they were hearing about Murders, People eating the dead, etc in their midst were in fact not true and keeping back that media created hurricane before people got hurt.
There were other heroes including the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries that were in positon to save countless people when the storm passed. Every parish in Louisiana came to action. From Lafayette to Shreveport emergency planning and the handling of the people coming in was handled quite well. You never saw that on tv
However both people on the left and the right decided to use Hurricane Katrina as a political issue to score points. Huge generalizations were made often by reporters that had no idea of the scope of the damage.
The result was a situation in its aftermath could not be analyzed in a calm manner to see what went right and what went wrong. There was too much looking for Sacrificial Lambs and deciding whose heads would roll than solving the problem. Again this was a very bi partisan affair. Blame goes out in a thousand directions for what went wrong , but also the credit for what went right goes out in a thousand directions too.
This story is one contribution to the latter.
No doubt the media created a crisis. Which sounds like a better story? "Everything is going as well as it can be. The National Guard is hard at work evacuating the city and is doing its to get supplies to refugees." Or
ReplyDelete"Everything is going wrong. Starving people killing each other over a bottle of water. Looting it out of control. Riots EVERYWHERE!!! AHHHHHH !!!The Governor is stupid, the president is stupid, the mayor is stupid. NOLA is the most messed up place in the country."
The prior would have certainly made a good story and returned some confidence in the US, but that would have taken some effort to put together. So the easier approach was the later."
My 85 year old aunt and uncle were evacuated from Lakeview and placed on the interstate said to me that though the people were not pleased and somewhat unruly at moments, the guard did their best and nearly everyone knew that. He did say it was a very typical mob-like mentality where everyone wanted on the bus, so there was alot of shoving and such.
It was interesting to hear his story. Very contrary to what the media portrayed.
It was disappointing. Yeah stuff wnrt wrong but a lot went right. It is a shame that all of Louisian were to look like idiots. It was very frustrating!!! :(
ReplyDeleteMy National Guard friend told me that they wanted to strangle Geraldo