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Originally Posted by Xantar
But Hurricane Katrina was an act of nature. It wasn't forecast far enough ahead of time to get every last person out of the city. It was a bit unpredictable.
Ok, fine. Now what?
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There, that's exactly what I want. Just a reminder to each person before they go on a witchhunt blaming everyone. You're reading too much into what I'm saying. All I want is patience and prudence and understanding of the magnitude of the disaster. You say that no one is arguing the fact that it was a natural disaster, but I think people seem to forget that fact.
On another note, I'd like to see how much the TV people and politicians who are throwing all the blame around have done to help the evacuees.
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I'm not saying that we all saw black people in New Orleans and immediately thought, "Oh, well they're black so they don't matter." I'm not saying that any of us care less just because the faces we see are of a certain color. I'm not even saying that any of us literate, middle-class, relatively well-educated people talking here on this message board would react less urgently if we had seen white people dying in the streets. But deep down, something does register differently, and it's fair to ask whether that really does affect the national response because really, we aren't going to know unless a few thousand white people really do get killed in a natural disaster. It's been proven, unfortunately. And even if you think you really are so enlightened and better than all the random subjects in studies, how confident are you that every single government official involved in the relief effort is the same way?
I say let's just be honest. We all make stereotypes. It's our brain's way of working with incomplete information, and psychologists actually think that for the most part, we wouldn't function very well without it. All the same, trying to deny what's going on in our heads isn't going to help anything. I'll bet you've been resisting this whole line of argument the entire time, but here's the question you should be asking yourself: is that absolutely, completely because you think I'm spouting a load of hogwash or is it because if it really is true, you wouldn't feel so good about yourself?
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Well the split-second reaction to the appearance of someone is not what I thought you meant, so I guess we misunderstood each other. I've already said that race in this situation is a valid topic, considering the disproportionate amount of blacks to other races.
I think, though, that if we would help and volunteer and give just as much as if they were white, then what difference does the "deep down" region matter? It seems you're talking about the unsconscious mind vs. the conscious mind, which for me wouldn't make any actual difference in how I helped. I personally don't think that it took George Bush's conscious mind three days to click in and say, hey, these are people, too. Maybe it did, I don't know, but I don't think so. And that goes for everyone who was helping.
If you disagree fine. I'm not trying to argue but I guess when you're on a message board that's the only way it comes out. I was only angry because I took personal offense to what I thought you were saying that I would have volunteered more and given more money or whatever if they were white.