Posted on 09/14/2005 3:32:33 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
We also have lost some good Hisipanic Freepers, for the same sorts of reasons.
I absolutely am disgusted by the juvenile and racist comments by some here. I wish I had had the chance to ask them to stay.
Do a forum search for them. They didn't post a long winded goodbye vanity. They simply became disheartened and stopped posting.
I know they're watching what goes on here... and I don't think it's too late for them to come back.
WHAT?????
"This can be a wonderful opportunity or just a side trip through the world of poverty. New schools, new places - the cycle was broken and it remains to be seen if folks will get off their treadmills and help themselves. If not, they can stay in the box that others have defined for them, demonstrating how right those critics were about their morales and initiatives as Americans."
I so agree with what you have said. Each one of them has their future in their hands. And each one of us has a role to play in it too
My sister went to the shelter here in our city to work with FEMA on apartment rental (she works for a large property firm herre who had offered apartments the hurricane survivors). Mostly, they were afraid. They asked if the apartments were in "black areas" (which of course, they weren't, since our state enforces housing rights very strictly). They were afraid of our city...most had never been out of Louisiana. There were 3 sisters in their 80's, a couple with several children, a white nurse who had driven out after the hurricane in an old car and had nothing but his wallet and 3 sets of scrubs, on and on and on. Every one different, many distrustful of white people, bewildered, without cars, still unsure where relatives were.
My hope is that this disaster will turn out to be a blessing for many of them. Louisiana didn't do well by them, and perhaps in different states they will come to understand the promise of America.
Of course, the media is not helping; all they are interested in showing are accustations of racism and people who are complaiing. I think we all should remember that the media is NOT reliable, whether covering the Iraq War or the Katrina disaster.
They had one ugly thread too many.
I hope they come back to fight it.
Well Hair,
All I can tell you is what I see here in Tennessee. A nearby county, one of the richest counties in the state and maybe in the nation, has taken the evacuees into numerous very well organized shelters, complete with medical care, beds, showers,clothing, food, etc. and volunteers are busy coordinating jobs and applicants. These rich folks all over that county, and relatively rich folks all over the state have replicated that same effort at least all over our state, and I assume other states as well. Rich, poor and middle class across the board have opened their arms and their homes in many cases to these folks who have lost everything. Just about everyone knows deep down that they themselves could be walking in the same shoes in the blink of an eye. Quite possibly fear is what you hear coming from some people, fear that they, too, are one paycheck away from trouble with a capital "T" or one storm away from losing everything of any real value to them. None of us know how we would be if we had lived another's life, really.
Of course, the media is not helping; all they are interested in showing are accustations of racism and people who are complaiing. I think we all should remember that the media is NOT reliable, whether covering the Iraq War or the Katrina disaster.
You can say all that again.
Sounds hopeful, thanks :~D
Well done.
I've hated a lot about the fallout from Katrina. Some of it was about the local authorities, and some of it was about the locals. But a lot of it was about what happens to FR in major events of this type.
I enjoyed reading your post. I was driven away from FR for a very long time by the venomous ranting of so many people who obviously have never walked in the shoes of the individuals they judge so harshly. If I read the phrase "welfare queen" one more time, I thought I would hurl, so I stopped checking in.
However, the people here at FR are hands-down excellent detectives when it comes to major news stories, so when I'm really curious about a current event, I come here first. The bitter FReepers with knee-jerk reactions are still in full force and effect, I notice, yet now I uncover more and more people like yourself who take a more objective view of these issues. It makes me want to stick around and share my opinions without feeling the need to don asbestos gloves before typing.
As far the aftermath of Katrina goes, I have firsthand knowledge of the problems in Louisiana because I was persuaded to join my family here two years ago. I don't entirely regret the move because, on a daily basis, I encounter all sorts of surreal things that I never would have imagined up North. I spend a lot of time scratching my head and saying "No way, this can't possibly be true!" It's been a very mind-expanding experience, to say the least.
The one thing I have personally witnessed that is most astonishing about Louisiana is the fact that once you get on welfare, it is NOT cost-effective to work your way off of it. It boils down to the fact that wages are simply too low here to justify abandoning welfare benefits for them.
When I lived in the Northeast, I always thought that the minimum wage was something used to exploit illegal aliens and migrant workers. I couldn't even imagine a teenager rolling out of bed to work part-time at Burger King for less than $8.00 per hour. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that real native-born American citizens worked for $5.15 per hour -- but they do in Louisiana!
If someone gets off of welfare to accept a "good" job at, let's say the "princely sum" of $7.00 per hour, all their support systems are immediately yanked out from underneath them. How many people do you know who can afford to pay for their entire family's groceries, child care, transportation, rent, utilities and insurance out of a monthly net take home pay of only $1,000? Sounds good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice, and that's why so many welfare recipients return to the fold.
People can resent the impoverished New Orleans residents all they want, but at the same time, the government of Louisiana also needs to be held accountable for creating this vicious cycle in the first place. Aside from housing costs, the so-called "lower cost of living" in Louisiana is a deplorable myth and is no justification whatsoever for the miniscule wages here. Do the finger-pointers know there's a 9% sales tax, for example? What about insurance premiums?
I'll get off my soapbox about this now, but I just wanted to reiterate that FR needs more balanced reporting and not just vicious tirades about people whose circumstances they aren't well-informed enough to comprehend.
Thanks again for your comments.
Yeah - there's a frenzied hysteria around really big events. And I have a feeling many wake up the next morning and say "Did I really say ~that~?"
Some in our midst are just jerks. Sometimes I want to fight with them, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it isn't. This issue isn't fun.
Most times it's great spectacle. Grab your popcorn and watch. I still think this is the best forum on the net.
And here is another thing; I am well-read and watch a lot of news channels. I knew that Louisiana was apoor state, but I had no idea how those people were living. I am petty sure a lot of Americans were as stunned as I was.
Now, had those been folks living in Texas, we would have heard about it from the media non-stop. But since Louisiana is a democrat state, we never heard a word about this.
I have some serious questions for Mary Landrieu, let me tell you.
However, the people here at FR are hands-down excellent detectives when it comes to major news stories, so when I'm really curious about a current event, I come here first.
I often mock the FReeper Junior Detective League for taking themselves too seriously.... but you're right. :~D
That says something.
Just damn!
I am half-tempted to join them. Speechless
OK - Thanks for readin' my rambling thoughts and not kicking :~D
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