Dan: I'm surprised at your attitude toward the Katrina disaster. I mean, why condemn the hurricane victims for expecting help from the government. Isn't it that the point and purpose of the Federal Emergency Management Agency? Isn't Bush infamous for appointing a totally unqualified person to lead that agency? The phrase, "Heck of a job, Brownie" still haunts my brain. As I understand it, the administration took that disaster as an opportunity to show the world how the free market could deal with disaster situations better than the government can. They certainly failed to do that. Free market disaster relief? I don't know how anyone expected to profit unless they were paid handsomely by the government and or rescue only people with money to pay for their services. Anyway, as a result of the attempt, the government did NOT do what it usually does and what everyone reasonably expected it to do again. Nobody had any reason to think that FEMA would act differently than it had in many similar situations in the past. To dismiss their complaints as the result of their diseased expectations is kinda mean. It strikes me as a pretty harsh case of adding insult to injury.
My two cents, dmb > Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:33:05 -0500 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] [Bulk] Re: empathy > > Hello everyone > > On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 2:28 PM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > My heart is aching for the people in Japan. I don't get the hype from > > television, but I have been paying attention to events posted on the > > Internet, and it is all awful beyond words. It is so awful it is hard to > > believe it is really happening, yet I know it is. The question 'Why?' > > sticks in my throat and I choke. It is unbearably awful. > > Hi Marsha > > Like you I don't have cable tv so I've been following the unfolding > disaster in Japan via the Internet. What strikes me most is how > differently the Japanese culture handles such catastrophes as compared > to our own. > > Take the Katrina disaster in New Orleans as an example: Rather than > doing something to help themselves, most New Orleans residents > affected by the hurricane seemed to sit and wait, expecting someone > else (the government) to help them. There were surges in lootings and > crime. Bitchings and moanings were heard throughout the city: "why us, > why us". Still now, years later, many homes there are sitting empty > and a third of the city's residents are gone, relocated at government > expense and probably still living off government aid. > > In Japan, not so. Rather than sitting around waiting for help, the > residents are already busy cleaning and rebuilding their homes... even > elderly people. There are no reports of looting. No one taking > advantage of the situation for their own gain. They're helping one > another out in any way they can. One elderly couple when interviewed > said they were hurrying to clean and restore their own home so that > they could then help others do the same. No one is asking "why us, why > us". They are simply getting on with it. > > Why are there such differences? > > I think it may have something to do with how we in the West are > socially conditioned to the desire to possess value rather than > realizing that that is impossible... rather, value possesses us. It > struck me in my recent conversation with Ham (and in past > conversations with Platt) that the desire to possess value, the love > of money if you will, is indeed the source of all suffering. > > This is quite foreign to me personally. In the past I shrugged it off > as inconsequential... that most people didn't feel that way. But more > and more, I am seeing that our Western culture is infected far more > deeply with this sickness (and it is a sickness, though of social > significance rather than biological) than is the East. It is this > negative face of Quality that we tend to mistake for better. > > Thoughts? > > Dan > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
