NOTE: I have been, and will be, criticized for "politicizing" the naton's worst-ever natural disaster. But knowing how something happened, what made it worse, how it can be made better and how it might be prevented is the only way I know to make sense of things which are otherwise beyond comprehension. My prayers to all.
Everyone knows 9/11 was a turning point. (Picture from Tales from the Teapot.)
It changed attitudes irrevocably, in ways we're still trying to deal with four years on.
Hurricane Katrina is another turning point, a different turning point, and a much, much bigger event.
The terrorists destroyed two buildings, and the center of a city. Katrina destroyed multiple cities -- Slidell, Gulfport, Biloxi, New Orleans.
We knew after 9/11 it could happen again. Know this after Katrina. It WILL happen again, and again, and again.
The civilizing process of the 20th century, with its oil-driven economy, is now driving the global environment off a cliff. Most of the world knew this before Katrina. Now even Mississippi knows this.
And this will change us.
One of the most maddening aspects of the Katrina coverage, for me, has been MSNBC's continued emphasis on the Casinos as the engines of the Gulf Coast economy. We drive through that area every vacation, and I have taken to calling Mississippi "Pottersville," the town Bedford Falls became in the nighbmare sequence of "It's a Wonderful Life." And Louisiana has made itself into West Pottersville.
I'm not talking about sin here. I'm talking about depending on something that's artificial, fake, phony, as the basis of an economy. Pretending that you'll get rich off others' sin, that the residue won't touch you, and you can then say "screw you" to the needs of the poor, to education, to your fellow man, to the real world, that always fails in time.
It is time for an attitude adjustment.
Stop pretending Ronald Reagan was a Great Man. Jimmy Carter was. He was a prophet, who tried to warn us. But we chose Reaganism. We chose a policy The Onion described as "kill them all." (Image from Flickr user Melinda.)
And what do we have? We have SUVs, global warming, Iraq, and rampant hypocrisy. We have the same people who cut hurricane relief out of next year's budget strutting around, posing for photo ops, while cities lay in waste and help is said to be weeks away.
What must we do? Getting off our high horse is just a start.
But I have a little list going, to which your additions may be welcome:
No matter how big the political earthquake you think may be coming, it's nothing compared to the inner changes, economic changes, and social changes that must begin now.
We can hang together or we shall surely hang separately. Benjamin Franklin was referring to 13 states. Now it means the World.