Fractionals

Wow. That's a pretty disturbing list.

I've experienced a few of those things out of cheapness, but fortunately never out of poverty.

But, I still don't understand why most of the poor people in New Orleans didn't just walk to safety before the hurricane struck. So I guess I haven't learned the lesson he's trying to teach afterall....

I'm confused - where would they have walked to?

Well, Baton Rouge is only four days away on foot, assuming a standard infantry march; less under a forced march.

But even if they had just climbed out of the New Orleans "bowl" prior to the flooding, they would have been much better off. None of this roof-rescue foolishness would have been necessary, for example.

Heck, I don't even understand why anyone would choose to live below sea level in the first place.

What's in Baton Rouge? What makes you think untrained civilians can pull off a standard infantry march? Who told them to start walking four days ahead of time? If they'd started walking when the storm hit, how far would they have gotten?

Are poor/undereducated people less likely to be informed? More likely to be misinformed? More likely to be superstitious? Are they likely to have larger, harder to transport families? More infants and elderly family members living with them? What effect might these factors have had on their decisions?

Who abandons everything they own and everything they know and walks four days? Who should be expected to? When the government evacuates a city, don't they have some sort of minimal responsability to provide transport for that that don't have it (I know you don't agree with government, but that's not germane to this issue)?

Was New Orleans founded when we know as much about weather and water and so on as we do now? Was it located where it is because of economic necessity? Will it be rebuilt in the same location due to economic necessity? Does our culture, our economy no longer need trade? What was the fifth largest port in the world? Was it below sea level on a whim? Do we always get to choose where we live?

Why are you trying to make such a complex and baffling issue, which ultimately rests on human nature/psychology/etc, into such a simple, black and white thing? Are you saying anyone who didn't get out of the city (or at least those who don't that fall under the circumstances you talk about) doesn't now deserve help? Do you not understand that US politicans have consistently talked about these people as if they were capable of jumping into a car and driving elsewhere? Do you not understand how insulting and humiliating that is?

Also, this by John Scalzi from waaaaay down in the comments to the post I linked to:

I think you've misdiagnosed the aim of this entry. It's not designed to be a pityfest to make the poor feel better about themselves for being poor, or to foment some sort of class struggle, or to be used as a reason for the poor not to attempt to better themselves, or to be some guilty liberal apologia from a middle-class white guy. It's simply meant to evoke some of what it's like to be poor in this country, based on some personal experiences and the experiences of people I know. For various reasons, I thought it to be necessary at this point in time.

Having said that, it's been my observation that people seem to take out of it what they put into it. If you get out of it a liberal patronizing of the pitiful poor, allow me to suggest that says as much about your perspective as you attempt to make it say about my own, and possibly more.

If I were living in a place that, in all likelihood, was about to become uninhabitable, I would leave. If I had a car, I would leave by car. If I didn't have a car, I would leave by some other means. In the worst case, I would leave on foot. That is what I would do, and that is why I wonder why others did not.

I'm not trying to say anything else.

In the worst case, I would leave on foot.

I'm calling bullshit. Who are you, Noah?

Seriously. Obviously, Dan has never attempted to walk in an American city (leaving out places like NYC where a car is actually a liability). Many places are very unsafe for pedestrians (no designated crosswalks, etc.) and lots of places don't have sidewalks at all. New Orleans has water on three sides and highways leading out. You can be a pedestrian on a highway, but only if you want to die/get arrested.

By the time the evacuation order was given, rain was already pouring down because of the storm's size - the outer bands of rain hit well in advance of the hurricane-force winds. Not to mention the 35-degree temperatures and 100% humidity.

Plus, have you not read that a great many of the victims who stayed in the city were the elderly and disabled, who can't walk to the bathroom, let alone Baton Rouge?

Oh yes, and Greyhound shut down bus service in and out of New Orleans on Saturday, two days before the worst of the hurricane hit (and, I believe, even before the mandatory evacuation announcement was given, although correct me if I'm wrong on that), and the train tracks (with what little passenger service they have in the USA - if you think Via Rail's bare bones, try riding Amtrak somewhere) run across the levees. Once officials close the floodgates across the levees, which was, again, done before the storm hit, ain't no trains going in or out.

So tell us, Dan, if you're too poor to have a car, there's no bus or train service (and you probably couldn't get to the depot anyway if you lived where a lot of these people did), and you're too old/sick/handicapped/sane to try and walk far enough inland to escape, just how the fuck are you supposed to leave the city? Last time I checked, people didn't have wings.

Last time I checked, people didn't have wings.

Next time, we'll airdrop Red Bull.

Happyyyy Thanksgiving!!!!