For those who can't keep their mouth shut...even when their foot is out of it.
I am Therefore You Will
Published on September 9, 2005 By Heydre In Current Events
There's a pathology of entitlement that has infected our society and the symptoms of this disease have been laid bare after Hurricane Katrina. I can't pretend to argue where this pathology started but it's no revelation to say that the government officials we scorn have sprung from the same society of which we too have emerged.

Before and after the disaster, citizens of New Orleans leaned heavily on the incompetence of local officials while Nagin protested despite his own lack of inertia. Meanwhile the governor turned procastinately to the feds for logistical/financial assistance as they displayed their own lack of preparedness in reacting to an "unforeseen" circumstance.

What irks me most about this disaster was the widespread dependence of so many upon OTHERS for their OWN welfare. Citizens with an expectation of certain rescue and care while their Papa Mayor turned to their Mama Governor and together realized a mutually unfounded assurance that everything will be alright. Soon Mama Governor is found appealing at the feet of Grandpa Fed while he wags a finger at her and returns to his pipe and smoke rings.

As I see it, a hurricane blows through a town with well documented potentialities and everyone feigns incredulity when the levees break. Preparedness is lacking in most as water/food stashes are inadequate at every level from the home to the dome, evacuation vehicles are parked and supplies delayed, bureaucracy is in full swing, and our leader is in his own private Idaho.

Now I realize that any event of these proportions is far more complex than I portray it. But at the heart of this disaster beats an organ diseased by entitlement. An expectation of one's own well-being that's placed in the hands of another. Citizens who blindly depended on local authorities, state/local officials that hesitated and then deferred to federal authorities, and federal officeholders who felt entitled to distributing the playing pieces in the Blame Game.

After all of this what we are left with is shame. A shame that THOUSANDS can die over an inability to be accountable to ourselves which in turn is an accountability to all.

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