I work at a very very large Hospital, with a lot of women.  You'd expect most of them to be very sympathetic and to be part of the "blame Bush" crowd regarding Katrina and the response.

WRONG!  90% of the people I work with, whether they are white or hispanic, male or female, professional or "menial" are saying the same thing:

"Screw them - most of those people are idiots for not leaving"

"Great, now my tax dollars get to support more of those ingrates on Welfare"

"Shoot those damn looters on sight.  Fucking scum"

"I'm sick and tired of hearing this bullshit about how it's all Bush's fault - he's doing the best he can to help out"

"I can't believe these people weren't prepared for this - they knew it could happen.  I don't have much sympathy for most of the people I see on TV."


Pretty interesting, I thought.

I work at a university.

When the looting started I said they needed to shoot the bastards.

Everyone looked at me like a lepper, thinking "there goes the gun nut again. Shooting people is his solution to everything."

Days have passed, and people have died because the rescuers couldn't rescue. They were too busy trying not to get shot to do anyone any good.

Now the authorities in the area are saying on national television that troops are on the way, and that they WILL "shoot the bastards".

And order will be restored.

Why?

The people at work, though they are good people, haven't the slightest clue about human nature WHATSOEVER, and have no idea how you deal with people like the looters.

They fail to understand what these looters are, what motivates them, and what sort of obstacle they present to helping innocent people. I DO understand. That's why I said "shoot the bastards".

It isn't because I like violence. It isn't because I get a woody when I think about people being killed. It is because in a situation like this I realize  that lots of innocent people are going to die if these looting thugs are not put down and put down quickly.

Further, I also understand that a lawless environment like this will produce far WORSE criminal behavior in these people when all this is over if we don't kill them now.

Thus we need to shoot the bastards. Shoot them now. Shoot them all.

Same story here.

Unlike the poor people who were wiped from the face of the earth by the Tsunami, these folks had advanced warning and ignored it.

That seems to be the general consensus with everybody I have talked to. I'm sure there are some good people that stayed in NO, but the news focus's on the scumbags only. It's hard to dig up much sympathy when all we are seeing are the worse side of people.

I keep hearing "Fuck those savages, I hope all of them die from disease" reffering to the bad guys.

Quoted: That seems to be the general consensus with everybody I have talked to. I'm sure there are some good people that stayed in NO, but the news focus's on the scumbags only. It's hard to dig up much sympathy when all we are seeing are the worse side of people.

That is also disturbing. To see people say "fuck em" when there are, in fact, a lot of decent people trapped down there just makes my blood boil. These people are lapping up the media account of things and are not even pausing to consider that there is a whole lot of stuff going on at once.

I'm an independent contractor (IT) working at home this week... alone.

Some of the arguements we're having are priceless  

The people I work with right now, including the Aussies, Malaysians and Southerners that haven't been able to get in touch with family in the affected areas, agree about the shooting looters.  They also agree that the people down there should have left.  I was even asked by one Aussie "If they knew this could happen, why didn't these people leave?"  Not all of them are poor.  Some tourists couldn't get flights out but a lot of stubborn people stayed also.  Those are the ones that are driving out now because they kept their cars on high ground.

I'm not worried about the tax dollars.  I'm from Texas and my state tax dollars are going to putting kids from these areas in schools and other things.  It's all part of helping your neighbors.  you never know when you might need that help.

I've constantly been barraged with compliments and questions about my 'survivalist' mentality.

Whereas, I used to be poked fun of for it, seems that my co-workers have had a change of heart and now wish to drink from the fountain.

alot of diverse people here saying the same thing...they ignored the warnings...idiots.

Even fats domino wanted to find his thrill by staying there...guess he got what he wanted.

Essayons

Work for a large law firm downtown.  You can imagine the responses from "certain quarters" of the office--.

Most people (right-minded folks) keep their opinions to themselves-they don't want to get into it with "certain quarters" of the office.  Too much drama and being labeled as racist.

The comments from "certain quarters" of the office don't directly blame Bush for the hurricane, but the so-called "slow" response.


I cannot stand some of my fellow employees.  

I am hearing the same exact things from the people I'm normally around.

In fact, I was even hearing that last night on a message board where many of the members are liberals. Even some of them were refering to the looters and troublemakers as "inner city scum" and "savages". I honestly didn't know what to think of these reactions. But I admit, I was a bit surprised.

It seems like most everyone is in agreement with us.

I work for a construction/engineering firm.

Most believe that those who got out were smart but those who stayed behind were caught off guard.

They think the mayor of NO and the governor are dunces.  

A few of the lefty women think that Bush should be blamed for not letting them build more levees.

I think the damn looters, gangs, and thugs should be taken out.

So do most people except the couple liberal women who say that they can't blame people for going around and shooting/raping/murdering people because they are tired, hot, thirsty, and hungry.

I wanted to say that I was tired from not sleeping well last night and hungry because I missed breakfast so I'm going to burn the building down (not the same situation though, but mindset is there).

Quoted: Quoted: That seems to be the general consensus with everybody I have talked to. I'm sure there are some good people that stayed in NO, but the news focus's on the scumbags only. It's hard to dig up much sympathy when all we are seeing are the worse side of people. That is also disturbing. To see people say "fuck em" when there are, in fact, a lot of decent people trapped down there just makes my blood boil. These people are lapping up the media account of things and are not even pausing to consider that there is a whole lot of stuff going on at once.

I guess we really shouldn't be surprised. Typical nightly news on a large scale. Show the bad side of everything so when the dust settles they can blame it on Bush and company.

Had this discussion just a few minutes ago.

I work in a rural area with two women.  They are caring types who express sympathy easily.

One said "why isn't the government doing more & why isn't the army helping?"

She watches CNN as a source for her info

Little if anything I said made any difference until I brought up the example of someone who needs dialysis or insulin.  My argument was "You know you have a life threatening medical condition.  You know a Cat 5 hurricane is barring down on you. What have you done to get yourself 100 miles away?  Now your in a situation where your complicating your own condition to the point where YOU are farther off the "need of rescue tier" because you may not be salvagable."

In terms of triage`, you have categorize those who you CAN help and those who are mortally and fatally wounded by their own inaction.  You cannot help someone who will not help themselves.



Folks, is anyone ready to call Darwin?  


Ya, I know I'm a cold hearted bastard, reality & adversity has made me this way.

I work in television.

As I was editing a recent 1/2 hour special for BET , I turned to the producer and asked him, what 's going on with the looting and all down there...what do you think?

Without pause he answered, " Look, those people are beat down, you can't blame someone for trying to move up in the world in a situation like that."



I said, "Yeah, I see what you mean, stealing a 42" plasma will REALLY help them raise their standard of living, huh? Not without stealing some new Nike's and Fubu jeans though!"

Quoted: Same story here. Unlike the poor people who were wiped from the face of the earth by the Tsunami, these folks had advanced warning and ignored it.

In the case of the tsunami the poor folks were still working folks supporting their families.  They were just fishermen not investment bankers.

In my place of work which is a shop environment the general concensus is they got caught in their welfare mentality and failed to take care of themselves because they were used to the gov't providing.

Most guys here are saying they could have evacuated but they chose not to.  The guys here at work have come up with many alternatives to using a car to evacuate.  These people just chose not to put that kind of effort into their own survival.

Kent

I work with a large number of Cambodians that escaped Pol Pot during the "Killing Fields" years.  One of them even hid out in the jungle several months after his parents were killed.  These people came to the U.S. with nothing and build good lives for themselves.  Similarly, I saw some Vietnamese people last night on the news in, I believe, Biloxi.  Their homes had been destroyed and they were picking though the wreckage (they evacuated during the storm).  One of the fellows interviewed seemed to have the attitude " I came here 30 years ago with nothing and built up a good life,  I have nothing again, but I'll make it like I did 30 years ago".  America needs more people like this.  They may be down now but they have hope and a desire to work to make dreams come true.  I not sure this trait exists with most people in N.O. we are seeing on the news.

Kent