Louisiana is drowning

Probably lots of people in Louisiana who complain about big government are gonna be pretty damn happy that big government got involved in this disaster.

 

Don't be so naive. When people like that get help from the government, it's not help, it's what they deserve for being them. Shoulda been more, too, if it hadn't gone to other people.

 

Keep your damn government hands off my disaster relief !!!!1!!eleventy!!!

 

Might be better in the golf thread?

 

I've seen more than a few complaints that the flooding in Louisiana isn't getting the sort of attention and coverage from the media that it deserves.

It's the big story in the region that's affected. But floods, even big ones don't seem to sway the news cycle much unless there's something especially dramatic (especially visually) about them.

The Google news feed might not be the best scale to use, but I notice that there's nothing there in the U.S. section and only minor mention in the Elections section.

The same seems true for the California wildfires. There might be some perception by the general public that, if you're going to live in California, you might as well assume that it's going to burn or, if you're going to live in Louisiana, you might as well expect it to flood. It seems to take a lot to break out of that mold.

In my cranky geezer moments, I tend to point to the decreasing influence of well-trained and experienced news editors and producers as a culprit in what I often regard as the flawed news judgement of what if offered through the internet and over the airwaves, but I'm sure that it's far more complicated than that.

Nevertheless, if I had time to compile and analyze the coverage of what folks are offered, I wouldn't be surprised of the political wrangling over the floods might be the dominant theme. That might be especially true because the presidential election is looming, but part of me thinks the battle to score political points would reign even if the general election were years away.

 

The rule of disaster coverage seems to be that they get the most coverage when things are getting worse, when the fire is spreading, the water rising, or the hurricane is about to hit shore. When the awful aftermath begins, much of the media charges off to the next thing.

 

Those of us in flyover country are used to our disasters not getting huge coverage on a national scale. We've seen it time and time again.

NYC gets a foot of snow and it's wall-to-wall coverage on the 24/7s. Some place in the heartland gets 10-feet of flooding and it's a blip - especially when it happens during the Olympics, election season and August vacation season.

 

Has Washington DC rebuilt after their earthquake?

 

Don't forget there's an entire cable network, the Weather Channel, specifically devoted to such disasters, where they get constant coverage as they are going on. Just as ABC dropped almost all sports because they have ESPN, the cable news nets assume the Weather Channel's on the case. It's on just about every cable system, and has a relatively large audience -- larger than MSNBC's, I'll bet.

 

I went down yesterday with a group of about 30 of our football players and some of our coaches to help with cleanup at St. Amant (about 20 miles south of BR), and I can tell you, it's worse than anything that's been portrayed in the media. Everywhere you go, there are piles of debris, some 6 feet high, that constitutes what's left of their lives. Hell, there is still standing water in a few places.

We spent a couple of hours at one of the fire stations, ripping out sheetrock and insulation, and I was talking to one of the firemen. He said he was on duty for 11 days straight, finally got a day off on Tuesday. He had some true horror stories. He was in a boat doing rescue when he heard some gunfire nearby. Turned out a homeowner had shot and killed his wife and son, then turned the gun on himself. He thinks the guy just got overwhelmed and gave up.

We worked at another house where they'd had 5 feet of water, and they had to completely gut the house. They had to throw away everything they owned: beds, appliances, furniture, even their bathtub, and they had pull out the sheetrock & insulation up to 6 feet, all the way to the studs. It was real sobering.

But I was really proud of our guys. They just jumped right in and started helping out without being told where to go and what to do. They worked their butts off, and I didn't hear any bitching from anyone. And the people down there were extremely grateful that we were there. But much more is needed.

And I do want to make one comment about the president. I don't know whether waiting until Tuesday to go down there was the right move, or whether he should have gone down earlier. I'm glad he went. But he damn sure should have stayed off the fucking golf course. It looked bad by anyone's measure for him to be teeing off while people were suffering like they were. Unlike most of his harsher critics, I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt in a lot of things, but that was inexcusable.

 

A state senator is backtracking after getting pilloried on social media for suggesting Cajun Navy people should have to register with the state and buy a permit to go rescue flood victims.

State senator clarifies position on Cajun Navy