Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

[Teresa <ttbrader AT mindspring.com>]

I do believe what you say is true to an extent.  I am very disappointed in the mayor and police chief for this.  Perhaps the stress was getting to them at the time or this was their way of getting help -- I don't know.  I really can't and don't want to excuse it.

But there were other things that were reported that seemed to come from the 'people on the streets' and not from any officials -- things that were disseminated before the police chief talked to Oprah etc.  I heard these reports on CNN or MSNBC (when our local station gave its feed over to the national news outlets late at night) from their own reporters (who didn't give sources) and that was before the city officials had spoken on these things. 

With the statement you quoted from me, I was referring to other things I'd read and learned earlier than what I read in this latest article -- which, of course, you could not have known.  I have no articles to quote to back this up, so I understand if that might be taken with a grain of salt.

I know I chose to answer you on list, but this is all I will have to say on the matter.  I figure the more people who know the truth (as far as the truth can be discerned, that is) about the situation itself, the better -- which is the only reason I wanted to dispute the comparison of this situation to LitR by the New Yorker.  If anything, the situation reminds me of Jose Saramago's novel Blindness.

Teresa

Tommy Armstrong wrote:

I find it very heartening that what was reported was false. It was really difficult for me to fathom that that level of violence was being allowed to happen within the dome and converntion center--or that such a large number of people were actually involved.

 

But your comment:

" most of the violence that was reported happening in New Orleans by the national media after Hurricane Katrina never happened." ..."They were just reporting what they heard on the street and not following up on it."

 

I think is a bit too accusatory of the national media--after all their sources for much of this seem to be the Chief of Police and the Mayor and other ranking officials. In most circumstances, one would think them to be pretty reliable sources, especially when it paints a bad picture instead of a good one about their citizens, which would normally be the case. The way I read the article, the promulgation of rumor by the two highest local officials caused much suffering to those evacuees and prevented help from getting to them faster because of security reasons. If I interpreted it wrongly, let me know off list.