Friday, September 02, 2005

Perception: Thinking about Katrina

Ok. The media coverage of what's happening in New Orleans is completely sensationalized. I mean to the point of it being a blockbuster movie. As a matter of fact, I don't think that I've seen this much media coverage since the sniper shootings in DC. What is most interesting is that Hurricane Katrina hit a major city. This is not often seen. Storms like this usually hit small communities in the Southeast or the Midwest. Larger towns and cities are usually on the viewing end of the storm. This storm affected a large segment of New Orleans poor and disenfranchised residence. They are largely African American, but the media refers to them as "refugees."

Now, I know that the definition for refugee refers to people fleeing their home from danger or natural disaster; this is what is happening. However, I have never heard the media refer to anyone here in the United States as refugees. Is it because they are of African descent? Perhaps they resemble their African brothers and sisters fleeing Rawanda or the Sudan. I don't know, but I found it peculiar. The media is also focused on the "looting" and the unlawlessness. Guess what, hunger, uncertainty and desperation will bring out things in human nature that some of us could never imagine. So, please don't judge these people because we are not in their situation right now.

Furthermore, most of us could never imagine being in that predicament. We must also look at the fact that there are bad people out there no matter the color. No, it is not right that some people are stealing things just because it's there, but they don't represent the many thousands that are not. The media is going to focus on them because they bring the most excitement and sensationalism to an otherwise dreary Thursday night news report. Overall, I think that if we empathized with the people involved then we could better understand why "some" of them are doing what they are doing. It's called survival. Some of them were already on the verge of being homeless and now their worst fears are reality. Well, I've said my 2 cent. Have a safe holiday weekend. Peace~

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

great blog!

Stephen A. Bess said...

Thanks! It looks like relief efforts are underway and people are becoming more aware of what America wasn't doing to help Americans...yes Americans in New Orleans.

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