Comments on: Left Behind - the true story http://iswhatido.org/2005/09/06/left-behind-the-true-story/ like it says Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:09:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: richard http://iswhatido.org/2005/09/06/left-behind-the-true-story/#comment-14 richard Tue, 06 Sep 2005 18:23:38 +0000 http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/09/06/left-behind-the-true-story/#comment-14 Bill, I hope that you're right about seeing the previously invisible. We also have to be wary of how we are seeing them; a lot of the media attention has been presenting them as scofflaws, thugs, or worse. Many news accounts about how people refused to leave, or stayed behind to collect their welfare checks, fall into the "blaming the victim" category. Desperate people morph pretty readily into desperados, and our law-and-order society isn't ready to make fine distinctions. I found your reference to Fussell's book fascinating, especially his definition of a Top out-of-site class. That's another one that needs to be made visible. In fact, that may be more important than removing the cloak of invisibility from the Bottom out-of-site. The phantoms at the top are true outlaws, stealing billions from the public treasury, destroying the environment, corrupting the political process, and manipulating public discourse to cynical ends. And it's going to take something more unexpected and more powerful than a category 4 hurricane to blow their cover. Richard Bill, I hope that you’re right about seeing the previously invisible. We also have to be wary of how we are seeing them; a lot of the media attention has been presenting them as scofflaws, thugs, or worse. Many news accounts about how people refused to leave, or stayed behind to collect their welfare checks, fall into the “blaming the victim” category. Desperate people morph pretty readily into desperados, and our law-and-order society isn’t ready to make fine distinctions.

I found your reference to Fussell’s book fascinating, especially his definition of a Top out-of-site class. That’s another one that needs to be made visible. In fact, that may be more important than removing the cloak of invisibility from the Bottom out-of-site. The phantoms at the top are true outlaws, stealing billions from the public treasury, destroying the environment, corrupting the political process, and manipulating public discourse to cynical ends. And it’s going to take something more unexpected and more powerful than a category 4 hurricane to blow their cover.

Richard

]]> By: bill http://iswhatido.org/2005/09/06/left-behind-the-true-story/#comment-13 bill Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:13:39 +0000 http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/09/06/left-behind-the-true-story/#comment-13 Richard, Sunday afternoon, at a meeting to plan support strategies, someone told about the reaction of a little boy who was among those transferred from New Orleans' Superdome to the Dallas convention center. As workers were handing out clothes and essentials to the families there, the little boy said “this is more t-shirts than I ever had.� Just how many new t-shirts do you think he was given, that would number more than he had at home? Four? Three? Or just Two? As overwhelmingly generous as we are now, most of us will have gone on to other interests, several weeks from now, when many of these folk have their immediate needs met but must begin putting their lives back together. As you pointed out, Disaster Relief programs really have no provisions for the poor who had nothing to be rebuilt and now, as before, lack the tools to build a life from scratch. We can learn a lot while responding to this disaster. One person, of a discussion panel on PBS' News Hour, remarked that this disaster made visible (I think “stark relief� were her words) the invisible poor. This reminded me of the description that Paul Fussell uses in his book “Class: A guide Through the American Status System.� Fussell identifies 9 classes which include, on the very top, the Top out-of-site. And on the bottom, the Bottom out-of-site. The second level up is the Destitute. We are now seeing people who were previously invisible. bill Richard,
Sunday afternoon, at a meeting to plan support strategies, someone told about the reaction of a little boy who was among those transferred from New Orleans’ Superdome to the Dallas convention center. As workers were handing out clothes and essentials to the families there, the little boy said “this is more t-shirts than I ever had.â€? Just how many new t-shirts do you think he was given, that would number more than he had at home? Four? Three? Or just Two?

As overwhelmingly generous as we are now, most of us will have gone on to other interests, several weeks from now, when many of these folk have their immediate needs met but must begin putting their lives back together. As you pointed out, Disaster Relief programs really have no provisions for the poor who had nothing to be rebuilt and now, as before, lack the tools to build a life from scratch.

We can learn a lot while responding to this disaster. One person, of a discussion panel on PBS’ News Hour, remarked that this disaster made visible (I think “stark reliefâ€? were her words) the invisible poor. This reminded me of the description that Paul Fussell uses in his book “Class: A guide Through the American Status System.â€? Fussell identifies 9 classes which include, on the very top, the Top out-of-site. And on the bottom, the Bottom out-of-site. The second level up is the Destitute. We are now seeing people who were previously invisible.
bill

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