My gorge rises.

[flewellyn]

Disasters like Hurricane Katrina can bring out the best in humanity. Apparently, they can also bring out the worst.

I found this on the blogosphere, on the blog of an Objectivist (big surprise). I cannot believe these people dare call themselves human.

“It seems to me that the poor should have had the EASIEST time leaving. They don't need to pay for an extended leave from their home, they could have just packed a few belongings and walked away to start over somewhere else. What did they have to lose?

When the wealthy evacuate, they leave behind nice houses, expensive cars, possibly pets that they treat as members of the family, valuable jewelry, family heirlooms, etc. This makes it emotionally difficult for wealthy people to leave. But by definition, the poor do not have this burden: they either rent their homes, or they are in public housing; their cars are practically junk anyway; and they don't have any valuable possessions. This is what it means to be poor. These people could just pick up their few belongings, buy a one-way bus ticket to any city and be poor there. Supposing they even had jobs in NO, it's not like minimum wage jobs are hard to come by.”

link

Edit: I should point out that the above is a comment in that blog, not by the blogger herself. I don't know what that says about her regular readers, though, since such comments were not rare...

Comments

[dcayn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ok. The wealthy leave behind all their fancy cars, their overpriced paintings of flowers, and their stupid miniature figurines lined on the shelves of their overpriced display units, but did they even appreciate the value of those things? My guess is probably not. All too many rich people take for granted the nice things they have. Many of them are born into money and never had to work for what they have.

The poor work ten times harder for their belongings and have ten times less to show for it, but are just happy they have the things they need to survive. It is the poor who will have to work twenty times harder to gain even a shred of what they once had, but it will never be the same. Yes, they have the chance for regrowth, but for many of them it has taken their entire lives to get where they were before Katrina deprived them of it.

Don't get me wrong, there are many wealthy people who have worked very hard for their money; my mother being one of them. What matters is the appreciation of the lifestyle they have been afforded. I'm touched by the outpouring of people doing kind things like donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to charter a plane and evacuate those left with nothing to homes waiting for them to give them a fresh start in a new place.

The wealthy are given a bad name by those that throw their weight and wallet around, but they're saved by the kindness of those that do something worthwhile with what they have; they make a difference.

I had a lot more to say in continuation of my thoughts, but my little mite has awoken and it's time to go be the richest person alive.. to be a momma.