The Shrine

So the reporters in New Orleans and other places are offering views and insight on to what is going on there. Do we really need to know what is going on there? Or should those reporters put down their microphones and cameras and actually DO something instead of acting like the invisible observer? I've heard numerous times "We've talked to people..." or "I've talked to some people..." well you know what? Talk is something that doesn't need to happen right now. Action is what changes thing. Talk just delays them. Should we be questioning every little move our government makes? Quite frankly if you've got a better plan of action (to the people on TV here, not anyone here.) march yourself down to the courthouse, get an application, campaign, and win a seat then the next natural disaster, I want to see you down with the people and not playing golf.

The government isn't absolved though. Where are the troops? Where is FEMA? Where is the red cross? Now, I know a lot of these places are simply in accessible by car, but still, you can comendere a couple helicopters, drop some doctors off with some supplies and treat some of the people.

Where there are A's for effort out there, the grade is probably around a D right now for what is getting done.

I'm watching CNN right now and a man is on right now talking about race and class. Jack Chafferty File, and he brings up a good point. Most of those people are poor black people. Why weren't they given the means to get out? Did the mass transit of NO just box up when they opened up 55 to all 4 lanes heading North bound? If people in the higher ups new that the hurricane would be a catagory 4 or 5, what happens in florida when a catagory one storm occurs near Tampa or Orlando? EVERYONE GETS THE FUCK OUT! Why didn't this happen in NO? Instead, people car-jacked school busses and drove to Houston after the storm. Why couldn't they get people on busses before the storm hit when a lot of people left? Essentially, why were these people left behind? Because they were poor? Because they were black? I'm a sickened.

I guess these are all the lessons we learn. Some of this no one would have seen coming. The levy's breaking. The pump system pretty much failed.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... Hunter.jpg

wow.

Where is FEMA? WP article on that: <a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... Destroying FEMA</a>

As for reporters not taking part, I understand what you're saying, but I think that their job is also probably necessary. We do need to know the extent of what is going on so that when issues like funding FEMA come up, we realize how important it is.

The impression I get is that the people who didn't leave New Orleans didn't have the means, or it was so difficult they decided to risk it. That definitely is an issue of class.

Oh, and people <i>did</i> see this coming: viewtopic.php?t=9617

Ray stressed that people need to get the fuck out, people were ignorant and cocky and they didn't listen. "We don't want to leave our homes, I went through the last hurricane, it won't be a problem." There are alot of poor people who couldn't afford to get out, but there are just alot of ignorant people who didn't feel like it was important.

And thus, Darwinism at work. I can't say I feel sorry for the people that were too lazy to leave town. If the mayor and governor is telling you that you need to leave the city, you NEED to LEAVE the fucking CITY! And for the people that left, I hope they can eventually rebuild their homes.

I also have to blame some of the engineers of the city for not seeing this coming. The city is TWENTY FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL! It's like a small bowl floating on the water with a big rock inside it. You can't even bury people below sea level without risking bodies popping out of the ground. If they were planning on building a city like that, they should have made the walls twice as high and twice as strong. The pumps were fucking 75 years old, and below sea level! Then again, hindsight is 20/20. We made the twin towers able to withstand a 747 hitting it, but lo and behold, here's a couple of 757 hitting the towers. It's just that it seems like New Orleans should have learned from the previous hurricanes how high/strong the levies should have been.

And Barret, I think your second post just destroyed the point of the first post. The reporters are there to suck you into this cool and tragic tale. Remember the news at 9/11? "Hey, let's show the plane hitting the towers over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again! Wow, isn't that tragic? Let's see it again in slow motion. See it at different angles. See it from a home camera. See it with advanced imaging." The 24/7 news stations fucking LOVE stories like these! It's like crack to them. It's their chance for reporters to stand tall against the elements and act like a hero, with the company logo emblazed on the bottom of the screen.

Forgive me for sounding blunt and playing the Devil's Advocate, but it seems that this is how I react to diasters like these. I feel sorry, but mostly for the human race, because this is when it acts its most hypocritical. I hate, no, detest jingoism in any form.

Kupek wrote:Where is FEMA? WP article on that: <a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... Destroying FEMA</a>

I'm actually starting to wonder if this presidential administration is doing damage to this country - global-reputation-wise, economically, and structurally - that won't be easily undone for quite sometime.

This presidential administration is a social experiment. A social experiment to see just how far the executive branch can go, and how much it can get away with it. So far, the test results are outstanding: it can get away with damn near anything, and the people will forget about it next week.

Honestly, I think the Prince of Darkness himself couldn't figure out more ways to fuck up a country.

Well, I dunno. I'm actually very serious about potentially bailing out and heading to Canada at some point. Vancouver seems like a good one to check...

Mental wrote:

Kupek wrote:Where is FEMA? WP article on that: <a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... Destroying FEMA</a>

I'm actually starting to wonder if this presidential administration is doing damage to this country - global-reputation-wise, economically, and structurally - that won't be easily undone for quite sometime.

You're only now starting to wonder this? When people like Moore and Franken stand up and say "HEY! THESE GUYS ARE FUCKING US UP, THIS IS HOW!" all anyone says is "stupid, crazy liberal nutjobs". Maybe if we actually sat back and thought about what these "liberal nutjobs" were saying rather than just dismissing them with no though AND actually took action (ie. not voted them back in), the damage could be minimized.

But that's just a crazy liberal nutjob talking.....

I don't mean for this to turn into a discussion on politics...but I suppose we can start another thread if it ends up getting hijacked.

My problem with Moore and Franken is that they have a remarkable ability to anger the hell out of the right. I believe there are better ways to get the information out there than presenting it in such a way that people who don't agree with it immediately clam up and become more resistant to accepting information of a similar nature.

My struggles with Seek notwithstanding, my experience is that people usually respond better to "Hey, I think changing this would result in a serious quality of life increase for q and z, and this is why" than "X is a big fat dumb idiot." You know the Franken book I'm talking about with reference to this.

Actually, I don't want this thread to turn into politics, and I'll probably split it at one point.

Mental wrote:Well, I dunno. I'm actually very serious about potentially bailing out and heading to Canada at some point. Vancouver seems like a good one to check...

Maybe me and you really can go fist to fist one day

I'll buy you a beer after.

You live in Vancouver?

Well, I'll take you up on that, if I ever do move up there.

If one of us doesn't KO the other after a good bit, I'll buy second round...

I remember the article linked earlier talked about how people think it'd just be another hurricane because we always report every one of them like some kind of impending doom so people get desensitized to it.

I talked to my mom and she said in Taiwan, when you get a typhoon, the reporters go to where the water is highest and then kneel down and say "OMG LOOK AT THE WATER IT'S FLOODED TO MY KNEES!" I got the feeling people figured it's just another one of those apolyptic natural disasters that ends up killing 2 guys but this one turned out to be the real thing. Perhaps if the media didn't cry wolf so much people would take them more seriously.

SineSwiper wrote:Actually, I don't want this thread to turn into politics, and I'll probably split it at one point.

Don't have to now....

And I'll refrain from any post that is related to politics in any which way in the future as it seems that most people here want nothing to do with it (or me discussing it)

Mental, also check out Montreal. UBISOFT is there, as are numerous smaller game developers.
Plus, the city just kicks ass. However, it's definately not as temperate as Vancouver. Not as much rain though.

Well, EA has an office in Vancouver, and I have to say for all that I'm tired of L.A., I am a big fan of the Left Coast. Good weather kicks ass - I also really do like rain, so that's not a big issue. Besides, if fortune smiles upon me in the next few years, I'd hope to be starting my own development company...