poverty is your own problem

I feel opinionated on this issue.

Funner things next week, perhaps. I have this idea for a shark drawing I'm dying to finish.

A Brief Field Guide To Hurricane Responses.

Not art, but I wanted it here anyway.

I'm seeing a wide range of reactions from people to this entire event. I would like to present a short field guide to the most common types.

1. The Patriot seems to believe that criticizing the way things are being handled right now is tantamount to stabbing the victims in the back. I don't understand their thought process at all. To them, if people are criticizing the government or writing about how relief operation was screwed up, they are somehow "harming the rescue effort." In my opinion, if people have already donated and done what they could to help, to the exent of their abilities, criticism is not doing anyone any harm. If anything, it'll be doing good. The people who messed this up so horrifically badly need to get it across the face and HARD to ensure this never, ever, ever has to happen again, and that is the purpose civil, enlightened criticism serves. Now, if you haven't donated and you were financially able to, you can just shut the hell up.

2. The Survivalist is under the impression that the people of New Orleans should, nay, are REQUIRED to take up arms themselves to restore order in their city. By their logic, it is the fault of the masses hanging around the convention center that there are people shooting at rescue helicopters because they "let it happen." These people take that tough guy John Wayne view of the world, in which the badass with a gun can solve all problems and possibly cure cancer. This does not work in the real world. The mobs of people wandering around the city are hungry, tired, angry, and terrified. These are not people who are going to be using vast amounts of logic and restraint. They probably shouldn’t be wandering around with guns. And even if a totally lucid, responsible person decided to “do what the police will not,” who’s to say they’ll be in the area when one of the hoodlums decides to do something bad? It’s a lovely idea and absolutely untenable in real life.

3. The Badass is usually young and has aspirations of being cool and detached from the world. They’ve taken the disaster in a stride. “Who’s to say this is worse then any other human suffering? Pain is all relative!" they hiss as they file their black-painted nails. They make sneering criticisms of Americans at large. “Well, Americans barely gave a crap when all those people died in Thailand, but now we're whining like complete wusses! It's all the fault of those mini-van driving cow like soccer moms who will never be as cool and detached as me!"

Badasses sometimes overlap with the Survivalists and place the blame on the people for “staying when they could have left” and do the adult equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and going LA LA LA when it is mentioned that most of the people who stayed were unable to leave, due to either finances or health. I think Badasses are honestly under the impression that all those cancer patients and toddlers should have walked on out of town and it’s obviously all their fault that they did not. Badasses make sarcastic, off the cuff comments about how this is all such a “big fucking surprise, the government always sucks,” often as they drive on a government funded road or drink some clean government purified tap water. Most of these people need to be trapped in a slowly sinking house without water for four or five days. Somehow I doubt they will be missed.

4. The Race Baiter comes in two types - those on the side of the blacks, and those on the side of the whites. Those on the side of the blacks will claim that the sluggish relief effort was all an evil plot by George W. Bush to get rid of those Southerners who DIDN'T vote for him. The more moderate among them will still narrow their eyes at Bush and make comments about how he “hates black people.” They are into conspiracy theories and have been talking about Martin Luther King dying in vain a lot in the past few days.You may refer to Jesse Jackson and Kayne West. This group's rage is utterly understandable, but I can’t say it’s getting them anywhere.

On the other side of the coin, we encounter those on the side of white people. They make snide, snarky comments about how the blacks are trying to demonize the white male by taking advantage of an ugly situation. These people tend to use humor where it definitely does not belong, apparantly to make their whiny and self serving point. The white supporters rarely, if ever, are found to make comments regarding the actual disaster beyond “YEAH RIGHT WHITE PEOPLE SUCK WHATEVER YOU SAY.” They are most unpleasant. No one likes a whiner.

5. The Apologists are apologizing for everyone at the same time and wish that man why can’t we all just get along just stop the negativity. They never get anything done ever and you probably shouldn’t listen to them.

6. The Bush Basher, often a race baiter on the side of blacks, thinks Bush actually found a way to fathom up a killer hurricane and unleash it upon innocent people. Even if they don’t believe this, they are CERTAIN all this mess was intentional. They see Bush as the devil incarnate, and, in my opinion, attribute far more intelligence to him then he probably deserves. They come up with brilliant plans like the luminous “pay for your own boy” strategy seen below. They either didn’t vote in the last election or went for Nader. They are not very good at critical thinking.

7. The Mad As Hell is so fucking pissed off about all this godamn shit that they can’t fucking see straight. They think those cocksuckers who caused this disaster should just be fucking shot and strung up from trees, but they also think those whorehandle shiteaters who shot at the rescue helicopters should be strung up right with them. They’ve probably donated money and blood but just can’t fucking do anything else why the fuck am I so helpless fuck fuck fuck. They fly into vicious rages whenever they come into contact with one of the response types they don’t like. They use lots of cuss words in their entries and breathlessly update their livejournals whenever anything whatsoever happens.

8. The Hippie sure cares all right but it just rends their tiny, bird like little hearts in two to watch the media coverage. Therefore, they pay absolutely no attention and go busily about their lives. These are the same people who use the “I’m too sensitive” excuse to get out of caring about pretty much anything. I don’t like these people very much. They are impotent poof balls.

9. The Valley Girl (or boy) has to be told there has been a hurricane. Then you have to explain what hurricane means. Then you have to explain who the President is. Then you just stop caring and walk away. They will probably fall into manholes and die young, so they are not worth worrying about.

If you see any others, tell me about them. I'm 110 percent Mad As Hell with a slight smattering of Bush Basher.