Worry Your Pretty Little Head About the World
Something that's been rightly taken to task by the liberal blogosphere is the idea that the people of the Mississippi Delta hardest hit by the hurricane (a) somehow had it coming, (b) certainly don't deserve help from the rest of us, and/or (c) are basically unworthy anyway.
Although I must say that people shooting at evacuation helicopters are not at all challenging the logic of (c), I'm always amazed at the thought process that would blame the victims of a situation like this, until I remember that victims of injustice are nearly always blamed, no matter what the situation. It's common for people to assign a moral component to a perceived failure -- it's a defense mechanism for their consciences, their worldviews, and their pocketbooks. At its basis is the totally understandable unwillingness to believe that bad things (often very, very bad things) can happen to absolutely anyone -- looters, thugs, hardworking families, office workers in high-rises. And if "failure" to put a plastic bubble around one's living space to protect it from Lake Pontchartrain is a moral "failure," then we don't need to feel badly about it, offer help to people who've experienced it, or imagine something like that happening to us.
Because if we imagine it happening to us, it might be too much for us to bear. And then we might become the kind of person who spends money, or vacation days, or house room to help people in need -- good people and bad.
It's might be cheaper the other way. But somehow I doubt that it makes us richer.
Word Count: 24,765 (+0). For some reason, I couldn't keep my mind on it.
Although I must say that people shooting at evacuation helicopters are not at all challenging the logic of (c), I'm always amazed at the thought process that would blame the victims of a situation like this, until I remember that victims of injustice are nearly always blamed, no matter what the situation. It's common for people to assign a moral component to a perceived failure -- it's a defense mechanism for their consciences, their worldviews, and their pocketbooks. At its basis is the totally understandable unwillingness to believe that bad things (often very, very bad things) can happen to absolutely anyone -- looters, thugs, hardworking families, office workers in high-rises. And if "failure" to put a plastic bubble around one's living space to protect it from Lake Pontchartrain is a moral "failure," then we don't need to feel badly about it, offer help to people who've experienced it, or imagine something like that happening to us.
Because if we imagine it happening to us, it might be too much for us to bear. And then we might become the kind of person who spends money, or vacation days, or house room to help people in need -- good people and bad.
It's might be cheaper the other way. But somehow I doubt that it makes us richer.
Word Count: 24,765 (+0). For some reason, I couldn't keep my mind on it.
posted by kathy monahan at 10:16 AM
1 Comments:
Your thoughts on the excuses some people give for another person's bad "luck" is so true. We must all learn to walk a mile in the "shoes" of someone else to truly understand their plight. In the meantime, thoughtful people will dig-in and do what they can to help those most in need, and thereby define who they truly are.
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