An Open Letter to New Orleans Residents

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Mana, you need to get over yourself a little because I wasn't exactly trying to put together a thorough argument. It was mainly meant in jest, but you've been a bit humorless lately so I understand your reaction.

In all seriousness, no one is mentioning that New Orleans isn't merely a area prone to disaster, BUT ITS BELOW SEA LEVEL. There is a difference between sticking it out an inviting disaster.

As for just moving? Plenty did right after Katrina. They took the government money, and left, opening businesses as far away as New Jersey that I know personally (best po boys ever). Thats the main reason why the 9th Ward is still a disaster area... no one came back to rebuild it. They were the smart ones, and more should have followed their example with that government check they received.

I'm finding it very difficult to sympathize when it happens again, and I certainly don't want my tax dollars invested in an area that dares God to destroy it by its moronic location alone.

I know it doesn't feel good to say that people are stubborn idiots for living in a an area that invites disaster. I know it doesn't feel good to say that people should either abandon it or fix it themselves because it is a frivilous waste of money to maintain. But feelings have nothing to do with it, and mother nature does.

Its called common sense.

I know your argument, you've made it before here and I've heard it before from several other people. And until you respond to my criticism of your argument, you're just repeating yourself.

Yes, I am mostly humorless on the subject of New Orleans and the rebuilding of the city. Your lack of care (and others like you who think it's such a simple answer) for a major and historic American city baffles me. And it's the same thinking that causes the federal government to drag its feet on supplying the money it agreed to supply.

What if this were New York City? Or what if it were your city that was destroyed by a failure of a federal levee system? Think you don't have any levees? If there is a river nearby, chances are there is a federal system of levees to help keep it from flooding the area. Now what would you do if the federal government failed to upkeep those levees and thus a storm that the levees were supposedly designed to protect against failed and left your town destroyed? TOO BAD, it was your moronic decision to build your city near a river! Just move somewhere else!

You say New Orleans is different because it's mostly below sea level, but the only difference is a higher risk. What risk is acceptable to you, then? Who gets to decide that?

The fact is New Orleans is able to be protected. And the cost of building a system of protection for New Orleans is a literal drop in the bucket, about $10 billion. The Dutch Delta Works cost an estimated 5 billion euros, about $10 billion. Compare that to any other system of levees across the United States, or the estimated $3 trillion by the Washington Post that the Iraq War will end up costing. Little wonder why people in New Orleans think the federal government doesn't care about its own people.

BOTTOM LINE: All the fucking jazz and shrimp in the world won't stop a city that is under sea level from flooding during a powerful hurricane.

This is simply not true (assuming you're being serious beyond the joke). Yes, some flooding will always happen, but building a protection system to keep disasters like Katrina from happening are easily possible.