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September 19, 2005

Workplace Politics

The secretaries were gathered in the front of the office discussing the President's address to the nation. I was asked a couple of times if I had listened to it, to which I responded that I had not, with a shake of the head. "Why not!?"

Then political cartoon is produced, which depicts the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana dressed as gagged clowns with the President standing to the side saying, "Fine, then I will take responsibility." The clip was passed around, with the person that had brought it saying, "I just don't understand why everyone blames the President, it's clear to me that the Mayor is the one responsible for this whole thing."

I had to bite my tongue and walk away. I never cease to be confounded by what staunch religious republicans are willing to allow the President to get away with. I have already been accused of being "unpatriotic" for questioning the war, for the response to Hurricane Katrina. I am "ungodly" for disapproving of teaching "intelligent design" in science classes. I am both for agreeing with a recent federal court case which made the current form of the pledge of allegience unconstitutional for its inclusion of "under God."

I have read many articles posted by religious conservatives pointing out that recent court cases which have struck down the promotion of religion in schools (the evolution warning sticker on textbooks, the pledge of allegience, likely soon to include the teaching of intelligent design in science classrooms) are all indications of a LOSS of rights, not the protections of rights. That the fact that a minority that does not agree with religion must concede its right to the religious majority. That liberals are but a hop-skip-and-a-jump from communism and the loss of all rights.

It all seems to come back to fear. If you don't agree with me, then you are a threat. If you don't accept what the government says, you are unpatriotic. No one is out to decieve you. No one is keeping secrets from you. No one is forcing their view upon you.

My greatest arguments always flash to mind when I listen to co-workers and others discuss the government and religion. But I am finding myself saying less and less... it just seems like it does no good anyway.

Why point out that no city government on the planet could handle a natural catastrophe of such a scale. Why point out that police, fire, and rescue people in the city, the majority of whom have lost their homes and do not even know where their families may be much less be trapped themselves, worked their asses off in a chaotic calamity to the best of their ability. Why point out that fires cannot be put out when the fire engines cannot be reached in the fire stations through several feet of water, that the roads themselves are impassable to any rescue traffic.

Do I acknowledge that mistakes were made on the local level, absolutely. However, no local government is capable of outlasting a widespread catastrophe. No local government has the resources to protect all of its citizens, protect property, provide water/food/electricity/sewage/etc in a calamity of this widespread nature. People want to compare this to the World Trade Center... there is no comparison. Life, though disrupted and shattered in New York, went on when the towers fell, the city in and of itself was still capable of running... not belittling the feeling of loss of safety, nor loss of human life, nor even spiritual well-being. New Orleans was literally submerged. There is no terrorist threat responsible, there was no godly punishment involved. People lost their homes, their possessions, their daily life, and sometimes their own mortality. Each was a disaster, responded to in vastly different ways. One cannot expect the same plan to work in the other circumstance, it simply cannot.

Bleh, Im prattling too long on a moot point. One can only see what one wishes to open one's eyes to view.

Posted by Ravennacht at September 19, 2005 11:08 AM Posted to Daily Trivialities