Are we truly so jaded?

Are we truly so jaded that we would slap away a hand of support offered in the spirit of international solidarity? I have witnessed something that I never thought I would see, a post on ATSNN in the spirit of international support and condemnation of politics over lives was voted down over nationalistic pride in a government that has failed the millions of americans affected by hurrricane katrina.
A veteran British member of ATS has tried to reach out to people and show his support in his disgust for the partisan and petty way one of the single greatest AVOIDABLE tragedies in american history was handled. He even went as far as to provide fair and accurate criticism of his own and groups around the world's misbehavior and petty attacks on the eve of a tragedy for all human kind.
The response was jarring, fellow citizens of those who were lost to this tragedy have slapped away his hand of friendship crying bias and rationalizing an unforgiveable situation in a misplaced sense of nationalistic pride. Don't get me wrong I love my country and would bleed and die for the values we profess to espouse. However, no amount of pride will let me forget the 5 days we left some of the poorest people in our nation to fend for themselves in a situation that is, lets face it, unthinkable for you and I sitting warm, dry, and with at least a days worth of food in front of our monitors.
I will not however break TOS by posting the thread where this happened, or out those callous enough to make these replies. Instead I will ask the simple question.

Have we fallen this far? are America and Americans truly selfish enough to truly feel this way? Have we forgotten how many offers of instantaneous aid and rescuers poured from nations so much less fortunate than our own that were REJECTED because of some petty bureaucrats SECURITY CONCERNS?

Edit: For those of you that know me you will know that ordinarilly I read much, but post little. My mounting frustration and the utter insanity I have witnessed through news and personal accounts have finally inspired me to become more vocal. If I offended you please take a minute and consider why I offended you. I have no objections to constructive criticism or just an outpouring of your own grief. This entire thread is borne out of the utter heart ache and personal tears this has caused me to shed and the continued callousness of some towards the plight of others.

thank you for taking the time to read,

Sugarlump

[edit on 5-9-2005 by Sugarlump]

Jaded? Not sure, but I can say this. I am viewing ignorance in a whole new light on this glorious Labor Day.

But as I said in the the thread you are referring to, I am sitting here wondering why an open letter to the entire world with a lot of good points and hard questions invokes such defensiveness from only a few of my fellow Americans, and none of the other countries that were addressed.

Jaded?, yes I would say a great amount of people are nowadays.
It is very sad, that people would actually place blame on those that our suffering and have lost everything, how is it the little 7 year old boys fault, that he was gang-raped beaten and died?
(Which by the way broke my heart when I heard about it.)

Its sad, but the situation of people placing nation prode above the suffering of others and the general over all mindset and reaction of these people, and of the government, really does'nt surprise me,
Nor does the fact that so much tragedy and loss of human life could have been prevented, but was'nt.

If that kind of attitude is what being an American is, well than, I'm ashamed to call myself an American.

I concur and agree fully with Sugarlump on this.

The thing is americans nowerdays are not critical enough anymore, not critical of their goverment and not critical about their way of life.

A government is needed which sets the priorities straight otherwise its gonna have big consequences not only for americans but for the world also.

Originally posted by Sugarlump
the 5 days we left some of the poorest people in our
nation to fend for themselves

What exactly would you have done differently?

(not a smarta$$ question. I'm inviting response to
how things could have been done better)

Example - the 'emergency evacuation plan' that the governor had
was obviously inadequate. When the state told people to 'get out'
.... there should have been mass transportation available for
those who couldn't. (tran, bus, whatever).

The evacuation plan (if there was one), stunk.

But there also is the fact that MANY people refused to go.
These weren't left to fend for themselves. They are still
refusing to leave. Education to help people understand to
leave is vital.

BTW - slightly off topic but here goes ...

.... the snipers who are shooting at the doctors and
nurses as they evacuate ill people ... and the snipers who
are shooting at police ... and the snipers who are shooting
at engineers as they try to fix the levy .... they are just as
bad as the terrorist insurgents in Iraq. Both the insurgents
and the snipers in Louisiana WANT chaos so that they can
have power and control over certain areas.

It's best not to lump yourself as well as me into the 'we' group...As this country is already divided... no left/right, but rather in an ignorant frame of mind and awake and concerned.



[edit on 5-9-2005 by TrueLies]

why does the country need to be divided in sitautions like this...isnt the problem bad enough, is there really a need to sump politics in it ?