. . . in the aftermath

The Washington Times ^ | 9-9-05 | R. Emmett Tyrrell

[JZelle]

Modern broadcast media stars take prodigious pride in the speed with which they can communicate to the masses. Of course, these artistes remain utterly oblivious of the poisonous concomitant of that speed, namely, the media's almost inane superficiality. Discovering the cause of the New Orleans tragedy will take months, perhaps years. In reading "In Command of History," a brilliant history soon to be published here of Winston Churchill's efforts to write his monumental history of World War II, I have been struck by the differing explanations of great events historians accumulate after an event. Doubtless, many explanations will accumulate in the New Orleans tragedy's aftermath. One thing historians will note for a certitude is that recriminations by public officials came in almost faster than aid and rescue relief -- and certainly in greater abundance. This is a consequence of modern mass media. Instantaneous communication with the nation's millions of television screens and radios by media prodigies who have no greater talent or imperative than gabbing ensured the roar of recrimination that has almost overshadowed the other themes accompanying this tragedy, for instance the nation's charity and the military's efficiency. In time, historians will adjudge whether the president was slow or ineffectual in responding, along with the possible failures of the governor, the mayor and the local police, hundreds of whom deserted. Some were found driving their police cars through Florida. The Florida troopers who pulled them over thought they were thieves who had stolen the cops' vehicles. Is there any instance of such dereliction of duty by local police on this scale in all of American history?

[bkepley]

In time, historians will adjudge whether the president was slow or ineffectual in responding,

Historians like Douglass Brinkley?

[Pessimist]

"More properly understood, these victims are members of society's underclass, a chronically disorganized collection of wretched people incapable of governing themselves and difficult to govern in the best of times:"

Well worded and correct.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" Historians like Douglass Brinkley? "

Brinkley was Sean Penn's boatswains mate on the ill fated launch of the SS Moron.
That alone should extinguish what teeny credibility Brinkley might have had.

[1035rep]

"The mayor's and the governor's incompetent responses to a hurricane that the federal government warned would be catastrophic should serve as a reminder that lax government is not always amusing."