Posted on 05/13/2015 10:26:10 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A consequence of America growing more secularist, by which I mean more materialistic, is clear in public reactions by secular sophisticates after the crash of Amtrak 188 in Philadelphia.
The dead had yet to be confirmed, the injured were still trapped in smashed train cars, but partisans steering the news narrative griped about “infrastructure” and lectured about “funding.” They blamed Tuesday night's calamity on Republicans, though investigators said speeding into a curve at 106 m.p.h. likely caused the crash. (Maybe the engineer is a Republican.)
Two hours after the crash, as aerial shots of the tangled disaster scrolled on social media, the Atlantic — mental mecca for materialistic eggheads — posted an article via the National Journal, titled “Where Did Amtrak Go Wrong?” The long-winded piece posed a question: “Why can't America have great trains?”
Against wrenching scenes of bloodied and dazed passengers, high-minded readers of the Atlantic engaged in bloodless, academic argument about “lack of infrastructure investments,” blaming “capitalism … selfishness … greed …" and expressed disgust about America's lack of “high-speed rail.”
It didn't matter that somewhere within the train wreckage lay the body of Jim Gaines, 47, of the Associated Press news service, who leaves behind a son, 16, and a daughter, 11. Also killed was Justin Zemser, 20, a Navy midshipman, who was riding the New York-bound train home to see his family.
Some of us non-secularists saw the twisted metal and overturned cars and were saddened and heartsick at the certain suffering of the families of those killed. Others saw what we saw, but seized it as an opportunity to mount their favorite political hobby horse — America’s “crumbling infrastructure.”
Philadelphia magazine, after briefly acknowledging that people had died, quickly got to the meat of its post: “Still, (Tuesday) night’s crash has ignited a debate on social media and elsewhere about America’s crumbling infrastructure.”
The Washington Post weighed in: “Although the cause of Tuesday’s derailment was still undetermined, the answer has a lot to do with the United States’ crumbling transportation infrastructure … ”
The New York Times: “The Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington, is one of the railroad’s busiest and most profitable lines. But officials have long complained that the agency needs more subsidies from Congress to improve the railroad’s deteriorating infrastructure and replace aging equipment.”
A headline at the progressive social media web site ThinkProgress: “Why You Can’t talk About the Amtrak Derailment Without Talking About Our Infrastructure Crisis.”
Politico, helmed by policy geniuses in D.C.: “The fatal accident is likely to heavily influence an ongoing safety and funding debate in Washington that has been influenced by two major factors — a recent flurry of major passenger rail accidents and a push by fiscal conservatives to further trim spending.”
That U.S. rail accidents have been declining since 2006 as safety has improved doesn't seem to matter.
What matters is policy and regulation. When disasters strike, we Americans must seek answers in the technocratic and the administrative. “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” is the creed of the materialistic. Train wrecks, tornadoes, hurricanes, "super storms," plane crashes — in every crisis, our first instinct should be to appeal to the state for help.
Tuesday night, amid the hand-wringing over inadequate government funding for Amtrak and breathy denunciations of Republicans, one Tweet from the crash site stood out. It came from former Democratic Bucks County Congressman Patrick Murphy, who was aboard the train when it wrecked.
After tweeting several nightmarish pics from inside the smashed and slanting café car, he tapped out, “Pray for the injured.”
Discussions of hapless government policy can wait.
“NEVER let a crisis go to waste.”....
Did anyone ask if he is a Muslim? (Just another connection possibility)
Since the engineer was a black fag, it’s unlikely he was a Republican.
Unless it’s a “Bruce Jenner” Republican.
My mistake. I saw a photo yesterday and the engineer appeared to be a black man. That is not the case.
However, he IS a fag.
I'm sure he'll have a good time in prison.
You are mistaken, it was black men who were looting the dead bodies, though.
What?
If, in fact, he defines himself by his predilection for sodomy, that means much. It means he's mentally unstable, and divorced from reality.
The press and commentators have always had hearts of stone. That’s kind of the job. When something happens they need to talk about it, spin it in their preferred direction, and angle it for their agenda. And, honestly, this story is doing the exact same thing, taking how the story was covered by others and using that to push his agenda.
Lots of people leave accidents. It’s sleazy, and often stupid, but frequent.
There was looting of the bodies and of the train before the crash site was secured.
Injured people had watches stolen off their wrists.
Nearly 3,000 dead, 11,000 wounded on 9/1 and the democrats blamed the republicans and America before the fires were put out. They knew it was clinton and themselves and the muslims but they went ahead anyways and blamed others.
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