A Tale of Two Cities
Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas and Louisiana coasts Saturday, bringing strong winds and a significant storm surge. New Orleans was flooded once again, but this time the city was depopulated, and there was no repeat of the primitive lawlessness that occurred after Hurricane Katrina.
Houston, Texas, received a strong lashing from hurricane winds. Some looters tried to take advantage of the largely evacuated city, and the adverse weather. Houston was better prepared than New Orleans. Many looters were arrested, and many more were discouraged by the presence of either police officers, or citizen armed patrols. Certainly Houston contained a large number of criminals, just as New Orleans did. The state and local authorities in Houston were competent and aware, unlike their counterparts in Louisiana and New Orleans. There were none of the rapes, murders, carjackings, and other lawlessness that made New Orleans famous for all the wrong reasons.
Houston functioned as a modern, western city. New Orleans functioned as a city in Haiti, or better yet, Hades. Why the difference? Not very many miles separate the two cities. Houston was not flooded like New Orleans, but the hurricane's passage provided an excellent opportunity for the stay-behind criminal, just as it did in New Orleans.
Incompetence of local government officials, due to corrupted democratic institutions, is probably responsible for the Louisiana disaster. New Orleans had simply developed into an incredibly foul nest. It required a catastrophic event of nature to demonstrate just how foul.
The example of Houston's behaviour under duress should provide some encouragement that Louisiana is not representative of the United States, North America, or the increasingly multicultural developed world in general. That is most fortunate, since it is this multicultural aspect of the developed world which is growing the most rapidly. These new arrivals must pull their fair share of the load, rather than becoming freeloaders as many fear they will be. The technological progress required to push humans over the hump depends upon developed nations maintaining a high productivity.
Next level humans are waiting to be born.
Houston, Texas, received a strong lashing from hurricane winds. Some looters tried to take advantage of the largely evacuated city, and the adverse weather. Houston was better prepared than New Orleans. Many looters were arrested, and many more were discouraged by the presence of either police officers, or citizen armed patrols. Certainly Houston contained a large number of criminals, just as New Orleans did. The state and local authorities in Houston were competent and aware, unlike their counterparts in Louisiana and New Orleans. There were none of the rapes, murders, carjackings, and other lawlessness that made New Orleans famous for all the wrong reasons.
Houston functioned as a modern, western city. New Orleans functioned as a city in Haiti, or better yet, Hades. Why the difference? Not very many miles separate the two cities. Houston was not flooded like New Orleans, but the hurricane's passage provided an excellent opportunity for the stay-behind criminal, just as it did in New Orleans.
Incompetence of local government officials, due to corrupted democratic institutions, is probably responsible for the Louisiana disaster. New Orleans had simply developed into an incredibly foul nest. It required a catastrophic event of nature to demonstrate just how foul.
The example of Houston's behaviour under duress should provide some encouragement that Louisiana is not representative of the United States, North America, or the increasingly multicultural developed world in general. That is most fortunate, since it is this multicultural aspect of the developed world which is growing the most rapidly. These new arrivals must pull their fair share of the load, rather than becoming freeloaders as many fear they will be. The technological progress required to push humans over the hump depends upon developed nations maintaining a high productivity.
Next level humans are waiting to be born.
posted by al fin at 6:58 pm
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