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Marketing Social Darwinism: Emergency Services
Media silence concerning the extent of damage and number of
deaths allows expropriation and displacement of the poor. This is being
sold to the public as the way that a free and responsible society would
act. Meanwhile, executive orders have created a monster that allows
everything to be confiscated, and citizens converted to slave gangs.
by Mary-Sue
Haliburton
Greater Things News Service
Copyright © 2005
Entertainment
Supervolcano, a dramatization of what would happen if the Yellowstone
Cauldera were to erupt, aired last spring and repeated recently. (Ref.)
The story depicts an actual eruption which spews volcanic ash, trapping
twenty-five million people in a wide swath of devastation. No aircraft can
fly through this (the engines stop) and if people or animals attempt to
travel without breathing apparatus the ash converts to cement in the lungs
and they die.
A senator overseeing the mess wonders aloud about when they can start
rescue operations. A vulcanist, in refuge in an underground military
facility, says it’s impossible because they won’t have the fuel or the
resources or enough vehicles to go in and get people – if there were
roads visible or airstrips cleared for landing. He advises waiting until
the ash stops falling, and dropping water and food at rest stations. Then
issue the order that those who are able should to walk to safety –
hundreds of miles in many cases. Obviously only those who are strong could
make the journey. A perfect case of “survival of the fittest”
portrayed as necessary, admirable, and socially or politically inevitable.
FEMA and the government analysts are portrayed as heroes. At the end of
the movie the FEMA spokesperson – portrayed, contrary to real life, as a
personable woman with a conscience – credits “Walk for Life” as the
means of saving seven million people.
What happened to the other eighteen million? We are left to guess, but it
must have been the same as the fate that overtook citizens of Pompeii. As
the ash begins to fall, the film’s protagonist refers to that historical
volcanic destruction of an ancient city. All he says is that the citizens
of Pompeii stayed in their homes. “Know how we know that?” This
alludes to, but does not elaborate on, the air-pockets found in the
excavation, which plaster casts revealed to be left after the bodies
dissolved. (You were expected to have just watched the documentary about
that earlier.)
As that was the clincher argument for not waiting in a car snarled in a
massive traffic jam, he and his companion exit their vehicle without
further discussion and hot-foot it toward the bunker. He knew that no one
else would survive, and that a vehicle would be useless. Note that he also
does not alert any of the other would-be travelers. As the bunker is very
small, they must be left to their fate. Survival of the fittest in this
case means the one with insider knowledge and the job status to be
admitted to safety will get out alive. No one else qualifies.
News
The news media are quietly or overtly espousing the same doctrine in
relation to the situation in New Orleans following the flooding in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina. Shortly before the storm, we heard that city’s
mayor was calling for evacuation, and we saw footage of cars bumper to
bumper on highways, apparently leaving the city. However, it became clear
soon after that thousands had not left, and that most of these lived in
low-lying, poor districts. A significant number were confined to hospitals
and care facilities. Implicit in such a “voluntary” evacuation order
is the Social-Darwinistic notion that only those who are healthy, “successful”
by materialist standards, and who can afford personal vehicles or airline
tickets will evacuate. All others are just expendable.
A week later, all news media are quoting the revised order that evacuation
is now mandatory due to the threat of disease, implying that those still
in the city are actually refusing to leave. However, not having boats,
they are unable to leave by themselves. Citizen-initiated convoys and
flotillas have attempted to reach them and effect a rescue, but are being
turned back. Jason Robideaux, a lawyer, reports that “authorities” who
are blocking the rescuers appeared to be just standing around, and not
actually saving anyone themselves. And why would it be the Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries that is preventing the rescue of patients and staff
immured in a charity hospital without supplies, water, or electricity?
(Ref.) Something is wrong with this picture.
Planning, not Ineptitude
Excuses that the government didn’t know what was going to happen, or was
not prepared for the extent of the emergency, are not credible. Just what
did become of the billions of dollars supposedly put into emergency
preparedness?
It is becoming apparent that the authorities do not want either to rescue
these people themselves, or to allow them to be rescued by others even at
their own expense. Despite all the verbiage and promises, all the money
pouring into the Red Cross, all the military and national-guard vehicles
and personnel, little was done in a timely manner. All deaths will be
blamed on the storm, although the means to save lives was available. Those
lives were not on the schedule to be saved. Although the words are not
being used explicitly, if we look instead of just listening to misleading
commentary, what we are watching is starting to look like an intentional
massacre.
Corporatized Charities Reflect Official Negativity
In an article advocating community sponsorship of refugees, Sterling Allan
cites the opinions of one Bill Holterstrom, CEO of United Way in Utah
County, who argues that security and culture shock are reasons not to
extend personal charity.
“Some have chemical addictions, and/or have been members of dangerous
gangs, and/or are accustomed to a life of crime. Also rampant are problems
with sexual addiction and abuse.” (Ref.)
Watching the looting while police stand by, one would conclude that it was
not the people stereotyped above who were waiting in shelters for
re-settlement. It was those with addictions, and gang members, who were
out trying to grab everything they could. If they are criminals they
should have to face the law, but everyone else should not be tarred with
the same brush.
This “charity” official also indicated that it was not policy to raise
a person “more than one social strata [sic] at a time”. Moving up to a
better standard would be “too much of a shock," Holterstrom is
quoted as saying. Therefore, as a matter of policy, they keep evacuees
contained in shelters and do not play the role of matching evacuees with
people willing to take them into their home.
It is a bit difficult to respect this type of reasoning. First of all, the
“culture shock” has already occurred in going from having private
lives in apartments or homes to being mere flotsam, to be interned for
months or years with no hope of being anything but a recipient of charity.
(Ref.) That's a bigger culture shock to anyone regardless of social
status, than perhaps meeting up with people who can help them get back on
their feet, away from the cattle-corral situation of a refugee camp. Any
comforts added to the life of someone finding himself adrift like that
would be a relief, not a shock.
Moreover, many don't fit this stereotype of drug addicts, gangsters, and
losers. The Canadian weather channel aired an interview three days after
the storm with a man who lost his business, home and all possessions
within an hour. Here's a responsible individual who now has nothing, but
who is capable of managing a business. Such persons would be a genuine
asset to a new region. Many others will have lost jobs because these
businesses no longer exist. None of these deserves to have such a
stereotype applied.
And it’s not the moving up that would be a problem for the displaced
person, but being shoved back down into low-income housing that would be
hard, if they are to be kept in camps and forced to go back afterwards. If
New Orleans is to be rebuilt for higher-income residents, even that shock
of going back to lower-quality homes will not be offered to the city’s
poor. If individual refugees don't have family or friends, then the stated
official reason to keep them near the site of the disaster is invalid;
they must be re-located as soon as possible. Extended families should be
given the opportunity to re-locate to the same region.
Healthy Charity Helps Heal Damaged Societies
In refugee resettlement, at least as practised in Canada, it’s normal
for the sponsoring church or other community group to provide the Canadian
standard of living, even if it’s way above what the refugee from Africa
or Asia might have known at home. The usual response is that the person is
motivated to learn English and work hard to maintain the improved
standard. And if there’s any culture shock, it’s merely expected that
displacement to another climate and away from family would be hard, but it’s
not impossible with the new support group. Holterstrom’s argument sounds
more like a type of Social Darwinism infecting even the charity
organization. That is, the poor must not be allowed any “free ride”
which by definition they as losers don’t deserve.
The most effective spending of the “charity” dollar would be to put in
into direct help to families or individuals. When aircraft were grounded
for a week in September 2001, about ten thousand Americans were stranded
in Gander, Newfoundland. But they were not crammed into an overheated
building to fend for themselves and fight over scraps while toilets
overflowed and armed guards kept local people away. The picture was much
different.
The Newfoundland Example
Gander, Nfld. is a small town with a handful of bed-and-breakfast places,
and no large hotels. But it boasts a hardy population who care deeply
about the well-being of others. Despite – or maybe because of –
centuries of struggle with the harsh ocean, the people did not become cold
and harsh themselves, but are generous and caring. Newfoundlanders took
strangers into their homes, and shared unstintingly with those who were
housed in a local school. Relationships formed, some very close. A year
later, one host couple were surprised to receive plane tickets in the
mail. Their grateful guests had invited them to come south for a visit,
all expenses paid. (Ref.) This is the effect of healthy charity in
operation: the fabric of society is strengthened, across all national or
cultural lines.
Culture shock and social stratification were not principles to be guarded,
but were completely ignored. Social Darwinism was nowhere to be seen in
Newfoundland when American travelers were in need. So why are Americans
expected to treat each other with suspicion and to reinforce class
divisions in what is supposed to be the classless society? If the charity
organization is promoting an attitude contrary to the motive for donating
money, keep yours in your pocket unless you can donate directly to a
fellow-human in need. Or at least earmark the donation for “refugee/sponsor
matching”. Then if the organization fails to use it for the specified
purpose, there is a case for taking money under false pretences.
The Reconstruction Insanity
As if no lives were in danger, George W. Bush smiled as he talked about
the restoration of the city, and that there would be better houses built
to replace those that are destroyed. “I’ll come and sit on the porch,”
he quips in one televised sound byte. It is becoming painfully clear that
these better houses are not going to be built for the original residents.
Despite the location below sea level, despite the flooding, New Orleans is
still regarded as prime real estate, and expensive new houses are to
replace the shabby, cheap ones and low-rent apartments.
Given this official welcome of urban renewal, any idea that others should
send aid for reconstruction is probably not appropriate. It’s a
commercial venture for which profits are expected, and residents of a
higher tax bracket are going to be moving in. For these more desirable
occupants, it will be worthwhile to repair the levees which had been
neglected seriously in the past few years. Funding cuts prevented repairs,
while the money poured like floodwaters through a dike breach into
Homeland Security.
It is illogical to build below sea level. Even the Netherlands is seeing
the handwriting on the seawall, and has plans to withdraw from its lowest
lands if or when it becomes necessary. Meanwhile the Dutch are building
floating homes, with basements filled with Styrofoam. (Ref.)
If flooding occurs again in the brand-spanking-new New Orleans, evacuation
and repair should be at the expense of the beneficiaries of this
expropriation. Who would insure the reconstructed New Orleans ¬– the
better city with new upscale housing? This is the real puzzle. If flood
insurance is not available at all, then it’s a mystery why people would
take the risk.
But if the theory is true that the storm was intentionally directed, and
weather control is capable of choosing targets, then once the wealthy are
ensconced in spiffy new homes on this deep pocket of land with expensive
reinforced levees, the storms will be directed elsewhere. The job of the
weather controllers, to displace the unwanted, will have been done. (Ref.)
A Depopulation Policy at Work
This phenomenon of displacing people for economic reasons is well known in
history. In the “Highland Clearances”, Scottish people were thrown off
the land and replaced with sheep, which were seen as more profitable for
the landlord. With no place to go in their own country, many fled to North
America, notably the province in Canada called Nova Scotia (New Scotland).
Scots Gaelic was widely spoken there in the nineteenth century and might
have continued, but school authorities worked hard to stamp it out of the
youth about a century ago. Only a few elderly native speakers of this
language remain in isolated areas in Cape Breton Island.
More recently, Hurricane Andrew swept away whole trailer parks and flimsy
low-rent apartments – and, incidentally, their occupants – to make
room for upscale housing. As survivor kt frankovich has pointed out, Dade
county was never evacuated. Most of its residents did not escape the storm’s
extreme violence. Injured herself, she was denied care and even
threatened. (Ref.)
Although the official death count of Andrew remains in the low dozens,
Frankovich and other on-site witnesses saw thousands of bodies being
fished out of the wreckage and trucked away, to where remained unclear.
But unless someone can find gravestones for thousands with the date of
death being that of the hurricane, those bodies must have disposed of,
probably cremated and scattered without ceremony. Expendable. Social
Darwinism decrees that the fittest, i.e. wealthiest, must win, even if
they are predators who take from the “unfit” general population.
Because there was a successful blackout on news about Andrew’s effects
from on-the-ground reporters, and volunteers offering help were kept out,
the majority of American still do not realize the death toll, or see
through the purpose of hiding the numbers of dead. The old saw about “causing
public panic” is a smokescreen. Thirteen years later there’s a real
estate boom in the area, and upscale homes being built on this valuable
real estate, now conveniently cleared of riff-raff and illegal migrants.
(Ref.)
Based on how politicians and law enforcement were behaving in that storm
aftermath, which is the same as during the current situation, the official
approach to a major hurricane seems to be to take advantage of it. It’s
an opportunity for “lowland clearances” that will make way for urban
renewal. Disguised as a “natural” disaster, this is mass expropriation
without a political cost. Former owners are conveniently eliminated and
not able to object.
Hardening Populace to Expect the Worst
The front-page image of thousands standing futilely waiting for rescue is,
in its subtle way, more devastating psychologically for the American
people than the repeated tape loop of the World Trade Center demolitions.
At that time, the message was that foreign terrorists did this to us, and
now we have to fight a war against “them” to protect “our way of
life” and other such memes.
This time the message is a bit different. This time it screams out that
all of us must regard lives of fellow-citizens as worthless. We are all
supposed to accept that those people are losers who will just have to wait
to die and we should not care personally what happens to them. You have to
be smart, and move fast, or you are not worthy of life. No one will lift a
finger to save you. This is the Social Darwinism that is being forced on
everyone as rescuers are stopped from giving the help that springs from
caring.
The ancient value system of love and support for fellow humans is being
trampled underfoot. Non-compliant people will not just be prevented from
helping. In this official New World Order, the good Samaritans are likely
also to be ridiculed, silenced, and perhaps even arrested for obstructing
the harsh “law” of survival of the fittest, i.e., the wealthiest.
Do Any Other Options Remain?
How did we get to this point? We did it by being asleep, failing to
question all the signs pointing to a growing cancer in the body politic.
People just waved flags and followed the leader, and voted for the slick
package promising safety and security. The sinister side has been well
hidden behind the rhetoric, but is nasty face is beginning to peep through
the mask as authorities deny rescue to masses of people. They are left to
stand, even the sick and injured are left, in full view of the TV cameras.
Viewer response is now crucial. Will everyone just let their hearts be
hardened, or will the love for fellow-human be reactivated in rejection of
this brutality?
If it is true that the imposition of martial law will result in mass
arrests, the creation of a new gulag for any who are to protest government
policy, and even mass execution of resistors, it will be too late to do
anything about it. Executive orders from the president created FEMA as an
agency with power to dispossess all citizens, confiscate all transit,
restrict freedom of movement, and exert power of life and death over
everyone. (Ref.)
While one hopes that this worst-case scenario is never going to be put
into operation, the behavior of authorities in New Orleans makes it look
likely to be more devastating than even the fevered imagination of the
most dedicated conspiracy buff could conjure up. We will be left to pray
and hope for a better day for the few, likely genetically-altered,
survivors after all the radioactive dust of the DU weapons settles.
# # #
REFERENCES
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117926757?categoryid=32&cs=1
Typical review of film shot in Vancouver and Yellowstone.
http://www.rense.com/general67/cit.htm
Expressing incredulity at official actions, a lawyer describes
well-organized citizen initiative to save patients.
http://www.projectassimilate.org/news/..._Project_Assimilate_Katrina_Refugees/
Quotes from charity “CEO” reflect prevailing assumptions of society.
Newfoundland hospitality is legendary; this incident and many other
examples were portrayed with interview footage in a Canadian documentary
televised last year. The author of this essay remembers the visual details
but not which Canadian broadcaster aired this report.
http://www.ecoboot.nl/artikelen/floating_houses.php
Designs for floating villages that would make sense for New Orleans and
similar sea-level and below dwellings. Moored towns, and moving houses
using tugboats would be an option for the future of places like New
Orleans which are below the level of a rising sea.
In a televised documentary on Discovery channel about Holland’s response
to rising sea levels, planners discussed examples of basements full of
Styrofoam. These houses were fastened with sliding connections to poles
anchored in bedrock. Then when there is heavy flooding from upriver, or a
tidal surge overwhelms the dikes, the house rises up with the waters and
then is lowered back down as they recede. Sort of like individual Noah's
Arks in the delta areas of Holland.
http://www.geocities.com/marksrealm/project337.html
Weather control as scientific reality, patents outlined for technology.
http://www.whereheavensmeet.com/andrew/ch25txt.html
Culture shock of sudden destruction and injury as lived by survivors of
Hurricane Andrew.
http://www.bariumblues.com/deadly_silences.htm
One account of Andrew survivors published in “fringe press” Nexus.
http://tampabay.indymedia.org/...2005/Jul/35712.796875.dat
13 years after extent of Andrew disaster covered up, real estate booms in
South Dade County – not for original residents including illegal
migrants who are assumed to be among the missing.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/femaoverview06sep05.shtml
Wording of executive orders shows what country can expect under full-scale
martial law. The government is said to be waiting for a sufficient
justification to initiate it. Shows what country can expect.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/7/02749/28047
Medical Worker said that by Sept. 6, 43,000 body bags had been
used in New Orleans alone.
Additional Reading:
Page composed by Sterling
D. Allan Sept. 9, 2005
Page last updated September 26, 2005
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