Tom on Charley & FEMA
Tom Matrullo gives us a perspective on Charley we simply don’t get through the media.
Finding the office was not a simple matter. Once there, I found several FEMA people milling about, avoiding eye contact with us, and 15 or so phones, some of which worked. The FEMA agents did not try to take questions or offer information. They simply told us to dial an 800 number. It was 7:30 a.m., and the room was already filling with people who had somehow found out where the FEMA center was located. Apparently in George W. Bush’s Washington, disasters may only occur after 8 a.m. and prior to 6 p.m. We waited for the emergency experts to arrive at their desks, then we got busy signals for more than an hour…
He ends with a list of services the government should actually be providing…little things like portapotties and a people who look for the missing.
Tom’s post is a reminder of why we have blogs. And, Tom, let us know if we can help.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
Unfortunately, Tom isn’t without bias. Though he’s present and viewing these events as a person impacted by Charley, he’s also vehemently anti-Bush. And that’s, in a way, the problem associate with webloggers: we can’t, or won’t separate our personal biases.
I have no doubts that FEMA has been adversely impacted by becoming part of that monstrosity, the Homeland Security department. But then, I also have a bias…
Shelley, I don’t think it’s a _problem_ with Tom and I don’t think it’s a condition associated with blogging. It is the human condition, imo. As you say, “I also have a bias…” Me, too. I’ve got plenty of ’em.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that we can’t point out to one another that so-and-so’s perceptions are being influenced by other beliefs and that other perceptions are possible and useful. But I have no hope of any of us ever reaching a bias-free standpoint.
I like that we get to acknowledge our biases in weblogs. And I like that we get called on them when they get in the way.
If you don’t watch out, Michael Moore will end up in Florida interviewing people like Tom and claiming that his sunburn is somehow Bush’s fault….
bias is not the problem of weblogging, it’s weblogging’s gift.
Bush is not a single entity in Florida. One Bush is the CEO of Florida, and his brother is King of the World. That fact actually makes Tom anti-bushes, not anti-bush.
Show me a story of a Charlotte County resident praising Bubba and Bubba and Our Valued Institutions for getting it right.
Meanwhile, do something.
Oh bias is good, as long as we don’t insist we have all the answers, and that we webloggers are the only ones providing an ‘honest’ look at events. Which Tom is not I hasten to add before I’m corrected.
As long as people realize that someone is talking through their perceptions of an event rather than giving just the straight facts of an event, the experience can be enriching for all.
Uh, David — you really need to move off of MT into Worpdress. No more free ads for drug dealers.
Jeneane, I imagine knowing that this is Florida, that there are hundreds, thousands, of people who are praising George Bush now. That area of the state is solid Republican.
And ‘do something’:
Well, I offered to help the Missouri branch of the Red Cross down in Florida, but they were only taking master level volunteers down and declined my assistance. I guess that wasn’t actually doing something. An attempt.
Check out a site dedicated to the absurdity and satire nature of saying “It’s All George Bush’s Fault!”
http://www.itsallgeorgebushsfault.com
Regards,
Notta Libb