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September 09, 2005
The Moral Authority Of Celebrities
Pam at Blogmeister USA pokes novelist Ann Rice with a very sharp stick in response to Rice's ludicrous claim that the American people "failed" New Orleanians. Rice:
But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.
Before I could even type out a defense of my own city's effort, Pam was already there:
Really? You mean all of that money pouring out of American pockets was a failure? People in Houston opening their hearts, their wallets and their homes is a failure? People like the husband of my coworker, a prison guard who is volunteering to head down to quell the violence, are failures? Where is your criticism of the media? They are the ones spreading more stories about looting and shooting than helping hands and heroes.
There is no doubt that the federal govenment bears some responsibility for this fiasco. But the emotional cripples who single out George Bush as the sole cause of the disaster (from the genesis of the storm itself--see Robert Kennedy, Jr; to GWB's failure to personally inspect the levees; to Bush's failure to somehow instantly turn FEMA into a replacement for the Louisiana National Guard and the New Orleans Police Department) are simply cowering behind a brick wall of intellectual dishonesty.
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Comments
Jeff: Make sure not to miss my choices for the the most pathetic and self-serving statements by celebrities in the wake of Katrina, which were made by the intellectual giants Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon at the Venice Film Festival.
http://elephantsinacademia.blogspot.com/2005/09/ah-venice.html
What are these people thinking??
Posted by: AcademicElephant at September 9, 2005 01:41 PM
There is plenty of blame to go around for the various governments involved. But what was amazing to me is the "If the government can't do we'll do it ourselves" attitude that Americans took right away. It makes this statement even more surprising and ignorant.
Posted by: Jim Voigt at September 9, 2005 03:23 PM
