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This Week with The Chicowitz: |
[Last week: "Intemperate Thoughts"?]
| Each week our Boomer-in-Charge, Hershel Chicowitz, has something to say about life, society, or what's going on... from the perspective of a baby boomer. This is what's on his mind the week of September 12: |
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[Editor's Note: This week, Hershel has some thoughts on the information
pouring out in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But, actions speak louder than words. We encourage you to contribute to the relief effort. Our recommended charity is the Salvation Army. You can contribute here.]
Most of the time, people pay too little attention to the news. Sometimes, they pay too much. That may lead to information overload. If I were given the choice, I would prefer that people pay too much. But some information can be both unnecessarily depressing and dangerously misleading. That is what I call information misload. To the extent that information overload causes Americans to give more to help the victims... it is a good thing. When information causes people to be depressed and place the blame improperly, it is a bad thing. My, how I love the Democratic Underground. Here are some of their postings last week: "Don't forget bush* has mass graves now also, just like Saddam." (RetroLounge) "Saddam gassed his own people, Bush let his drown. Who has the higher body count? Shrub by far." (MidnightWind) "OMG ... how true it is!!!! I hate him. I hate this bastard." (cynatnite) You see now why I say it is so dangerous to base one's political stance on hate... or any emotion. ...or on information misload.
 You watch the extensive coverage of a plane crash, including the smoke rising above the crushed fuselage, the dazed passengers walking away from the crash site, and the recognizable pieces of the engines and wings sprawled across the ground... and the next day you're afraid to get on a plane. What you do not do is recognize the probabilities, and that you are in greater danger walking down a flight of stairs than flying in a commercial airliner. The plane crash, of course, was George Bush's fault.
You watch the endless coverage of the disaster following Hurricane Katrina, and you think that the world is coming to an end. Then someone mentions the next hurricane (in this case, Ophelia), and you shudder at prospect of the thousands of deaths it will cause as it slams into the east coast of Florida... oh, wait... southern Georgia.... no, wait.... South Carolina.... no, Martha's Vineyard.... Oh, the humanity! What you do not consider is that the projection of 10,000 deaths in New Orleans (by the mayor of New Orleans), is just that: a projection, and a loose, careless, baseless, irresponsible seat-of-the-wet-pants one, at that. You do not consider that neither Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, nor even Martha's Vineyard is... BELOW SEA LEVEL. Though I do tend to believe what comedian Chris Rock said last week: "George Bush hates midgets." You hear about global warming and the unusually strong hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, and you are convinced that global warming, the product of George Bush's America, is destroying the world. What you do not hear is that the most intense hurricanes of the last hundred years occurred in the FIRST HALF of the 20th century, before George Bush was born, when the "experts" were, in fact, warning us about global cooling.
Global cooling, of course, was George Bush's fault.
You see that most of the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in the worst shape are black, and you tend to believe it when Kayne West says that "George Bush does not care about black people." What you do not recognize is that most of the people who were saved by the helicopters were... black people. What you do not see is that 90% of the black people of New Orleans managed to escape the storm... most of them without any help from the government. You hear, over and over again, about the federal government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. Yes, George Bush does not care. You hear people complain that the government acted faster in other instances; why can't they now? What you don't hear is that it took five days for significant numbers of National Guard troops to arrive in Homestead, Florida after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three days. I can tell you from direct experience that the first responders to Hurricane Charly in central Florida last year were local people.... and Wal-Mart and McDonald's..... you know, evil, corporate America. Evil, corporate America, of course, is George Bush's fault.
You see the video and you hear the stories, and you believe that most of New Orleans was under 20 feet of water. What you do not hear or see is that most of the French Quarter, the Central Business District, the Garden District and Uptown New Orleans were damaged much less and were barely flooded at all. The Washington Post reported that only two of the 1,500 animals at the Audubon Zoo died. In the words of Sammy Davis, Jr., "Wait till the NAACP hears about this!" * George Bush cares more about animals in a zoo than he does black people.
Self-Help Humanitarian Relief Singer and social activist Celine Dion shows her generosity... with other people's property: "Some people are stealing, and they’re making a big deal out of it. 'Oh, they're stealing 20 pair of jeans, or they’re stealing television sets.' Who cares? They're not going to go too far with it. Maybe those people are so poor, some of those people who do that, they've never touched anything like that in their lives. Let them touch those things for once." "Not too far," huh? So the manager of the local Wal-Mart can just go over and retrieve his property after a while, huh? No harm done. A law professor from the University of Pennsylvania said this about the looters: "The people taking sneakers and plasma TVs are engaged in self-help humanitarian relief." "Self-help humanitarian relief"!!! This is what college professors are doing to mold the minds of your children, folks. Gees, I wish I were creative enough to be able to make that stuff up. But no, I did not. I heard her say it. You hear the press and the pols throwing blame at George Bush -- no surprise there. Though some do point out that the first line of defense in such disasters are always the local responders. And yes, some in the press are daring to suggest that mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco must share some of the responsibility. What you do not hear is anyone in the press suggest that maybe those who suffered the most are those who prepared the least... and that maybe, just maybe, some of the responsibility for their condition should rest with them. An anonymous evacuee in Houston explained what he wants: "What I would like to happen? I would like for them to give us at least $20,000 apiece so we can, you know, get our life together. You know, we didn't ask to come on that bus, slave. It's like a slave ship. It's just like, you know, back in history, you know, they put us on a slave ship. They separated us from our family. They did it--you know, just modern-day slavery, you know? Just give us what the f--- we deserve." Perhaps Celine Dion will contact the poor man and let him touch her credit card for a few days.
Yeah, maybe all I have done here is pile onto your information overload. What I have tried to do is cut through some of the information misload and point you in the right direction. Though, after all this, my suggestion is that after making a donation, you turn off the television for a month or so. Even when it is sincerely trying to do its best, television is often, as Newton Minnow opined, a "vast wasteland."
* 1963 Academy Awards; after he was handed the wrong envelope and read the wrong name, presenter Sammy Davis, Jr. recovered from the faux paus beautifully by exclaiming, "Wait until the NAACP hears about this!" |
Exploring My Roots: A Chicowitz History
Membership details here.
Terrific boomer memorabilia!!
Remember this?
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Hershel will have something else to say on September 19: mark your
calendar 
to
remind you to come back to BBHQ every Monday.
Did you miss last week's essay, "Intemperate Thoughts"? You can still read it here.
We're open to offerings from visitors to BBHQ. If you have something to say of interest to boomers, write it as well as you can in 800 - 1,000 words, and send it to us. We can't guarantee we'll publish it, but we'll surely consider it.
If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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