Katrina, CA Fires--how the media wants us to be divided

[Heddi]

I've been reading DU over the past few days re: CA fires just as I did a few years ago re: Katrina. Eyewitness views. People there. THe real story we're not hearing from the MSM

And I *have* seen the hateful posts posted not JUST by newbies, or ne'er posters, but LONG TIME DU'ERS with thousands of posts--hateful posts that say those who have houses in SoCal "deserve" to burn, insinuating that they're all rich, that they all have insurance...that somehow SoCal is the only place in the freaking country that doesn't have apartments, or trailers, or homeless, or poverty stricken, low income, middle income, or lower-middle class people living there.

Then I was watching the news---regional and national. And I realized, I think, where this is coming from.

All of the people interviewed that were fleeing were people in new cars. The houses they showed were large houses, multiple-car garages, large parcels of land behind them. All of the people were white, well groomed, gold, jewelry.

The news focused on Tanya Tucker's house, and how that woman from Three's Company lost her house in a wildfire earlier this year. They showed a clip of an old interview where she talks about how grand and beautiful her house was, and how horrible it was to lose all of it.

To me, all of the CA focus on the "affluent" gave me the impresison that the MSM wants us to "not feel bad" for them. They're all rich. THey can handle it. They have assets and equity and insurance.

Then I think about the coverage of Katrina, where the MSM criticized people for being poor, for not having a car, for living in the 'bad' part of town. They spoke about looters and guns and crime.

And to me, all of the Katrina focus being on the poor (rightfully so, I have to add), but with the underlying current "they deserve this", again, gave me the impression that the MSM wants us to "not feel bad" for Katrina people. They're poor. They choose to live like this. They're on welfare anyway. They're gonna get new houses in a new city and they're probably criminals. They loot. They have guns. THere's raping and murder in the Superdome.

---
And I thought about how one tragedy is being focused as being a "rich" person's tragedy, and the other as being a "poor" person's tragedy, but at the same time, the media is almost snide about it. Sneering at victims.

Make no mistake--remember the black "looters" with food, and the white "victims' who found food in New Orleans? What a message that sent? I see the SAME message being sent when the pictures of those fleeing from fires are driving Hummers and BMW's, when they interview a woman who says she doesn't have room in her car for her "priceless works of art" (as one interview I saw).

It's to divide us. To make us hate each other. At each other's throat. No sympathy for anyone. The rich deserve catastrophe as much as the poor in their eyes. We're all to blame. We're all phony victims. We all deserve it.

Please do not take their bait. My aunt lives in Riverside in a house she bought for $20,000. IT's now worth about $600,000, but she can't sell it and still live in SoCal--her home for nearly 40 years. She's a widow, on a fixed income, and her husband's death about 15 years ago is what allowed her to pay off the house. Seh drives an 89 HOnda that breaks down. She is the custodian for her grandson with Downs Syndrome. She barely makes her bills as it is. She is not, nor has she ever been wealth, despite the value of her home.

Please have empathy for these people and their losses and the threat of loss--sometimes the threat of loss can be as psychologically devestating as a loss itself.

Please remember that people are not necessarily as rich as their house values would have you believe, especially if they are older and/or the house was paid off previously (younger people living in a house previously owned and paid off by parents, for example).

Not everyone who lives west of Arizona and SOuth of Oregon is rolling dough. Even if they were (which they're not), they are still humans, and they're still people, and they're still going through a ridiculous thing now.

Do not allow the MSM to further divide us like they did with Katrina--In NO it was "fuck the poor". Now, in CA, it's "eat the rich". Please. SEe what they are doing, and how they are using images and "facts' to make us hate each other....

[msongs]

1. fire does not discriminate on account of income, age, or ethnicity nt

[Heddi]

5. I know it doesn't. Neither do hurricanes

but I think in both instances the slanted coverage by the media is done in such a snarky way with the intention of casting maybe not blame, but I don't know...again, of all the people that could have been interviewed today about having to evacuate because of the fires, they had ONLY people driving BMW's and Hummers, the ONLY woman they could find was one who had no room in the back of her car for her "priceless peices of art"? The ONLY houses they could find to show were very large and not-quite-indicative of houses in the area?

It's just as slanted as it was during Katrina--only this time we're not supposed to feel sorry not because they're poor and black (the focus during Katrina), but because they're rich, and can afford it. I've heard interviews with THREE evacuees from CA today talk about how they'll just wait for the insurance money and rebuild again. It's like the media finds the MOST unsympathetic people in the most not-middle-america situations to focus on.

They didn't show people with kids, or people in apartments, or people with pets. No, just people in BMW"s and hummers and 4-car garages.

It's a manipulation, and it's working based on some of the ridiculous posts I've seen on DU for the past few days

[sce56]

18. If only Bigots like Glen Beck understood that!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. BINGO

I posted this (in far fewer words)earlier in the day

[DBoon]

3. "the one who dies with the most toys...

... is still dead"

[ananda]

4. Here's one real story.. guess where much needed equipment is?

Hint: It begins with an I and ends with a q.

That is just so fucking sad.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Great post, we are even more divided by party since the Uniter

took office and we heard the divisive language used during the SS debate, young and old.

What a great tool the media can be to separate us further :(

K&R, I hope your aunt comes through this OK.

[Swamp Rat]

7. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the fires.

:grouphug:

[blitzen]

8. I think you're missing the main MSM myth here...

Most of what I'm seeing is about how "well" the "good people" of San Diego are handling this, compared to the losers in Louisiana. Yes, the MSM is trying to divide us, but along different lines than you suggest.

The whole comparison with Katrina is ridiculous. There is no comparison, for innumerable reasons.

[Hatchling]

13. We learned.

We learned from a great deal of mistakes during the Cedar Fire here in 2003. Things didn't go so well then. And as others have mentioned, only some areas are affected that leaves the rest able to help the afflicted.

We learned from the mistakes we saw during Katrina. We learned that helping ourselves and not waiting for the government to step in was a wise idea. Many evacuation areas have had to let people know that they more donated supplies than are needed, that is how pro-active we are.

We're not a better city than Katrina. We're a better city BECAUSE of Katrina.

[EVDebs]

9. Bush will make an appearance Thursday eom

[tinrobot]

24. ...and claim victory.

He'll try to make it look like he saved California from another Katrina.

Yeah, right.

[Cha]

35. Too bad the fucker can't get

booed off the staged event.

[daninthemoon]

10. There is also another possible explanation. In NO, the city itself

was engulfed, especially the poorer areas. These fires are mainly in the hills developed in recent years, not inside the well established cities. Undoubtedly there has been loss of more modest homes, and the media should be also be showing us Ramona and some of those areas, and in time I suppose they will. This is a very complex event, still happening, and we won't have a full picture of who lost what where for a while. I'm glad you're aunt is OK, and I assume she is well inside the city, and not in the hills.

[Riktor]

17. Not the city itself, but the distaster

Here in San Diego, we have the benefit of keeping an eye on the fire as it progresses. The fires struck outlying towns first, providing fair warning for those in the fire's path, and providing ample time for first responders to arrive on scene to begin countermeasures. Our support networks have remained in tact, and the government is, supposedly, doing all it can to stunt the progression of the fires.

New Orleans didn't have that luxury. The hurricane hit everywhere at once, breaking the levees while the entire city had completely shut down. Afterwards, New Orleans was completely cut off from the outside world. It is no wonder social norms broke down under such conditions.

You can't compare these disasters; they are completely different.

[Grandrose]

11. You nailed it very well...(K&R)

MSM cares only for pictures and controversy, they suck big time!
Best wishes for all the people and hope their nightmare ends soon!:kick:

[kster]

12. DU needs a Think Tank and you should consider leading it

we need to STAY one step ahead of these MSM sons of bitches. K&R

[earth mom]

14. I don't have cable but it sounds like they don't want people to feel sorry for the victims

this time around. Too much sympathy for the people of Katrina made * & Co look bad and was a P.R. nightmare. This time around they won't allow * & Co to look bad again!

Except some of us aren't fooled. Oh HELL No-never be fooled again!

[Gregorian]

15. That's really observant. Good.

I learned something from your post. And I think you're onto something. I know it's cynical to think our media would be so sinister. But I think it's true.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. I sincerely want to thank you for a thoughtful and well written post.

So much of what we see happening around us, and how we react - or better yet, are *caused* to react - comes down to that awful 'fuck you, I got mine' attitude.

Humans shouldn't be that way. Particularly not in trying times. But they are and they do. I think you've hit it. I don't know if the media's consciously complicit or just being stupid, but they are most assuredly part of perpetuating and reinforcing this attitude.

Thanks again. I've given your thread a Rec. It deserves having many more people read it.

[JDPriestly]

19. The fires have hit some very wealthy areas as well as some

areas that are not so wealthy. Ramona certainly is not a wealthy area, for example. But, Malibu and Rancho Santa Fe are very wealthy. The homes in Arrowhead are modest, but many though not all are second homes.

If you stop to think about it, the press always focuses on celebrities. It is just par for the course that they are focusing on the fates of the stars and the rich. That's the way our country is. Everyone wants to be rich and famous and know what the rich and famous are doing. News about tragedy in the lives of the rich and famous sells.

Yes, in part the sympathetic coverage of the rich and famous in Malibu as opposed to the critical coverage of the poor in New Orleans is meant to divide us. It is also meant to cater to our crass curiosity about how the rich and famous live. Above all, perhaps it is meant to distract from the sad reality of so many people losing their homes and everything they have worked for at this time. We will all share the economic losses in the form of higher insurance premiums, taxes, etc., but nothing can pay for the loss of family photos, keepsakes, things that mean a lot in people's lives. That is just too sad a story to have to tell. That is the story that was never really clearly conveyed with regard to New Orleans, and it won't be clearly conveyed here either. The focus on the rich and famous makes the fire story easier to deal with for the media and their audiences.

[ecstatic]

20. good points... it's amazing how the media can shape our views

even when we know what they're capable of.

[incapsulated]

21. I tried to make this point before and people took it the wrong way

The national coverage of this started with the Malibu fires, and it was all Malibu for a long time before it was obviously spreading everywhere.

If you were watching CNN and kinda left it there for a while, the pictures you saw; a burning 17 mil "fantasy castle", homes of the very rich along the beach front, etc, you would have thought this is a tragedy for "the rich and famous".

I think it set a tone for the whole thing.

That said, some people here just want to hate. It's obvious this isn't just "rich white people", the whole of fucking southern California is on fire.

[AntiFascist]

22. What I dislike is the comparison of the SoCal fires to Katrina...

even one news show was claiming that the fires were much larger in scope due to the number of people displaced. I'm sorry but Katrina was a far, far worse tragedy because it represented multiple failures at all levels of government and almost a complete disregard for the lives placed in jeopardy. The result of the fires represent a tremendous success of the emergency response systems because there can only only be claimed 1 death as result, so far! Compare that to the thousands who died needlessly in New Orleans due to poor planning and a very poor response.

If people choose to build homes in wooded areas that occasionally have Santa Ana winds then they should accept the fact that they are taking a great risk, especially with global warming and drought becoming more of a problem each year. The fires were the result of very little that was wrong with the response systems, but more a result of our energy policies.

Anybody who cries about the poor showing of firefighters or that more should have been done to save their homes is only illustrating how truly selfish and self-absorbed we have become as a society, and is only highlighting a very poor stereotype of Californians.

[tinrobot]

23. Wooded areas?

Not in San Diego, Valencia or Malibu.

It's all brush, and the fires are not a result of energy policies, they're part of the natural cycle of this area, a cycle that's been going on for millenia. The fires clean out the old brush for the new every few years. People just get in the way of that cycle by building close to the open brush. They do take risks, but the big risk is in not clearing the brush to create defensible space.

[AntiFascist]

25. You're right about the brush....

and it is part of a natural cycle, but what is making the problem worse each cycle is global warming which is creating greater drought conditions in the Southwest and a longer fire season. There are wooded and brushy areas in some of the canyons that make them incredible fire traps.

[daninthemoon]

31. Possibly, but not necessarlily global warming at this point in this

area. This is semi-arid chapparal country. It is absolutely natural for the landscape to dry out and the Santa Ana's to spark these fires every few years. If it weren't for the aquaducts from the Colorado River, there would be no Los Angeles, Orange, Or San Diego's as we know them today.

[AntiFascist]

38. I understand, but in addition to increasing drought conditions...

there's also the wind. I've lived in these areas before myself in the past, but I don't recall hurricane-force Santa Ana winds being very common. Yes, the Santa Anas do occur every year, but they may also be getting more powerful.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. In the critical phase it might have been better handled

but having watched the latest presser... the politicization has begun

All that has been done and done right... will soon go down the drain

[AntiFascist]

27. Then we should call on CNN (and others)...

if they are really proud of their new little green CNN logo, and if they want to politicize something, they should focus on the climate changes that are caused by the ever-increasing carbon emissions and their effect on the drought conditions that are causing these mega-fires. I noticed that 60 Minutes featured quite a large segment on mega-fires this Sunday. They spent about one minute at the end of the segment stressing how serious an effect climate change was having on the problem. It almost seemed like they wanted to stress it more, but had to appease their big oil sponsors. Just like their other segment on Plame - they wanted to tell us much more, but had to bury it on their website.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. This was the local presser for the local folk

I suspect CNN will only pick on it if this is convenient

[Elspeth]

34. There was a lot of criticism after the Cedar Fire and LOCAL AUTHORITIES and ORGANIZATIONS

have been planning since then. The evacuation plans, including reverse 911, the shelters, etc. was all local planning.

For Chertoff and those Bush clowns to take credit for this is just ALL WRONG.

[Pooka Fey]

29. Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. K&R

[raccoon]

30. K&R. Great post. nt

[benEzra]

32. K&R, and thank you. (n/t)

[Elspeth]

33. Heddi, thank you

So many of us in Southern California are living paycheck to paycheck, just like the rest of the country. The super wealthy are few. The places in San Diego that are being threatened are middle class and working class for the most part. (Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar are exceptions) There are people who live in apartments and are paying (inflated) rents. The fires don't care who or what you are, only that your structure is in their path.

[intheflow]

36. kick n/t

[mshasta]

37. Finally! some one speaks up!

Thank you ...for your posting..

[tjwash]

39. I've been saying this ever since I saw the first news report on CNN.

Did they show the hundreds of houses or apartments in working class neighborhoods like Ramona or Escondido going up in flames? Hell no. They had to show the great big expensive ones burning up. And then keep showing them over and over; even though these places are a tiny minority of the places that are going up.

Then they had to plant a bullshit completely false and slanted story that made the rounds yesterday about the "GREAT TIME", and "FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE" at the stadium evacuation site. That one caused all sorts of people here to come slithering out of the woodwork to hate on all of us.

[Heddi]

40. kick

kick

[Generator]

41. Excellent post!

It's kinda like the media is the RNC, George Bush version of America. WHAT THEY PLAY to anyway.

Apparently America is only Iowa or Alabama. Or maybe Ohio during election season :) Someplace where the REAL people live-read middle class, even very lower middle class-but they don't cotton to no Sean Penn movies, and they'd rather lose a limb than pay to see Barbara Streisand.

NO NO NO, America is only a few honest god fearing white people in the middle. These COAST people are evil. They are either rich or they are poor. Everyone KNOWS America is a white christian farmer in IOWA. So just why does the Democratic race start there anyway? What does that say? Oh yes-Iowa is the real America.

Some of those people are rich in SOCAL. But suffering is still big unless you are filthy rich. Maybe having a big house-with lots of debt makes you rich? Losing all you have certainly is not something I can imagine and of course have pity for EVEN if you are Suzanne Summers. Of course there are millions of immigrants from that little place called Mexico living there too. Apparently they aren't included. Because whatever small thing they may have is doubly gone without any insurance-no legality.

I think the rich thing is funny because as you point out-many people that live there are house poor. They can't afford to move if they want to stay there. The can't buy a better house or even a smaller house because it's so damn expensive. I call it the sunshine tax. I find it absurd to live there because for what my relatives pay-they could have a farm (or a incredible house close in) with a few acres and a view and more here in Oregon. They make more than we do-but have a small house. Sure it's worth five times our house in PDX and only a tiny but bigger.

They need to move to Iowa.

[Uncle Joe]

42. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Heddi.

[KoKo]

43. Yes...thanks for pointing out what the M$M is trying to do. K&R!