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Tuesday, September 06, 2005
If you wish to offend people, I encourage you to continue to do it with your fiction.
Jay and I made our donations... go make yours.
 And I highly encourage you all not to put money into somebody's boot, or in those "Katrina Relief" buckets at your local gas station. You have no idea where any of that money goes. Make sure that you give to a reputable charity--throwing money away is just as bad as not giving anything, in my opinion. --- That being said, I want to take a moment to address this sanctimonious bullshit. Dear Anne Rice: You have every reason to be angry. Your home city was destroyed in a natural disaster that everyone saw coming for days in advance, and still help was slow to arrive. And when help did arrive, it was often insufficient. The loss of property is tragic, and the loss of life is so far beyond tragic that there is really no word to describe it. However, in your poorly-conceived rant, you direct your anger at the wrong people. You say: 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.You are wrong. Millions of us in the rest of the nation have not turned our backs. Millions of Americans have, like myself, stretched ourselves and contributed either money, time or even our very blood. Yes, I am aware that it sounds paltry merely to contribute money in the face of such a great cataclysm. But you will have to excuse me if I don't drop everything and drive to New Orleans, but I feel that I have several good reasons for remaining where I am. First of all, I owe something to my clients--people who themselves live below the poverty line. I feel that I have to take care of those who live in my backyard before I run around the country saving everyone else. (You may have heard of my hometown, the poorest city in the nation?) Second, I have no experience or training in rescue operations. Most likely, any vigilante crusade that I could dream up would get in the way and cause more confusion and damage. Again I say that millions of Americans are doing everything that they can. Your country has not failed you, Mme Rice. Your government, on the other hand, probably did fail, and as we move away from this disaster hopefully those responsible will be held accountable. I would encourage you not to confuse "the government" with "the country," because criticizing those of us who are doing what we can smacks of biting the hand that is reaching out to you. |
