Digital Thoughts – Hurricane Katrina, Part Two
Anyone who has not been in a cave without any form of media has seen the almost incomprehensible destruction the waters have had on parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. For many reasons, this tragedy is unlike any other most of us have ever experienced, and for one reason in particular, this tragedy is even more so. Events such as these, ones that cause an almost incalculable loss of life and can disrupt our entire way of viewing the world should only bring us together. More than 10,000 are expected dead and easily ten times that amount are displaced indefinitely. So, why has Katrina not pulled all of America together? Donations to the Red Cross suggest that to some extent America is listening, but the response by our government sends the message that America isn’t acting.
Katrina hit Monday a week ago, but it wasn’t until five days later, that we as a country seemed to show that we knew what we were doing and started getting people out of the third-world country, which was once New Orleans. By the time we seemed finally organized and mobilized, the damage to the nation, not just the physical damage had already hit a point of no return. In time, those people now displaced, like Robert whom I just met begging for work in order to help him support his also displaced but separated family, might get back on their feet and have a home to go to. It’s the damage to the moral psyche of the nation that won’t heal any time soon. Comments such as these by former First Lady Barbara Bush reveal why. As printed in The Nation, she concluded that “…the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out. ‘Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”
Respected rapper Kayne West said on live television “President Bush doesn’t care about black people.” His unscripted and unexpected words during a live benefit echoed what was on many people’s minds. Is it possible that the delay in sending aid had anything to do with the area being not just poor but black? But it wasn’t just blacks that suffered. America – its economy and confidence – was dealt a blow. Race must not have any role in this disaster, but it’s too late. Whether true or not, that people think it, and have questioned it, gives the feeling all the truth it needs. But fueling that half-truth is a huge mistake for it provides the country and its leadership with an out, an excuse for our poor performance.
We failed in this recovery not because of race, but because of our leaders, and arguably no one tells a better story on this than New York Times columnist and best selling author Thomas Friedman. Our leaders lack the ability to empathize with the people. As Friedman states, “These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it…” And, therein lays the truth of our recovery response. Our leaders know how to attack and to invade. Their efforts and our resources are focused on and committed towards that aim. They naively promoted and seemingly believed us incapable of being a real victim, too busy instead painting us as one as a means to an agenda. Those with the power to have changed the way things were handled were too busy looking outward and convincing us that we should be too. Theirs was a fallacy that wanted us to believe that by focusing all our efforts externally we had what we needed to protect us at home.
To put into perspective the situation, more than three times the number of people died here than in the destruction of the Twin Towers during 9-11. 60% of the city is still under water and will be for up to 80 days. There is no emergency phone system, or any phone system for that matter, so people can’t even report an emergency. With Katrina, we have witnessed the destruction of not just human life but entire ways of living – schools, hair salons, grocery stores, people’s dreams and memories, all gone, never to return or be replaced. They can’t afford to return. And this time around there isn’t a system left to help put back together the pieces of the puzzle; there could have been though.. Even so, as bad as the disaster was, and as poor as our response has been, without technology it would have been much worse.
While we can click on banners to send money, read blogs from those trapped in New Orleans, and have a digital record of the events that have unfolded right as they transpire, we are still far from realizing our true technology potential. Imagine instead of just blogs or a simple donation site an ability to show exactly where each of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people are. Families could unite quicker, and governments could help bring them home faster. Imagine, too, a system that knew what medications each person needed and the state of their health. We could have flown in to the various locales what people needed, when they needed it. We could have insured that babies would have formula to drink and people would have enough food, water, and provisions. Unfortunately, those with the ability to do so have a profit motive that would prevent them from being ready, willing, and able to do so. And, until that changes, people won’t share their information because they know the profit motive companies will unwittingly make it unsafe for them to do so.
Flights of fancy aside, those in our industry have a real ability to make a difference. I would love to have seen the immediate formation of a digital media disaster coalition, one that could tap into our lead generation, e-commerce, and traffic abilities to quickly raise not just money but also awareness and sign-up volunteers. There wasn’t time for Katrina, but perhaps our industry will set an example for governments and corporations to follow by investing in the future of humanity. Our lives could change in an instant. Katrina shows us that. Let us not be so ignorant of the past and foolhardy with the future to think it can’t. We have been very lucky… in billions of ways. It’s time to share that luck with those who desperately need some.
