Let’s Make Nashville a Big Deal, Even If the President and MSM Won’t
You may know that central Tennessee, and the city of Nashville in particular, has been devastated by what residents are calling a 500 year flood. The flood has killed over two dozen people, left thousands homeless, and caused over a billion dollars worth of property damage. It is, to use Joltin’ Joe Biden’s words, a big f***ing deal and one of the largest humanitarian disasters in American history, rivalling (if not exceeding) the death and destruction wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Now, you won’t know much about it if you get all your news from the usual news outlets because, largely, the MSM has ignored the story. I can’t tell you why the MSM lavished obscene amounts of attention on New Orleans (while getting almost every single story about the disaster completely wrong) but has given Nashville less attention than it’s given the latest celebrity news about Lindsey Lohan, but there it is. You can get very good information from around the blogosphere and even directly from people living in the flood zone.
President Obama, however, has not ignored Tennessee. Well, okay, he’s mostly ignored it, but not completely. I went looking for some sort of proclamation or speech and beyond this terse and vague statement yesterday, there hasn’t been a whole lot. It’s pretty clear that the President is going to follow the MSM in not making much of a deal of the still-growing disaster in middle Tennessee (as opposed, say, to the very big deal he’s making over an oil spill that will likely kill no Americans on shore in the Gulf States). I suppose if there’s no big corporation to beat up which has given him tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions over the years his interest wanes greatly.
So, really, it’s all up to us. Let’s do what Americans have been doing since before there was an America. Let’s not wait for the President to give the bitter clingers some time in the media spotlight and help them out ourselves.
I recommend a couple links given to me by Nashville resident, and my friend, Darryl Johnson who I and the guys at Strictly Right interviewed a couple of days ago about the flood: the Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund and Hands on Nashville. Michelle Malkin also has a number of links to groups who could use donations or volunteer help.
Pitch in, folks. Do what you can, even if what you can is only a little bit. Remember Nashville, and all the good folks in it, even if the President really hasn’t.
(CORRECTION: I jumped the gun a bit. The President issued his National Day of Prayer proclamation on April 30th not later in the week as I implied in the original version of this post. I apologize for using that proclamation as a vehicle of criticism and have removed that particular point.)
Other Posts of Interest:
Category: The Good Old US of A
I've noticed the lack of statements and news coverage of the devastation of this flood. While he has declared the area a disaster area, I have yet to see where the President has toured the devastation. (If I missed that news piece, someone correct me.) So this all got me thinking of what the difference between Nashville and New Orleans and I came up with this list.
1) Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall in the Gulf states. The media had weeks to build up to this story. The Nashville flood was a severe storm system that was supposed to pass over but instead stalled. That's fairly common with storms. While it rivals the destruction of Katrina, this storm is hardly sexy. Let's face it, sensationalism sells and there's nothing sensational about a stalled storm front.
2) The demographics are totally different. New Orleans, especially the areas worst hit, was majority lower-class black citizens. New Orleans is middle-class and diverse, hardly the type of people that bleeding-hearts get all gushy about. A day after New Orleans was hit, every news outlet, every humanitarian organization, and just about every celebrity was out there telling people to give and help. Hell, the celebs even had a telethon by month's end. Again, sensationalism sells … who wants to help out the middle-class?
3) Image is everything. Those shots of people huddling up in the Superdome and the video of the lake pouring over the levees were strong images that stick in peoples' minds. The picture of The Grand Ol' Opry now as the world's largest indoor swimming pool won't pull on anyone's emotional heart strings. Sensationalism, remember.
Am I totally off-base here?
See this Newsweek article, which further bolsters my overall "sensationalism" theme.
Since I'm confined to bed after being hit by a car last October, I have a little time on my hands to surf the web. If you think Nashville is getting no love from the MSM, also take a look at Millington, a suburb of Memphis, and Dyersburg, a community about 75 miles north of Memphis. Both of these areas have also suffered serious flooding and many people have lost or are in danger of losing their homes.
And it's not over yet–many points along the Mississippi River, including the two areas I just mentioned, are still under multiple flood warnings. Even Memphis, which sits on a bluff, has been issued a warning. But it's as if the entire state doesn't exist in the eyes of the MSM or the White House.
I'm glad I live on the second floor. I just hope my mattress floats.
I take to issue two things with this post. I hope that you will correct them.
1. You said 'one of the largest humanitarian disasters in American history, rivalling (if not exceeding) the death and destruction wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans."
Hurricane Katrina – caused 133.8 billion dollars in damage. Over 1,600 people were killed, 500 more bodies were found but never identifies and 6,500 people went missing. The entire city was under water for weeks and some parts were under water for months. Hurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster to strike the US ever…period. It dwarfed the next most costly natural disaster (1988 drought – 71.2 billion) by almost twice as much. To further put it's enormity in to perspective if you combine the all of the other major hurricanes that struck Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, New Orleans, and Texas over the last 30 years (17 in all, including monsters Hugo and Ike) the damages come to 190 billion. Katrina cause 133.8 all by itself.
Nashville (southeast) Flooding – damage estimates are currently about 1.5 billion and the death tool is at 28 across all affected states. 10 in Nashville, 8 in other TN counties and 10 outside of TN. This barely scratched the surface of your average weather disaster. Just two short years ago in 2008 the Midwest was underwater for 2 weeks in a flood that caused 15 billion in damage.
::Reference::
Billion Dollar Weather Disasters 1980 – 2009
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/reports/billion/bill…
2. President Obama issued the following statement on 05-04-2010 regarding the flooding:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with every American who has been impacted by the severe weather and flooding in the southeast, and our deepest condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the local first responders who have been working tirelessly to save lives and protect property in the face of these devastating storms. I have spoken with the Governors in the most severely impacted states, and yesterday I dispatched FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate to Tennessee to view the flood damage first hand and to report back on any unmet needs. Federal officials have been dispatched to the region and we will continue working in close coordination with state and local officials to support response and recovery efforts.”
You can see a copy of this briefing archived on the White House website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statem…
On your two points:
1) I stand by the word "rivalling", especially since the damage figure we have now is only preliminary and does not include the damage from the dozens of counties that have been affected. I would also note that this area was struck by a disaster for which they could never have been prepared, as opposed to the city of New Orleans, which could have prepared but did not.
2) I linked that press release in my blog post and referred to it specifically as inadequate.
[...] Over at The Sundries Shack, Jimmie has posted a bunch of links to places where you can donate to help the good folks of [...]
Here's another article from The Washington Examiner that says pretty much the same thing I said.
<blockquote cite="Jimmie">I stand by the word “rivalling”, especially since the damage figure we have now is only preliminary and does not include the damage from the dozens of counties that have been affected.
Let's be honest here you didn't just say "rivalling" you said "rivalling (if not exceeding)". No matter how you look at it though your claims do not measure up to reality. Even if they were to find that a secret cache of golden doubloons worth 10 billion dollar was washed away by the storm surge it still wouldn't even begin to compare. Not even close. By what criteria do you come to your "rivalling" conclusion?
<blockquote cite="Jimmie">I would also note that this area was struck by a disaster for which they could never have been prepared, as opposed to the city of New Orleans, which could have prepared but did not.
Are you kidding me? Clearly you are not from this area. Every time it rains around here we get Flash Flood warning and alerts. During a moderate rain storm I can hardly walk to my car from my office in downtown Nashville with out stepping in at least one ankle deep stream of water. We never expected the flooding to get as bad as it did, but it's not like we were hit by a earthquake or tsunami or something ludicrous. There are basically two kinds of natural disasters that strike this area, tornadoes and flooding caused by heavy rain fall.
How exactly could they have prepared for the Pontchartrain levee break? They probably should have spent the last 30+ years asking the Army Corp of Engineers to upgrade and update the levee huh? Oh wait…they did. They attempted to evacuate the city prior to the storm. What specifically do you think they could have done to prepare for this situation?
<blockquote cite="Jimmie">2) I linked that press release in my blog post and referred to it specifically as inadequate.
Ah…so you did. Missed that completely. So how is that statement vague or inadequate? It expresses sorrow for the loses, and states clearly and unambiguously what is being done to help.
That is indeed what I wrote. However, "if" is not exactly a statement of fact, now is it? Again, I stand by my use of the word "rivalling" which which you took particular umbrage.
On your second point, no I am not from the area, but I know several who are not. Nashville isn't on a 500-year flood plain, which is what this flood has turned out to be. Yes, Nashville gets small flash floods. They do not get something of this magnitude nearly often enough for the residents to prepare for, much less remember.
However, the citizens of New Orleans had more than ample warning. Plenty of authorities, civil and otherwise, had been warning of the danger of a strong hurricane striking the city. Tales of corruption (which led to the inadequacy of he levees and of city authorities being able to react effectively) have been rife for longer than I've been alive. Indeed, the city itself had money to work on the levees but did not. City residents were not at all uninformed about the precariousness of their position.
[...] I am sandwiched between disasters. Below me, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; above me, flooding in Tennessee.There is a palpable helplessness here in Montgomery. My neighbors and I can do precious little other [...]