Why is Nashville (following the flood) unlike New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?
Natural disasters have the ability to bring out the best in people and in many cases, the worst. Tornadoes that level small towns draw families – whose every possession now litters roadways – together.
In the seminal book Bowling Alone, Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam bemoaned the declining sense of community in America (which eerily parallels the decline of Pre-Obama America), and it is in natural calamities that people showcase their innate kindness and benevolence. [snip]
You recall, Kanye West went on national TV in 2005 and stated that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” as the rapper decided the president’s response to the ongoing looting, murder and mayhem in New Orleans was the fault of a white president, when it was Black people engaging in said activity.
However, a flood of much greater brutality has devastated another southern city as of late, and yet the media is curiously absent from covering this remorseless act of nature. Oddly, incidents of rioting, looting, murdering and congregating inside a sports arena are noticeably absent from the news emanating out of Nashville.
Instead, citizens working together for the common good of overcome nature’s tragic indifference are all that seems to be transpiring. No “We are the World” telethons are being conducted to raise needed funds to combat the emotionless water that rises in Nashville, flooding such landmarks as the Grand Ole Opry.