This blog entry is brought to you by REM sleep

Here are some thoughts on other people's reactions to the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. I wasn't originally planning on blogging this, but last night a recurring theme in my dreams was that it was absolutely vital that I get this blogged. (These dreams also had cheat codes and easter eggs, so I'm not sure what that means.)

1. Some people say it's tacky and partisan to go around placing blame on the US government at a time like this. However, I think it's very pragmatic to loudly and vehemently blame any relevant government officials for any shortcomings whatsoever. Why? Because if they get a lot of loud blaming, then they and any future governments will put higher priority on disaster prevention and relief, because they know how much blame they'll get if their response is anything less than impeccable.

2. Some people say it's unreasonable to expect everyone to have been rescued. After all, it's not like they can push a button and instantly deploy resources to rescue hundreds of thousands of people. Again, I think that, pragmatically, people should go on loudly complaining about the slowness of the response and the fact that not everyone was rescued. Complain enough, and they're sure to come up with some way to rescue hundreds of thousands of people at the push of a button.

3. There has been talk of abandoning/relocating New Orleans. Then there have been other people who say that's ridiculous - you don't abandon San Francisco because there's an earthquake. I think this is apples and oranges. The thing about New Orleans is it's underwater! The only reason it isn't normally flooded is because of human-created technology. I haven't been able to find out how it got there in the first place ("Hmmm...this would be a perfect place for a city - we just have to move all this water!") but the fact is it isn't naturally habitable land. San Francisco might be on a fault line, but it's not like people could tell when settling there. However, whoever came to New Orleans first must have noticed it was under water, so it's a far less natural place to settle.