Why The Difference?

[bayne]

The difference is that MO and Iowa are Midwestern states, and that said, lots of farms, and hard working Midwesterners. These are the same people that work year-in and year-out to supply the world it's grain and a large majority of its other foods. These people are not the White-trash or uh, others, that polluted the streets of New Orleans. Sure, a good lot of people in New Orleans seriously got damaged, but once others saw that they were getting reimbursed, or helped, they all wanted the same treatments just because they were involved.
Personally, I can't stand anyone who says, "I survived Katrina," and wears it as a badge of courage, and I think they are all lazy thunderfucks.

[Brownman18]

The difference is that MO and Iowa are Midwestern states, and that said, lots of farms, and hard working Midwesterners. These are the same people that work year-in and year-out to supply the world it's grain and a large majority of its other foods. These people are not the White-trash or uh, others, that polluted the streets of New Orleans. Sure, a good lot of people in New Orleans seriously got damaged, but once others saw that they were getting reimbursed, or helped, they all wanted the same treatments just because they were involved.
Personally, I can't stand anyone who says, "I survived Katrina," and wears it as a badge of courage, and I think they are all lazy thunderfucks.

yep.

But the flaw is half of these individuals still choose to grow massive corp factory farming styles and half have resorted back to organic farming.

The latter being clearly superior as the food grown carries 8x the nutrients. Although the latters seeds can be destroyed by the germs and virus's that always plague the GM stuff....


The former having the advantage of being able to buy cheap seeds from monsanto, but then also having to pay for the chemicals that those crappy seeds require.

Same shit different day nobody learned anything.

I shan't provide a link for that though since its general knowledge if you come from any farming background be in first world third world or second world or japan doesnt really matter its still the world.

[mobbed]

somehow my house was untouched...

[ronald_dooley]

The difference is in the culture and living standards. People in the Mississippi mid-western regions live in stable, rural and suburbun environments with strong communites and family structures. They have a strong sense of self-determination and self-confidence because where they live, they are the first-class citizens, even if they are "poor" by national standards. They are poor, but no one is starving there. They are the first-class citizens in their communities and they feel responsibility for their lives, for their communites, and for their safety. They are able to help themselves because they have hope. They feel like they belong, and that empowers them and gives them self-confidence.

Most Americans have no idea just how bad off people were in New Orleans or what a shit hole New Orleans was BEFORE Katrina or how low on the totem pole the blacks in the 5th ward were. The police force in New Orleans was the most corrupt in the country and utterly useless BEFORE Katrina hit, and there were huge swaths of the city that were essentially massive ghettoes where people lived in third-world conditions. What led to that? Slavery, then Jim Crow, then ghettoization and the white flight to the suburbs. Combine that history with American contemporary culture where 50 million people have no education, no health insurance, no preparatory programs, and where we consider those massive ghettoes "normal," and then blame the black people in the ghettoes for their own misery.

Look... I live in Washington, DC, and I have volunteered for Heads-Up for almost 10 years. I go into inner city schools and teach the kids on afternoons. I teach 4th graders, and I teach them knowing that half the boys (9 year olds) will be dead or in jail before the end of high school. These kids are as smart as kids anywhere else, but they don't GET it. They don't see the connection between staying in school and having a normal, successful life because they have never seen an example. The white people in nice cars are like aliens to them... they don't make the connection that they can have a life like that. They look around them and see all the brown and black people living in misery, and they think that's their destiny. You can't change that by talking to someone. It's like my Marine buddy who went to Nepal with the US government and tried to send the kids from the "untouchable" class to free scools. They wouldn't go... you see, they knew that they were "untouchables"... and untouchables don't go to school... so they wouldn't go.

Folks... it's not as easy as telling someone in the ghetto "go to school, get a job, and stay out of trouble." It's a multi-step process. In order for someone to take care of his own problems and destiny, he has to first even care about his future in the first place. In order for someone to care about his future, he has to first have some pride and self-awareness. To have those things, he must first have a sense of his present state of affairs, where he comes from, and where he's going.

Think about it this way: imagine you have a friend who has no luck with girls. His mother made him feel worthless as a kid and girls have always picked on him or ignored him. He has zero positive experience with women. Then you come along and give him the advice "Well, buddy... you gotta be more confident and get yourself a fine woman!" Well... you'd be right. That is what he has to do, right? Only problem... it doesn't work like that. He's not going to stand up and say, "Why... you are right! I'll start being confident with women!" and go out and ask a girl out. It takes time. He has to first understand why he has no confidence with women... has to understand his past and his relationships with women. Then, he has to understand that his destiny is his own to make, that he is in charge of his fate and no one can help him but himself... but folks... that is a DIFFICULT thing to convince someone who is hopeless, folks. It's a big step to take for an individual with no self-esteem, and many times, it doesn't work out.... it's too big a leap.

So it's equally nonsensical to say that the people in the ghetto just need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get educations, jobs, and stay away from drugs and crime. That's obvious. We all know that. THEY know that... but it's just not that simple.

There's an entire society... a whole world of problems stacked against them. First of all, they have no role models. Why would they study hard? They don't know anybody who has an education, so it's like an abstract concept to them. They don't even see a normal life (wife, kids, home, job, nice car) as an option... it's as unrealistic to them as travelling to Mars because they don't know anyone else who has those things. For half of them, the dad is in jail. For half of them, the parents do drugs. For half of them, the parents are immigrants who don't speak English. Society treats them like low lifes, and most of these kids don't even have access to doctors or dentists or a healthy diet.

And then Bill O'reilly gets on TV and tells these kids "you have to be responsible for your own destiny." LOL...

So take a ghetto full of mindless people with no hope, no education, poor health, and no self-esteem or self-reliance, put them in a crisis situation like a hurricane where the rest of the country doesn't really give a damn that they are dying (because let's be honest... a lot of white americans don't care or even delighted in seeing so many black people failing), and as they're flailing on rooftops or trying to survive in the flooded streets of an abandoned city, the first thing they see on TV is FOX news reports: "Look at all these worthless n*ggers looting! It's a shame"

... and you expect such devastated, hopeless people to band together confidently, solve their own problems, and come together as a cohesive, nurturing community... which they have never been?

You say that they "expected" the federal government to help them. Buddy... they knew that the rest of American didn't give a shit AND they have never had any reason to believe they have any control over their own destinies... so of course they depend on the government. That's normal. You'd do the same thing if you were in their shoes. You have to have confidence to take care of yourself. People with no self-esteem naturally become grovelling and expect others to give them handouts.

But America's racism is the other big problem here, folks.

I remember when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in the early 90's. People from all around the country helped those folks out. I was a waiter in high school at the time near the Florida border in Alabama, and I remember volunteer groups coming down from all over the country: retirees, red cross volunteers, everyone banded together to help their fellow Americans... that is to say: middle class white Americans. They opened their homes to Andrew victims. When Andrew hit, the initial response was "Oh no! This is terrible! There are AMERICANS in need! Let's help them folks!"

When Katrina hit, the initial response was "Oh no! This is terrible! Those worthless n*ggers expect a handout?! Look at them looting!!!"

So in short, my friend... the difference is this: discrimination, uncompassion, hopelessness, and history.