After a Disaster, Who Has Time For Backbiting?

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

It doesn’t take long for a tragedy to be exploited by those more interested in self-serving agendas than the victimized. The man who entered the crowded R subway car was hidden from my view, but his voice was loud and clear.


“Can you help me, please? I’ve lost touch with my family in New Orleans,” he said. “I need money to get back home. Please. If there’s anything you can do to help, I’d appreciate it.”


The people on the train ignored him, probably recognizing him as a regular panhandler who had simply changed his act. That man, of course, might be considered by some to be enterprising, but there’s simply no excuse for our local politicians to seize on this horrific tragedy to score points with Bush-hating voters by linking it with the war in Iraq.


The legitimate question to ask is whether a natural disaster could inflict similar damage here, and the answer to that is: probably not. Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans dared to compare the government’s response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, as “lickety-quick” and angrily blamed the president for showing up two days after the event was over.


Even overlooking the fact that the September 11 damage covered a six-block area and not the immense acreage destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, that the city rebounded so quickly was due in large part to the leadership of Mayor Giuliani. He was always on the scene, walking amid the debris and coordinating the rescue efforts, while keeping the public aware of the situation. Most important, he had established and set in place an emergency center that would be at the ready to handle catastrophic events. In addition, most of the infrastructure of Manhattan was untouched by the loss of power and services.


But still the comparisons to the World Trade Center attacks keep coming, and they border on the surreal. I regularly get e-mails from a site dedicated to monitoring the use of the N-word in films and other entertainment. I’m presuming that the anonymous author is a black man, because of other links and comments made in previous mailings. I usually find his information interesting and thought-provoking, but I was very surprised to see his latest entry, which read: “As for the ‘looting,’ more went on during 9/11 but that was barely mentioned and quickly muzzled when brief references were made early on. And the 9/11 looting wasn’t for food and water – it wasn’t for survival. We’ll leave it at that, but we all heard the talk about the missing valuables – much more than could ever be taken from anywhere in Louisiana. New York vs. Louisiana – no comparison monetarily.”


This man claims to live in New York City but must be getting his misinformation from the Internet. That looting hoax is still widely disseminated – even after being discredited. The facts are this. Looting at the WTC site was done by civilians, not firemen, cops, or construction workers, as was charged by a reporter who did no fact-checking. It was limited to the site, and the looters were caught and convicted.


It’s less than two weeks since the storm of the century, and so much time is being wasted on recriminations and finding blame. Mr. Giuliani has displayed his usual grace by stating that there is no place for second-guessing during an emergency and he is not interested in criticizing government officials and their handling of the crisis. He also said it is too soon to draw any conclusions about how agencies reacted or who was responsible. Hear, hear, Mr. Giuliani, and a pox on the term limits that drove you away.


Heeding his advice, I will refrain from passing judgment on anyone until all the facts are in and simply urge all to join me in donating help to legitimate charitable organizations working to alleviate the sufferings of the Katrina victims.


I do, however, have this one criticism to make of the president, and it’s not about Katrina. I wish he hadn’t told the nation after September 11 to go about our normal lives, because much of the country seems to have forgotten that we were brutally attacked and we are now at war.


This Sunday is the fourth anniversary of the creation of ground zero, and I honestly thought that by this time the heartache I feel every time I ride by that hole in the ground would have abated. I’m not the kind of person who is easily angered, and yet there is something about that open space that tightens my jaw and narrows my eyes and makes all happy thoughts disappear.


Oh, to walk in the shadows of the twin giants again!


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