reasonablenut

In light of the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and in respect to my fellow adjusters who lost so much money while thinking they were retiring early, I tripped across this essay by John Derbyshire.

Mr. Derbyshire usually writes for National Review or National Review Online (they make the distinction, not I.) I found this essay while trying to find audio files on his personal website. It is listed as unpublished, i.e. apparently nobody had the balls to actually print it.

I understand that Mr. Derbyshire can, at times, have polarizing views on certain subjects; especially race and homosexuality. He has added to that category recently by being both anti-nation building and pro-war. This is a subject that I whole-heartedly agree with the man on.

But back to his unpublished Katrina essay. One of the worst things to happen in this country (not to this country, because that is 9/11 [Not Dead Kennedys]), is the increasing racial sectarianism spawned by whatever 60's movement you want to attribute it to. I can't read a news article, even from a conservative source, without reading the obligatory racial reference. By this I mean, "Mohammed Al Mimi, an Arab-American, has voiced concern about racial backlash after...." well, fill in the fucking blank.

#1. I kinda figured out the guy was an Arab by his name. Unless he's a NOI wacko, the guys Arab or Persian and for the life of me I really can't figure out that distinction.

#2. Is the fact that he's Arab-American give more weight to his opinion? Many times these people are speaking bullshit (not just Arab-Americans, but whatever disposessed group of people the media are citing.)

#3. When did we draw these lines in the US? Recently there was that Wal-Mart/Washington Post guy blaming Koreans, Arabs, and Jews for the fact that blacks, sorry, African-Americans don't own more small businesses. Forgive me, but I fail to see the relation between a Goldstein owning and running a successful business and a black dude who doesn't give a shit.

With a year's hindsight, the most laughable and saddening thing about the Katrina crap was not the government's reaction (if you're waiting for them to help you, you've got bigger problems), but the racial line it drew.

It was the quintessential "World Ends....Blacks hit hardest" story, as Taranto would put it. It triggered a spasm of white guilt and sordid introspection into the "soul" of the country to find if we were institutionally racist.

And in the end, I didn't really give a shit. You build a city below sea level, bad shit's gonna happen eventually. What "ethnic composition" that ticking time-bomb of a location is, I couldn't care about less. Kudos to Houston for taking so many refugees but their crime rate skyrocketed. Better Houston than where I live.

My brief leap into cultural analysis ended badly. Hell, I think there's still a one-post blog that advocates my death.

It's sad and it's endemic and it hints at the roots of our destruction. We seem to be a country of splinters that cannot unite around a common cause, be it war or hurricanes. I think a democracy structured thusly is destined to implode.

Here ends my happy thought of the day.