Buck F. Nekid ([info]bucknekid) wrote,
2005-09-07 08:38:00
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Just the facts, Ma'am. Just the facts.

Given the CYA moves made by FEMA and the Federal government on their miserable failure at emergency response, and given the reporting of hearsay (news reports are supposed to be factual), the urban legend (which is what it is until facts are given) of people shooting at helicopters seems to me to be little more than excuse making for the delay in emergency response. Excuse making that people are eager to buy into.

When I first heard this report of someone firing on a helicopter that was trying to deliver supplies to a hospital, it struck me as an absurd thing for a person in that situation to do. To shoot at rescuers when you need rescuing. The original report had it that as a helicopter tried to deliver supplies to a hospital it was fired on by people yelling words to the effect of "you better come help my family" (I assume with a few fuckings and goddamns thrown in). The thoughts that raced through my mind at the time were, "what a weird thing for people shooting at someone to say" and "what a weird thing for people wanting to be rescued to do".

I note that there has been no video of this and other instances, no pictures of bullet holes in helicopters, no interviews with said helicopter pilot(s), no reports of National Guard gunshot deaths or injuries.

I know no more than the next person, seeing as I get my news from the same sources who no longer feel the need to check their facts, but it seems to me that if a particular helicopter crew got nervous about gunfire when delivering supplies to a hospital, it likely occurred as follows. The roof of a building adjacent to the hospital had become refuge for some people who needed help. None came. Then a helicopter shows up to drop supplies on the next building. The people on the adjacent roof yell "help" and wave things with no sort of response from the helicopter. Helicopters are enclosed by their own noise. To get the attention of the helicopter crew they fire a shot or two into the air, not at the helicopter, into the air to make noise so they will get noticed. They do get noticed. The helicopter pilot says what the hell was that, looks over at the building, sees a crowd of blacks waving things and yelling. One of the things being waved is a rifle. The perhaps understandable and yet sad conclusion the pilot makes is that he is under attack.

This single incident, and I did hear this single event when it was first reported, became "THEY are shooting at rescue helicopterS" without any details, without any further individual incidents reported. It became "everyone down there is shooting at all of our helicopters". It was supported by rescue workers who bought into this people-who-need-help-shooting-helpers story and upon arriving on the scene saw people floating around in makeshift boats carrying guns, and who instead of considering the practical reasons this would be so, saw only blacks with guns who were ready to shoot them. And in this racist society, the jump to belief that "THEY" (and we (many of us who believe we are not racist) know who "THEY" are) would do such a thing is something people WANT to believe.

Meanwhile, not a single newsreporter was fired on. They waded freely through the area taking lots of pictures and video. Did these journalists spread this urban legend without verification, or was this "information" puffed up by their editors? I don't know. However, given the amount of footage shot, and given the power of this "firing at rescue workers" "story", it seems odd there is no footage documenting a single incident of this kind.

News reports should be factually presented. It's called Journalism, and apparently it's in short supply. There is no reason I can think of that there would not be at least some physical evidence of the widely assumed to be true shooting at helicopters/rescue workers/National Guard stories this single incident grew to become.

No matter how many times a statement is repeated
no matter how many times others pipe in with yeah-I-heard
no matter how possible/likely/believable the scary scenario is
no matter how people get their backs up over the attrocity of the incident(s),

it aint so until there is proof. In fact each of these parameters, all of them together,

are the signatures of urban legend at best
(my mother-in-law's next door neighbor's friend was hospitilized after licking LSD treated postage stamps)

and incideously contrived propaganda designed to justify response or lack of response at worst.
(weapons of mass destruction. we couldn't get in.)

How many of us have not bought into this or that urban legend? They are by definition easy to swallow. And then the day comes where we discover we've been had again. And then we watch as others fall for the same story. Eh?

So post the stuff you know counters my ignorance here. But make sure the stuff you post is valid, because I'll ask for your proof.

Show me the fucking beef.

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  • 16 comments

[info]penguinonthelam

September 7 2005, 13:27:24 UTC 6 years ago

a different kind of story

[info]bucknekid

September 7 2005, 14:29:05 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you for that link. I hope everybody reads it.

[info]sainteelyse

September 7 2005, 15:11:40 UTC 6 years ago

sadly i am not surprised at all by that article. sigh. it's very difficult for me to make sense of things. i simply do not understand.

[info]tantieyaya

September 7 2005, 17:44:23 UTC 6 years ago

Fantastic (and infuriating) article. Thank you for sharing.

[info]xizorblacksun

September 7 2005, 14:48:19 UTC 6 years ago

Sensationalism sells. If the news sources report that "some people on a rooftop are shooting into the air to try to get the attention of resuers," it doesn't sell papers and doesn't get ratings. But you spin it to be that "people are shooting at our rescue helicopters!!!" - well that makes everyone stop, and stare, and put their hands over their mouths and say "oh my goodness!" and sit there for the next few hours glued to the set.

Just look at how often prank callers get on the air by feeding the media juicy "scoop" stories and then yelling "baba booey" when they've fucked with them long enough.

Media spin sucks.

Thanks for that intelligent post, Bob.

[info]bucknekid

September 7 2005, 14:50:42 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you. And it's great hearing from you. I hope all is well with you.

[info]edith_mf

September 7 2005, 15:07:07 UTC 6 years ago

Very good points. People do go nuts, but the rescuers can too and hear or see things that aren't really what they perceive, especially when they are understaffed, sleep deprived and undertrained. How would you hear a small caliber gun over a helicopter's racket anyway? It could have been a waterlogged cottonwood dropping a branch. How is a person from the north east or west to understand a thick cajun accent?

They need to concentrate some serious loving care on some of those refugees and get them back in as aid workers.

[info]sainteelyse

September 7 2005, 15:18:15 UTC 6 years ago

exceptionally true. my parents, since being displaced to austin after the hurricane, are doing counseling at the convention center here. the convention center is one of multiple places where there are many refugees. they said that the largest problem they see there is that the people here do not know the "culture" of new orleans and don't realize that the best way to get a group of people, especially from the projects etc., is not to yell at them through a bull horn and have police officers walk up with a gun and badge. that's likely to have the opposite affect on people. i think that having some of the refugees go in and help to become aid persons would be an amazing idea and would also give those refugees some sense of power over a situation where they have been essentially powerless for far too long.

[info]bucknekid

September 7 2005, 15:22:55 UTC 6 years ago

I hope we hear more reports from your folks on the scene, Stacy. I give far more credence to eyewitnesses than to conglomarates with stuff to sell. Again, I pray that everyone gets out of whatever messes they find themselves in as quickly as possible.

[info]sainteelyse

September 7 2005, 15:35:34 UTC 6 years ago

i will tell you what i know.:) my brother says that in and around lafayette, he has recently been travelling to baton rouge and napoleonville taking medical supplies and mattresses and such, the people are more shell shocked than anything. he says they don't seem angry at all. just incredibly sad and feeling badly that they don't have the energy to help as they wish.

i think that he will more than likely end up being able to go back to the city earlier than the parentals so i should have some more real news as soon as that happens. my exbf is going to do a flyover of n.o. on friday to get a lay of the land, so to speak, and then will probably be joining the military down there in whatever capasity they need him in. i do know he is going with my brother when he heads into the city.

[info]bucknekid

September 7 2005, 15:24:13 UTC 6 years ago

I agree whole heartedly with your observations and prescription.

[info]tantieyaya

September 7 2005, 17:16:44 UTC 6 years ago

Great post Bob. Thanks for reminding us things are rarely as they seem.

Anonymous

September 7 2005, 21:59:54 UTC 6 years ago

Speaking of FEMA - check out this link. I think it's fact.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/06/katrina.charleston/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[info]tantieyaya

September 8 2005, 02:45:03 UTC 6 years ago

Uh, wow.

Seriously.

WOW.

Anonymous

September 8 2005, 11:15:04 UTC 6 years ago

That's what I thought too. WOW

[info]bucknekid

September 8 2005, 11:40:37 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you for the link. I checked on the Charleston, WV side of this news and there's even more to this escapade than this article reports.

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=5011
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