More than 60 years of disaster studies suggest that actually we do govern ourselves pretty well in crises and in the absence of institutional authority. And most disasters give us more grounds to question institutional authority than to question ordinary human beings. As one journalist in the Philippines wrote privately: When a man in devastated Tacloban takes food from the shelf of an abandoned grocery, he is called a looter and a thief. When a man in Manila takes money meant for the man in Tacloban, he is called a senator. When newspapers report on human suffering, they suggest we should care. When they demonize the same people, they suggest that maybe we dont have to, and when they focus on the status of material goods rather than that suffering, they suggest property is more important than people. Maybe these things are true, to them. Are they to you?
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 19:31:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015