Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"Disastrous" Times?
Is it just me, or does it seem like some governor, mayor, or county board president is declaring a state of emergency in response to some disaster just about every other week these days? Don't get me wrong; I have tremendous sympathy for the victims of the recent hurricanes and the record-setting rains and flooding in the Chicagoland area. But it seems like these "declarations" are happening more and more frequently. Are we living in more "disastrous" times than a few decades ago, or is something else going on here? I wonder if witnessing the failure of government to provide adequate assistance to people who legitimately needed it (i.e. Katrina) has made us extra prone to expecting the government to step in immediately at every crisis. No politician wants to be seen as callous and inept in the face of natural disaster. And now we see huge government bailouts of irresponsible major financial firms because if they failed, it would be a disaster, and everyone would be suffering the consequences of their recklessness. So will this all just feed into a larger expectation that one of government's primary responsibilities is to somehow "rescue" us at every peril?
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3 comments:
This is a really interesting post, and I was actually thinking the same thing just the other day. The rate of natural disasters seems to have risen like never before in the past few weeks. Honestly, there can't be that many more disasters than usual these days. Our country's leaders know that in times of trouble we turn to them, and now it's almost as if they are trying to assert their authority ande build our trust in them through perilous times. I believe the result will be a higher expectancy from us, and we will be less forgiving when the government doesn't immediately jump to the rescue during the next big crises.
Wow Logan -- you're so insensitive!
But seriously, what I find most interesting about these Perilous Times is the rhetoric leaders use. How many times do we hear phrases like these?
- "These are new times..."
- "We are in a state of emergency..."
- "This is not the time to ask questions; it's time to act!"
- "We have never seen anything like this before..."
- "We are at war with..." (fill in the correct noun)
hi, this is michael. i was looking at your wall and i see you still didnt get my blog name. i emailed you and i guess it didnt work (probably my fault) so i'll just include it in this comment.
http://mpzbloggin.blogspot.com
i hope it still counts!
-michael zarowny
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