"a toxic soup inundating ..." something or other. This is just a snippet of the fear-invoking rhetoric that's become ubiquitous on the radio coverage of the impending hurricane Gustav. It's mostly the local and municipal politicians who are preaching doom and gloom. Make no mistake. This storm definitely has the potential to be just as bad as Katrina in terms of damage and destruction and loss of life. This storm is definitely going to fuck some shit up. Y'erd me?
But once our leaders tell us how bad the storm's going to be, once we gather constantly breaking information about the storm, information that is, at this point, everywhere and impossible to avoid, once we know that this storm is going to be a monster of a reminder of the awesome power of mother nature and we shouldn't hang around to see it first hand, they should lay off. I'm a big advocate of "good information." And I fully realize that sometimes "You're screwed, dude!" is good information. But I don't think that striking fear in the general populace is good for the collective psyche, nor can it be very productive. Stick to the rational explanations and allows us as responsible citizens to make good critical decisions. Quit trying to scare us. This storm is already scary enough on its own.
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I agree - Mayor Nagin saying "You need to be scared" is just poor leadership. Fear leads to panic and chaos. People who are scared look out only for themselves in their panic - like drowning swimmers, who will drown lifeguards trying to save them.
Thankfully his credibility is so shot by now that no one took his statement as something to heed. Good leadership calls citizens to a higher level - to reach out in self-sacrifice to help others. Good leaders inspire courage, bravery, and heroism in the face of danger, not cowardice.
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