Dear Editor, I am a student here at West Chester University and I am disgusted at some of the comments my classmates have made about the recent tragedy in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. Most of the comments that I hear have something to do with politics or the War in Iraq or how bad a person Bush is because of this tragedy. It doesn’t seem to me that these people even give credit that Katrina was a hurricane, a very large one at that, and not something that could be created or controlled by humans in the first place. In the aftermath of the storm there were a lot of mistakes made by many of our leaders, local and national, but it is not their fault that people died or that the city of New Orleans was flooded. For starters, the city was built 9 ft below sea level, for some unknown reason, which for its entire existence has been the cause of flooding and death. The Native Americans even told the French not to build on that piece of land because it flooded so much, but I haven’t heard anyone say that the French are partially to blame, even though the location of the city has as much to do with this tragedy as anything. This tragedy could not be averted because man has never been able to resist “mother nature,” and if people live below the sea they shouldn’t be surprised that the sea is on top of them. Not to say that the people that stayed and died did not die tragically, but it is not as if it was not a forewarned disaster either. As for blaming the government, congress tried to build a better levy in 1977 and again in 1996, and both times environmental groups stopped the plans from becoming a reality. This is partially Congress’s fault for not doing what was right despite some extreme groups, but surely all the blame can not go on the current administration when this process has been going on since 1977. It seems to me that many people are using this tragedy for their own agenda of political mudslinging, at a group that they already have enough mud to sling at. I think everyone should take a step back and instead of disrespecting the dead and hurting people of New Orleans, by using their plight for our own aims, we should say a prayer for them or do something to help their dire situation.
by Trevor Pierce