Our Beautiful Disaster Porn

[bzarcher]

"We've (Americans) never had a major city totally wiped out before" - Phil.

Now, this isn't entirely true. The British certain did a number on D.C. in 1814, and earthquakes have reduced San Francisco to flinders at least twice since it was settled. Now, that we've not had a major city wiped out in this era of modern communications? Yes, I'll agree to that.

And as a culture, we're certainly milking it for all it's worth as hurricane Katrina inexorably makes her way towards New Orleans.

I came downstairs to take a break from MUSHing, PC, etx.

I turn on the TV - not surprisingly turned to CNN.

Katrina.

Headline news? Katrina.

ESPN? Katrina. (Apparently the Saints just rented SJSU's fields to practice on, while the superdome is now the world's largest hurricane shelter.)

Travel Channel? Katrina.

Fox news? Katrina.

TBS? Blade II, but with a Katrina bar occasionally going off.

WGN? Katrina.

Food network? Ice Cream. Thank god.

ABC? Katrina.

MSN/Money? Katrina.

Animal Planet? Katrina - they're putting the New Orleans Aquarium dolphins into pools at a Holiday Inn because they're deeper than the NOA tanks and farther inland.

We're fascinated by it. I'm personally quite concerned, because I'd really like to vacation in New Orleans someday, and touring some of the historical sites and architecture was one of the things I wanted to do. This is rather difficult if they're reduced to flinders.

And yet, it's something I want to watch. We've studded the city with cameras, 24x7 progress reports are in the offing, and I can get real time stormtracks and projections just by flipping channels. We're all waiting to see this incredible thing. Could, against all logic, the city somehow survive this intact? Will we finally see a disaster At Home to equal some of the destruction we've seen in Asia over the past few years? Will this be our Tsunami? Our Kobe? Or will it be horribly destructive, but not quite the the meteorlogical orgasm that we've been anticipiating?

We will see, soon. The entire country seems to be watching. Such a beautiful disaster we've found in the making.

Comments

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I could use some ice cream about now, yeah.

I've always wanted to visit New Orleans too...but right now I'm more concerned about friends and acquaintances I know from there.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

*nods* Ice cream's very, very important on a day like this.

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

*nods* Funny you should mention it - I was reading about the 1906 quake very late last night/early this morning when I couldn't sleep. The San Fran Museum has a number of interesting primary sources online, a lot of which reveal a less than flattering concern about an "Asiatic coolie influx" and general suspicion and bad treatment of the Chinese population. Also read about the quake that took down the Cypress freeway, and the term "disaster porn" definitely crossed my mind. I wish I could remember when and where I first heard that phrase.

[ardaniel]

Probably from me around the time z_gryphon started disasterporn for fans of shows like Seconds from Disaster.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I think so, but I may have also caught it from Warren Ellis, too. It's a great term, though.

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

Possibly. I know James Patrick Kelly's Wildlife used the term "corpse porn." He might have used "disaster porn," or I might have generalized from there or heard it in the mass media or something. (A quick Google search a few minutes ago indicated that it's been used a lot.)

[mephron]

The first time I heard it was in a book by Pat Cadigan, 'Synners'. Wherein the term 'porn' was a generic term for stuff that appealled to baser instincts, not just the sexual.

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The only Cadigan novel I've read was Tea From an Empty Cup. I couldn't really get into her writing style.

[browntreesnake.livejournal.com]

I think that once the storm passes, this will be an event forgotten relatively quickly compared to many natural disasters. Unlike most catastrophic events, hurricanes are seen coming - preparations can be made and people can be evacuated before the destruction starts. This is in stark contrast to tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.

With that said, I'm certian there will be great destruction, and that some lives will be lost, and that there will be a massive undertaking to help disposessed victims of the storm. But, because it is not sudden, the impact after the all clear is sounded will probably be minimal.

One more note: I say this because here on Guam, when a typhoon is on its way, people prepare and do what they need to. People don't generally die in the storms here. Typhoon Pongsona (December 2002) had winds in excess of 200 mph. The damage was serious, but because we build with concrete (listen up, Florida / Louisiana) and know to go inside before the thing hits, we stay safe. How much news coverage do we get? Little or none. Of course, this is partly because we're so far away, and the population here is so small compared to any major U.S. city, but without major loss of life, we can't seem to focus on it.

Wow, that was a long comment.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Hey, it was a long post. Nothing wrong with a long comment.

I would also say that part of the reason that the marianas don't get as much coverage is that they get the "Oh, it's the islands/exotic" factor. People sort of expect dangerous weather, there. But this is somewhere that's considered 'safe' (even though it really isn't by both location and construction...).

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

The US has only had three Category 5 hurricanes make landfall, so Katrina is more atypical here.

[snowspinner.livejournal.com]

Actually, even outside the loss of life, this is probably going to be catastrophic. The main issue is that New Orleans is below sea level, and the levies are only meant to handle a category 3 hurricane. There are possibilities that the leavies will be breached by ten feet, and that the city will completely flood. Being below sea level it won't drain naturally. Estimates are that it might take them four months just to pump out the city.

[parasaurolophus.livejournal.com]

Regarding construction, Florida (especially south Florida) has a huge problem with corruption. Contractors bribe building inspectors so they can get by with sub-par work. That's why Katrina, which wasn't all -that- strong when it hit Dade, tore up so many houses in Homestead, which was supposed to have been rebuilt hurricane-safe after Andrew.

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

Another reason not to move to Florida.

[canemex.livejournal.com]

The 1900 Storm remains the worst natural disaster ever to occur in the US, and Galveston has never recovered economically. Not to mention Indianola, which was wiped out three times before they decided to call it quits.

That's why I take this seriously, personally. Technology may have advanced, but look at how badly any coastal city suffers when it floods fit for an ark.

It is sort of morbidly fascinating, though, is it not?

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Very much so.

[flying-landon.livejournal.com]

People seem to forget that New Orleans got railed LAST YEAR. Oh how short our memories are. My cousin and her husband have motored further in land (They live right next to Merchant(?) Street). Last year, it took them 8 hours to make a 1 hour trip.

New Orleans will survive. Some windows will blow out, interiors will be ruined, some less structurally sound buildings may fall, but it's not like some giant steamroller is going to level the city.

[snowspinner.livejournal.com]

What hit last year wasn't category 5 - the leavies were equipped to handle it. A category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans has a real chance of, among other things, leaving the entire city under 25 feet of highly toxic water. That's on fire. For six months.

[flying-landon.livejournal.com]

New Orleans needs a good washing.

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

Let't not forget Atlanta burning or Seattle being leveled and rebuilt. Murr. *rolls eyes* This is what happens when for several generations, accurate and detailed history is widdled out of American education.

[snowspinner.livejournal.com]

I at least don't count any of the fires - including Seattle, Chicago, etc, simply because those only damage buildings. That's solidly horrible, but it doesn't obliderate the city. (And in Atlanta's case, it sould be noted, the churches and hospitals were spared) I'll grant the San Francisco earthquakes tentatively, but it should be noted that, had this storm gone just a little differently in its course, New Orleans would sink. If it had happened 100 years ago, the city would be permanantly destroyed. Landscape change is, I think, a meaningfully different thing.