Camp HappyBadFun!

Screwed Like a Light Bulb

After Katrina hit, stories of rapes and murders, babies getting their throats slit and piles of corpses filling the Superdome shocked and horrified the nation. We watched in disbelief as reporter after reporter told the gruesome stories. Now, a month later, we are being told these facts may have been “exaggerated”—in fact, they may even be false.

According to this article:

“They have no official reports of rape and no eyewitnesses to sexual assault. The state Department of Health and Hospitals counted 10 dead at the Superdome and four at the convention center. Only two of those are believed to have been murdered.”

Forgive me if I have mixed emotions about this. I’m very glad that the raping and murdering was less than previously reported, but I can’t help but feel utterly and completely manipulated right now. When the mayor says "They have people standing out there, have been in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people.", I believe him. When the Chief of Police says, "We have individuals who are getting raped; we have individuals who are getting beaten.", I believe him, too. So to find out these vile stories are untrue makes me very angry. I’m angry that somebody reported stories that weren’t true or, at best, were grossly exaggerated . I’m angry that I was manipulated into believing anarchy and violence were rampant when all that was rampant was the chaos resulting from the ineptness of the Blanco and Nagin administrations.

As the truth is revealed the question screaming to be asked is: Who gave birth to these untruths and what was the motive? Are the guys who allegedly raped and murdered to blame? Mmmm....call me crazy, but I hardly think they'd be hanging around Campbell Brown begging for an interview. Was the pandemonium to blame? I think it’s fair to say it contributed to the confusion, but what about the reporters? Were they just “doing their job” when they reported unsubstantiated stories? What about Nagin? Should he be allowed to use the “I was just telling you what they told me” escape hatch?

I hate to be a cynic but I firmly believe we, as a nation, were fully, completely and intentionally lied to. I think our good hearts and compassionate nature were played like a fiddle by the MSM and the Louisiana powers-that-be. I think the media saw an opportunity to create a sensational story AND destroy Bush and his administration’s credibility all in the same shot. I think Nagin and Blanco were desperate to find a fall guy and I think Michael Brown -who made just enough mistakes to support their claims- was it. I think people like Oprah should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting such lies and manipulating the American public so shamelessly. I think what they have done is reprehensible and disgusting and I think every last one of them should be held accountable, by the American people, for the lies they told.