In the creepy and somewhat slow-paced passages about the actual toxic airborne event, I was struck by how Jack was slow to respond because of his certainty that no major catastrophe could touch his town's well-bred and white-bread existence. That disaster only struck in other places; that's what TV was for. I thought that was a fair critique. I haven't read up on how much of the Katrina mess was terrible emergency planning versus the accusations by some (like Kanye West) that the poor minorities barricaded at the stadium didn't get the same treatment as other Americans would. (I have seen some VH1 special that quoted Kanye and then brought in a comedian speculating what the Bush administration would have done if a natural disaster touched down in an investment banking neighborhood in Connecticut.) And Jack lives in a variation of that Connecticut neighborhood.
This post is signed by CL. Of course, the relevant tagline would be: "The wire editor who missed an urgent late-night advisory in December 2005 that a tsunami's death toll had just moved into the thousands ..."
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Yeah, I noticed that slowness, too, but I also sort of identified with it — how we cling to our role as spectator even as we're becoming victim, like our urge to watch a storm develop instead of retreating immediately to the basement. And there's also the matter of our weird faith, maybe from being members of an affluent nation, that some official apparatus will automatically kick in and be there to soften the blow, to mitigate the damage, to instruct us on what to do next, to assure us that someone is in charge and knowledgeable and doing the right things. Maybe that's why Katrina was so horrific — not for the damage it did so much as how it shattered that faith.
Yes, interesting. As a local government official, (an official who has an automatic emergency function designated by FEMA), I could totally relate to that stuff. Especially the emergency simulations, with the "victims" pretending to vomit and pass out on the street. We just did one of those a few months ago, a pretend anthrax attack. We had people throwing fits and attacking health workers and getting sick. We had a little girl pretend to have a seizure. It seems just as weird in real life as in the book.
And what about how the simulations and reality were all mixed up? That was a nice touch.
And I liked how explicit his faith was -- most people wouldn't put words to the thought that things couldn't happen where they are -- it sounds too ridiculous when put into words. But he clearly identified, without apology, the irrational reactions that so many of us have to things like that.
Erin, that's so bizarre! What was your role, if it isn't a state secret?
What did you think about the noxious odor test experiment followed by a real noxious odor event that the townspeople sort of jointly agreed to ignore?
Ooops! Ben made that point. Sorry!
Maybe that's why Katrina was so horrific — not for the damage it did so much as how it shattered that faith.
That's a great point, Kim. I think we have tastes of that kind of experience in fictional accounts like "White Noise," or I'm also thinking of "The Day After," but Katrina was more of an "it can happen here ... in the United States!" sort of wakeup.
Public information officer is a required position in the National Incident Management System, which was created after 9/11 to better "manage" emergency "incidents." The PIO coordinates with the media, releasing the facts as they become known, and works to get important information out to citizens, like evacuation procedures. I've had to take a bunch of classes and get certified by FEMA. Please pray that Newton doesn't get hit by a tornado so I can avoid all that pressure.
It was really funny how everyone ignored the noxious odor. It was like they were all still traumatized by the airborne toxic event and couldn't deal with the possibility of a repeat performance.
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