I read an interview with Richard Sennett in *Die Zeit*. ¹ He is returning home to the US after having spent several years in London. He says he is suffering from culture shock. Asked about Katrina, he said that the most disconcerting aspect was that politics in the US was people focused. The question is not, what is wrong with our society, why was it possible to tell people to evacuate after public transport no longer serviced New Orleans and not realize that two million people did not have a car and a credit card to leave town and check into a hotel somewhere else. Nobody is asking about the *why*. Instead, everybody is asking about the *who*. Who failed – was it Bush, the mayor, the governor, etc. As if the correct decisions right then and there are all that mattered and as if all the years of racial problems, class problems, all the years of trying to hobble the state in the name of freedom and the economy – as if all that did not matter. *Why* do the people elect political leaders that clearly fail to prepare. When an earthquake hits Los Angeles – will people ask: *Why* was there no law passed that forced us to build where it makes sense? Or will they ask: *Who* did not send enough aid when we were in our greatest need?
The focus on people stories, on the failures of those in power, on the heroic deeds performed by selfless saviours – all of this is important. But my fear is that this is all there is. We’ll never get any fundamental *change*.
This concerns me, because too many politicians here in Europe are looking accross the Atlantic. It is in my best interest to help prevent the slow decay I’m seeing in the USA because there’s reason to believe that so many of these problems will show up in Switzerland sooner or later. Neo Conservative thought is growing stronger all the time.
(I got to read this article because SuShee linked to another article in *Die Zeit* which I also read.)
#USA #Katrina