Thursday, September 01, 2005
Technolohy Brought to Its Knees
The recent hurricane and aftermath have demostrated that with all the technology and intellectual advancement of the last century, we still as mankind have no mastery over the world around us. Rather, we seem to be its servant. The city of New Orleans has been placed in as pitiful and humbling a condition as the Asiatic region after the tsunami. Had not thousands fled the storm in advance, the problems would be exponentially worse.
There is still little moral equivalence of the two. First, the events are distinct because the death tolls are drastically different. Second, the events are different because the global response is different. After the tsunami, people blamed the USA for reasons ranging from failures in the alert system to weak funding of disaster relief to even culpability of the US government in creating the tidal wave. After the hurricane, the US was equally blamed. In this sense they are similar. However, the outpoiring of international aid has been woefully silent in this last disaster. Where are the cries of "stinginess" now?
Instead, we hear from the Saudi government that though they pity us, they stand out of the way, because this must be a sign from Allah that America must convert to Islam. Cries across the Muslim world are claiming that Allah has joined Bin Laden's cause through this hurricane. Did the "Christian" world respond the same to the disasters of the Muslim world during the tsunami? NO!! The outpoiring of aid both private and public was overwhelmingly strong.
There is still little moral equivalence of the two. First, the events are distinct because the death tolls are drastically different. Second, the events are different because the global response is different. After the tsunami, people blamed the USA for reasons ranging from failures in the alert system to weak funding of disaster relief to even culpability of the US government in creating the tidal wave. After the hurricane, the US was equally blamed. In this sense they are similar. However, the outpoiring of international aid has been woefully silent in this last disaster. Where are the cries of "stinginess" now?
Instead, we hear from the Saudi government that though they pity us, they stand out of the way, because this must be a sign from Allah that America must convert to Islam. Cries across the Muslim world are claiming that Allah has joined Bin Laden's cause through this hurricane. Did the "Christian" world respond the same to the disasters of the Muslim world during the tsunami? NO!! The outpoiring of aid both private and public was overwhelmingly strong.
