With regard to the notion that the levees were blown up intentionally
I dont mind the inclusion of the conspiracy theories, in the sense that its good to know how many people believe that, but Spike definitely didnt emphasize the debunking of those theories. His treatment was hardly evenhanded, clearly leaving the impression that these theories are plausible, if not likely. A bit more actual scientific commentary on the plausbility of the theories, and alternative explanations for the explosions, would have been appreciated.
One thing I did appreciate was the interview with the guy who emphasized that Katrina was Category 1 or Category 2, tops when it hit New Orleans. Thats absolutely true, and its important for people to realize. (More about that here.) I wish Spike had taken it to the next level and pointed out how much worse Katrina could have been, which is crucial to understanding what could potentially happen in the future, and also crucial to understanding how badly Nagin screwed up, as I wrote here:
As horrible as the catastrophe has been, please realize that it actually could have been far worse. What occurred was not the long-feared worst-case scenario, which involved not a levee breach equalizing the water level in Lake Ponchartrain and Lake New Orleans, but rather a storm surge over-topping the levees and causing the water level in Lake New Orleans, hemmed in by the still-intact levees, to rise substantially higher than the water level in the lake. If the storm had wobbled a meteorologically insignificant 20 or 30 miles to the west, and/or had not weakened from a Category 5 to a Category 4 at the last minute, that scenario would have occurred, and instead of a slowly developing 10-20 foot flood, New Orleans would have suffered a rapidly developing 30-40 foot flood. (Jackson Square would have been underwater, whereas in the real-world scenario it remained high and dry.) The whole thing would have happened Monday morning, and at the same time as the city was rapidly and massively flooding, the devastating winds that demolished the Mississippi coastline would have been tearing New Orleans apart instead. All of those attics where people took shelter would have been either submerged or shattered to bits. The French Quarter would have been swamped, instead of mostly surviving the flood. Second-floor generators in hospitals might well have drowned. Bottom line, there would be a lot fewer refugees and a lot more corpses.
Fewer refugees and more corpses means less opportunity for Nagin to blame the feds for their slow response (blame which is justified, but which Nagin unjustifiably uses to deflect even more richly deserved blame off himself), and attention would instead have focused, quite rightly, on the utter inadequacy of the evacuation. As I wrote here, It is frankly mind-boggling to me that people defend the lateness and inadequacy of the evacuation. If Katrina has been as bad as she almost was, tens of thousands people would have died.
P.S. What about the school buses? Why hasnt Spike shown us the school buses?
P.P.S. The criticisms of Bush and the federal government are largely justified
but the notion that Bush should have set foot on the ground in New Orleans is completely ridiculous. That would have totally disrupted the rescue operations! The Secret Service would have had to swarm all over New Orleans and the police department would have been completely diverted from its mission of saving lives and preserving law and order! And the Condi Rice stuff is just stupid. Shes the Secretary of State; she has no role whatsoever in domestic disaster relief. The only reason Spike Lee is focusing on her is because shes black. Honestly, its racist.
Also: Harry Belafonte is an idiot. But if youre going to include his inane ranting about how Bush doesnt care about poor people and black people, where was the alternative viewpoint saying that it was incompetence, not malice? I know Spike had footage available of someone saying that, because I said it. He just chose not to use it. So Belafontes @#$% goes unrebutted, the ridiculous criticisms of Rice go unrebutted, Nagins comment about where are the buses goes unrebutted (the obvious rebuttal being, you let them drown, Mr. Mayor)
yet when people criticize Nagin, its rebutted by Nagin and others. Very interesting editorial choices, Spike.
Bredan Loy
