shah8 wrote:Dude, what is with you people and sanctimony for those poor, poor, people in Haiti? For the love of god, give it a rest! Expresssions of sympathy is great and humane, but we should always remember that these are people with thoughts, lives, and agency of their own. They are poor, and sometimes desperate, but they are not completely helpless--not to survive, and not even to dream of better things. The kind of expressions repeatedly seen here, is so much why the dignity of many poor people is offended at the thought of "charity". So much of "charity" is simply thinly disguised "But for the Grace of God go I, that I am not like you".
If you want to have sympathy, maybe have some for the people in Cuba! They took the worst brunt of the storm. How about the people in the Caymans? Gustov is not going to get retired because of what happened in Haiti. Gustov is going to get retired for Cuba and the US.
Speaking of Cuba...I cannot help but be utterly impressed with the capability of their emergency services. A near category 5 storm smacks heavily populated areas? Not a single soul (maybe a hobo went over the water, but whatever) dies! Myanmar can't claim that. Neither can China or the Phillipines. Mexico certainly has never done better, and they have a pretty decent group themselves. Cuba is apparently the Michael Jordans of this kind of response.
What's with the hostility? We're all aware of the damage caused. I'm not sure exactly what post you're referencing here but whatever you're responding to it seems very heavy-handed.
A life is a life. Quite a few people died in Haiti and I would express sympathy for them whether they were rich, poor, middle-class, alien, or mutant. Doesn't matter.
First and foremost, the #1 cause for retirement of a hurricane name is deaths, followed by damage. Haiti had by far the highest death toll, Cuba and U.S. the most damage. But Hurricane Emily devastated the Yucatan with tons of damage yet because the death toll was very low it was not retired. If it had only hit Cuba with those 0 deaths, there would be no chance of retirement even if it still hit at the same intensity.