September 03, 2005
Any Port in a Storm
Elf Sternberg is watching Fox News' coverage of the Gulf Coast emergency so that you don't have to:
I will say that of all the channels on the air, I can understand why FOX gets the attention it does. They're most in-the-midst of it, they get the best folks on the air, they're actually interviewing cops and doctors on the ground rather than politicians or theorists. They're good at covering disasters.At one point some reporter was interviewing a doctor at a Red Cross recovery center in Gulfport and the talking head in the studio asked, "Who are all those people in the bright shirts behind you?"
"The ones in red vests are Red Cross. The ones in the bright yellow shirts are Scientologists, who are volunteering their expertise as grief counselors."
More like grief vultures.
I imagine that in general my opinions about the Scientologists are very similar to Elf's. In this particular case, though, I don't want to criticize. Those people are there on the ground, on the scene. They are doing something, and it is almost certainly making at least a little difference for the better.
This leaves me with a question: In between cracking wise about the 101st Fighting Keyboarders and taking part in Operation Yellow Elephant, what are you doing to relieve the suffering that Katrina left in her wake? Besides clicking on a button labeled "Donate", I mean.
Posted by abostick at September 3, 2005 09:24 AMencouraging people to donate blood. encouraging people to donate money. donating money myself. and i just wrote the president of the university i work at asking what relief we're organizing there, and volunteering to help work on it. (i work at a catholic university, for pete's sake; you'd think we'd be all over this.)
i can't think of anything else to do. (if you can think of something else for me to do, please, let me know.
Posted by: betsy at September 3, 2005 12:34 PMYou know I agree with you about the Scientologists, in both instances.
"Clicking on a button to donate money" counts too, you know.
Posted by: Debbie at September 3, 2005 01:55 PMI've given blood, and I'll go back to donate platelets. (I've never been exposed to cytomegalovirus, so my blood is useful for plasma, platelets, newborns, and the immunocompromised.)
I'm writing a story for a charity anthology--proceeds go to the Red Cross.
And I'm fostering awareness of disaster-management issues.
Posted by: Lynn at September 8, 2005 03:33 PMI was one of the yellow-shirt wearing people in Gulfport. Although I myself am not a Scientologist, I had the honor of being able to travel to the south because of them and work along side of them, and let me tell you they are the hardest working people I have ever met. People gave up their vacation time to go down and help out. I saw firsthand that they made a difference. I feel lucky to have been a part of it all and am going back to help out a little more soon.
