Californiconflagration

As you are all probably aware, California is on fire. Well, major swaths of land near San Diego are, anyway. So I phoned up Holly yesterday to see what all the excitement was about, after the New York Times led off their paper with the headline California Fires Force 500,000 From Homes. As it turns out, things actually are pretty exciting - everything is closed, air quality is in the toilet, the TV channels have gone to 24/7 coverage of the fires, and, in what is surely a sign of the apocalypse, a heavy metal radio station has given their frequency to NPR for the duration, after the NPR antenna burned down. FEMA is involved, and vowing to do a better job this time. Given what a travesty the situation in New Orleans was, I don't see how they could do worse (though they still say dumb things). On the other hand, it's going to be hard to keep comparisons and issues of race from being raised:

In contrast to the staggering losses, which prompted President Bush to declare a federal disaster Tuesday, the mood at Qualcomm Stadium resembled a carnival more than a catastrophe. The vast parking lot looked a lot like a premature tailgate party for the Chargers' Sunday football game, except for omnipresent gauze masks to filter out smoke particles and the presence of gun-toting California National Guardsmen on patrol.

Rich white folk have a party, and plenty of resources. What a surprise!

"Rich white folk have a party, and plenty of resources. What a surprise!" -- Um, this is precisely why FEMA will do a better job... they need their campaign donation base in good standing.

I don't know--the rich white folk aren't the ones staying at the stadium. Things are pretty gross around here. Our air quality is teh suck and we almost lost Kevin's grandparent's cabin, but luckily it seems to have made it through okay. It's really a mess here--not just media hype. I was at work (Disneyland) today and there were a number of parents who admitted that they had evacuated and came up here. Unfortunately many of them hadn't told their children they were leaving the house because it might burn down, but rather they were taking an expected trip to Disneyland--woo hoo! I really hope their houses aren't destroyed--those kids will never want to come to Disneyland again.

'Momma, why did Mickey Mouse burn down the condo?' I do believe that most of the contrast we see between California and New Orleans is due to recognition that the American people don't like fiascos. But that isn't stopping the race issue from being noted, and even emphasized.

You have no idea how thrilled I was to open that link and NOT see something about Kanye West.

Kevin read a book solely because the first chapter was titled, "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn." And I gotta agree with that. Malibu pisses me off. I don't know why people build their houses there because they are always either burning to the ground or sliding into the ocean because last season's wildfires burned up everything that was holding the soil in place. Seriously--now that this fire thing has happened, look for Malibu in the news during the next major rainstorms. However, outside of Malibu, most of the people who got hit were plain old middle-class folks. Those exclusive mountain homes the article talked about...well, not really. It's funny because the picture on the site was a home in Running Springs, which is not in the least bit exclusive or highly sought-after because it's not on a body of water. The cabin going up in flames was probably nowhere near a million dollars. At any rate, there's always something to point fingers at. I noticed the article didn't talk about the displaced illegal Mexican immigrants...

Regardless of what he thinks about black people, I'm pretty sure george Bush hates Kanye West. That's an interesting point, Shelby - I hadn't thought about it, but there must be a significant number of illegal immigrants displaced. NPR apparently did a story on it. I quite enjoy the contrast with the Houston Chronicle, which says the fires are comprimising border security. I especially like the solution - "customs officials will look into getting a taller gate and more substantial chains".

Hey all, just an update, the air is clearing and we can finally breathe outside again. And a comment on the illegal immigrant situation - there were 4 bodies found in the desert, apparently a group crossing illegally got caught in the fires. The television news here in San Diego is surprisingly sympathetic to the people killed - not the typical 'build a bigger fence' rhetoric at all.

It's funny how that works, and it seems indicative to me of the debate over immigration. If we can imagine 'them' as people, if 'their' numbers are small, we react completely differently than when we talk about 'illegal immigrants' as a group.