We’re not number one. We’re not even close.
By which measures, precisely, do we lead the world? Caring for our countrymen? You jest. A first-class physical infrastructure? Tell that to New Orleans. Throwing so much money at the rich that we’ve got nothing left over to promote the general welfare? Now you’re talking.
The problem goes beyond the fact that we can’t count on our government to be there for us in catastrophes. It’s that a can’t-do spirit, a shouldn’t-do spirit, guides the men who run the nation. Consider the congressional testimony of Joe Allbaugh, George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign manager, who assumed the top position at FEMA in 2001. He characterized the organization as “an oversized entitlement program,” and counseled states and cities to rely instead on “faith-based organizations . . . like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service.”
Is it any surprise, then, that the administration’s response to the devastation in New Orleans is of a piece with its response to the sacking of Baghdad once our troops arrived? “Stuff happens” was the way Don Rumsfeld described the destruction of Baghdad’s hospitals, universities and museums while American soldiers stood around. Now stuff has happened in New Orleans, too, even as FEMA was turning away offers of assistance. This is the stuff-happens administration. And it’s willing, apparently, to sacrifice any claim America may have to national greatness rather than inconvenience the rich by taxing them to build a more secure nation.
Stuff happens, it’s true. Stuff foreseen and unforeseen, avoidable and unavoidable. It has always been so. “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
It’s not the stuff that happens to us that makes us who we are, for good or ill. No, it’s what we do when stuff happens — how we respond, or fail to respond. All the choices we make along the way. And neglect is not excused by saying “stuff happens.”
David | 10-Aug-06 at 12:02 pm | Permalink
Literary Criticism
I realize that you are quoting Harold Myerson accurately, but the real expression is “Shit Happens.”
Several years ago, back when the expression was really gaining popularity, I started using “Stuff” because I don’t like crudity for the sake of crudity. However, after a short while, I realized that there was a significant difference between the two expressions.
“Stuff Happens” is neutral. “Stuff” can be good, bad or indifferent. “Shit” is nasty, disgusting, unwanted, and in the case of Bushco surely this is what happened.
The other quote I wish to comment on is the one from Matthew 5:45: “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
While this is the standard quote, for years I have preferred the version created by Charles, Baron Bowen:
The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella:
But chiefly on the just because
The unjust steals the just’s umbrella.
I feel this version is apposite in this case, as I really cannot see Bush outdoors, hunkered down, shivering as he gets soaked, unlike the poor in New Orleans. David
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