I am trying to wrap my head around the term âcrisis.â I feel that this word is overly used. Then I looked up the definition:
cri·sis
ËkrÄ«sis/Submit
noun
a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
âthe current economic crisisâ
synonyms: emergency, disaster, catastrophe, calamity; More
a time when a difficult or important decision must be made.
âa crisis point of historyâ
synonyms: critical point, turning point, crossroads, watershed, head, moment of truth, zero hour, point of no return, Rubicon, doomsday; More
the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.
And with the lack of a difficult decision made and a change indicating recovery or death then yes it was the worst humanitarian crisis in modern American history.
Twice the fatalities of Katrina, which shocked the world and broke a presidency. But they mostly died at home, at the end of a long stretch of broken, impassable road. The media documented that there was a huge problem, we all saw the images, but there werenât bodies floating in the streets, or masses crowded into a hellish stadium. Just people dying in their own beds for lack of food, or potable water, or medical care they needed, in houses dotted across the countryside. And this president claims it was an unsung success, and his party remains shamefully silent.
Vote, if you donât like it. We have to end this ongoing disgrace.
Well I do not know we have thousands of immigrant kids in jails, detention centers, ect.; all part of Trumpâs final solution. Truly a life changing event for these children, parents and relatives. Purposely inacted.
This is why I was having a hard time trying to decide what crisis meant. Flint, kids in cages, and Puerto Rico are all calamities that happened, are continuing to happen, because of poor planning, poor decision making, and poor response to the situation that decision resulted in. These are not unintended consequences, we should have enough past knowledge to predict these outcomes.
Putting on my Contrarian Cap: Even allowing for the change in methods of counting deaths attributed to hurricanes, the first two things that came to my mind were the tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan. This statement qualifies as Trumpian in its hyperbole.
She did say Anerican History tbough.
Thanks for this. Sorry, I canât get on board on this statement because it truly doesnât take into account the MANY crises we face nowadays. I would say that the effects of Hurr. Maria are âthe worst humanitarian crisis in modern American historyâ if modern history starts in 2017. And yes, I am referring to American history.
I look at the â crisis â as starting in Nov. 2016 âŠ
of which the Maria response is but a part â
Putting on my Contrarian Cap: Tell that to the people who lost relatives to what should have been totally foreseeable and preventable lack of dialysis, to sleep apnea, to excessively long interruptions in treatment of chronic medical conditions or diseases, either because they could not go to their doctor, or their doctor was not able to reopen his/her clinic, or the local municipal hospital was not functioning for weeks and up to months because of lack of electrical power. Tell that to people who sat in homes for months where the roof had been torn off and where FEMA had yet to provide a blue plastic tarp, who spent months to be able to communicate by telephone, who spent months waiting in day long lines to buy some gasoline or diesel. Tell that to people who made the choice to drink water from the Dorado township Superfund Site, rather than die of dehydration and thirst in the becalmed humidity that follows a Hurricane. Tell that to the people who spent weeks collecting rain runoff from the mountainsides with plastic tubing, many of whom died from Leptospyrosis. Tell that to the people who died or lost relatives to the overflow of the Dam that was opened during the Hurricane. Tell that to people who are never going to recover their businesses or professional practice.
And lets be frank, if this had happened in any of the Mainland States, you wouldnt be requiring Tsunamis (which are humanitarian catastrophes) for Ocasio Cortez to call what happened to Puerto Rico a humanitarian crisis. Or comparing her to fucking Donald Trump.
Correct me if Iâm wrong, but I donât believe Indonesia or Japan are in America.
Iâm in my mid-50âs, and for me, modern American history begins with the end of WWII, the nuclear age. For older Americans, maybe it starts with the Great Depression. But both of those events are from the first half of the last century.
It wouldnât suprise me, or be particularly unreasonable, if millenials and post-millenials think of modern history beginning somewhat more recently, with Reagan, or 9/11, or the Great Recession - the era of terrorism, wealth inequality and a resurgence of fascism/Nazism, the new gilded age.
Maybe just maybe the Maria disaster will be the catalyst the islanders need to take that big step towards statehood. It wonât be quick and it wonât be easy but maybe at last the islanders see that statehood will make them equals to all the mainland states as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
@7hom7hom trumpian hyperbole is standing on the lawn of the Rose Garden near the White House making a video, looks like something straight of out youtube. In comparison to trumpâs hyper activity Ocasion Cortez looks calm and reasonable, and of course more statesman like.
We seem to be caught in a culture of extremes. Things have to be the best or the worst. Using a superlative doesnât really matter to those affected and in a way it takes away from what actually is occurring. It turns it into a contest not a human tragedy.