Over ten years ago I started a short story I could never finish. It was called "Depraved Indifference," and to make a short story shorter, it was meant to describe the general state of modern social life. In the intervening decade or so any doubts I might have had about the accuracy of the description have, sadly, completely evaporated.
When the horror that was Katrina unfolded in front of us all on television, "depraved indifference" seemed to be a perfect description of the a regime that didn't want to interrupt its vacation or restaurant dinners. On the other hand, for once, most, if not all Americans were anything but indifferent. Pity, if not exactly empathy, flowed freely, as did contributions to a variety of relief funds. For once, an amazingly large percentage of white Americans seemed willing to entertain at least the notion that daily life here in the land of the white and home of the rich was savagely unfair to the black and the poor. (If only because the violently horrific racism of the whole situation was so impossible to avoid hour after hour on our TV screens, belying the "looter" lies of the commentary.) For once, it seemed, the truly depraved indifference of the monsters who claim to lead the country, to be responsible for it's safety and well being, to be the government of, by, and for the people, was finally revealed to all for what it was. Surely, surely, SURELY many, if not all, of us felt, surely these vile liars, thieves and murderers would finally be held accountable for some, if not all, of their crimes.
Well, a year later, their precious poll numbers are certainly down for the count. Brownie has had to find another high paying job. But everyone else from Chertoff, on up, through Bush, and all the way to Cheney at the top are still in place, still waging their criminal war against Iraq, still arming and encouraging Israeli butchery, still bamboozling everyone from Fox News to the New York Times with their bullshit about Iran and "the terrorists" being a threat to "us." Meanwhile the poor and black people of New Orleans are still out of their homes, out of jobs, out of luck.
And the American People? "Depraved Indifference" rules the land once more.