To set this up, I donated money to the Puerto Rican Red Cross hurricane relief effort, and have debated multiple assholes who have argued the Puerto Rico hurricane disaster is all Puerto Ricos fault, even bringing up 200.000 PR citizens have served in our armed forces since 1917!
To set this up, I donated money to the Puerto Rican Red Cross hurricane relief effort, and have debated multiple internet assholes who have argued the Puerto Rico hurricane disaster is all Puerto Ricos fault, even bringing up 200,000 PR citizens have served in our armed forces since 1917!
Tune into Friday night where I ran into a Puerto Rican who claims to have run a bar on the island; he says the hurricane tragedy is a result of Puerto Rican culture, where not only is everyone encouraged to steal, but if they encounter a white person, “honor” requires the Puerto Rican to mug them! He claimed as the bar owner, in the few years he ran the bar he confiscated almost 50 guns, and of all his 40+ bartenders, only one didn’t seal from him.
I cant believe Puerto Ricans are like this, so this testimony from one of them is disheartening. Any Puerto Ricans here who want to help me wipe out this idiocy???
IANAPR. You were talking to a guy who saw the worst of his fellow islanders, undoubtedly exaggerating an underlying truth that often co-exists with poverty. What this has to do with a hurricane I don’t know, but you are hearing the same kind of contempt from someone who thinks his brethren should all be able to rise above their circumstances as he believes he has. I’ve heard the same sentiments from many people in any walk of life. Some people view the universe looking in toward the center, while others think they are looking outward from the center, the latter often lacking an understanding of the human condition and the imperfections of society.
There are good and bad eggs in every culture/area. Anecdotally, I have only worked with Puerto Rican’s once. I had no problems with them but the Mexicans, justifiably, had much dislike towards them.
Every Puerto Rican isn’t a saint? I can’t believe that. And some of my best friends are Puerto Ricans, too!!
It sounds as though he was operating in a tourist area, rather than a bar that serves mostly residents. Everywhere in the world, tourist areas draw thieves.
The point he may have been trying to make,was that there were supplies and parts owned by the PR Electrical Utilities which might have been helpful in starting the recovery effort, but which just sat in the warehouses because the powers that be failed to release them.
One possible explanation for this: These parts and supplies were intended for day-to-day maintenance, and were neither adequate nor appropriate for disaster rebuilding. It could be reasonably expected (at the time, boy did we learn different!) that FEMA and the Corps of Engineers would be called in to rebuild the grid. But they could only be expected to bring in supplies for the rebuilding effort. There was no expectation that FEMA and COE would leave behind replacement parts and supplies for future maintenance.
It was also expected that this disaster would have enormous impact on the PR tax base. Tourist areas were destroyed, with beaches and hotels possibly beyond repair. So the budget for replacing the maintenance parts and supplies could reasonably be assumed to be vastly lower than normal, at a time when a rebuilt grid would have quite a few bugs and kinks to work out.
While I don’t agree with the decision, it has to be admitted that intelligent thought might have resulted in their taking the path to wait for the Feds to show up and start the rebuilding process, keeping their prudent reserve of maintenance parts and supplies for future use.
But yes, this was reported as
“ZOMG!!!1!!!1!! The corrupt PR gov’t is hoarding electrical supplies instead of rebuilding the grid!!!”
One can see why an Administration bent on reserving it’s funds for rebuilding CONUS disaster areas might have seen fit to let that impression go unchallenged.
OP, ISTM you have met someone with an ax to grind.
Where was that bar and when did he operate it? Did he consider moving it *away *from the high crime neighborhood? More to the point: this fellow exemplifies something I have observed not just among us but in other troubled locations. Someone has a hard time running a business or getting ahead because of various social or economic problems in his environment. Then their conclusion is “fuck this place, fuck these people”; then they escalate the tale of woe more and more with each retelling and it’s more and more about the people being incorrigible. It’s not that *he *got stolen from, it’s that “everyone’s encouraged to steal”; it’s not that he was in a tough block, it’s “he confiscated over 50 guns”; it’s not that his management style led to high turnover, it’s that *every one of 40+ bartenders *stole from him (every one?).
But the thing is, by that measure he might as well be from Detroit or New Orleans or Marseilles or any of a hundred other locations with bad neighborhoods.
Matter of fact, yes, in the disaster aftermath* the average Puerto Ricant is ANGRY *at the low state of readiness and the pace of recovery, and it is not news how the political and business leadership’s past corruption and “Uncle Sam will bail us out” complacency (this last one one in turn propagandized to the masses to keep them quiet) contributed to this status (BTW the Feds are not clean on this: they *should *have required accountability of the local administrators years BEFORE things came crashing down).
But again, Christ Jesus, really, I was there. NOBODY was prepared, not even FEMA had pondered this sort of scenario. Recovery, REAL recovery, is going to take years. The too-easy conclusion that *“it’s because everyone’s stealing!!” *is just that gut-anger taking over. Most recovery funds have not even been disbursed yet because of caution about being clear they’ll be given the best use. Again, it will be slow and painful. Do not be discouraged by that and resist those who will try to tell you it’s not worth your bother.
What do mean by “justifiably”???
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I love antique/kitschy coffee pots.