# Number of dead in hurricane vs. number of dead in Iraq today **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538 "2005-09-01T02:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/21 "2005-09-01T13:45:12Z")
The [BBC News](http://news.bbc.co.uk/) front page. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/22 "2005-09-01T13:50:17Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > There was nothing political in my musing. Period. You may have put your spin on it. You can’t write a pit thread entitled, “Number of dead in hurricane vs. number of dead in Iraq today”, throw up a couple of links, cite body counts, point out the irony of what you perceive as an ‘us and them’ lack of equivelancy in disaster reporting, and then make a lame, C.Y.A. ‘it’s not political’ disclaimer. Whether you like it or not, just because attempted to avoid posting a duck, doesn’t mean it isn’t quacking. Over the years there have been hundreds of similar ‘comparison-type’ threads (i.e. ‘The media on reports about pretty blonde girls disappearing’ or ‘Why does the UN ignore the carnage in Africa’ two name just two). Even though the authors of such threads may wish to avoid being political, those sentiments, by their very nature, are political. > [@H. M. Kuitert](#): > > Everything Is Politics but Politics Is Not Everything. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/23 "2005-09-01T14:03:20Z")
??? Katrina and the stampeded aren’t even CLOSE. Not only will the death count eventually surpass the Iraqi stampede by thousands, but 1,000,000 people are left with NOTHING. Thousands of people are still stranded The destruction is just enormous. What’s left of NO is now a cesspool. The heartbreak is just beginning. You’ve got to be kidding me. And it’s human nature like others have said. And there NOTHING wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/24 "2005-09-01T14:30:23Z")
> [@Abbie Normal](#): > > Hell I couldn’t even find about the hurricane on Irans news page. Well, there was this: [http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0508302474194735.htm](http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0508302474194735.htm) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/25 "2005-09-01T14:31:53Z")
\*\*samclem \*\* Do you accept the explanations given above? You’ve only responded to the personal attacks against you but many of us have provide sound reasons & opinions to answer your questions. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/26 "2005-09-01T16:01:43Z")
Another reason why this is engrossing and traumatic for some of us, beyond any immediate personal connections, is that a lot of us live along the same coastline. We got grazed by a couple of hurricanes last year and narrowly missed by a couple others. Katrina headed west and took us out of the running early, but had some personal impact when it crossed our state south of here before turning into the real monster she finally was. I live in the shadows of these things for six months of the year. I have practically no fear of being trampled by a panic at a religious ceremony. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel for the families in Iraq that lost their loved ones. I feel for them. It’s just not as immediate and more with sympathy than empathy. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/27 "2005-09-01T16:09:32Z")
Sometimes it isn’t what happens to you, it’s when it happens to you. Normally the governor of a large state getting shot would be the major story of the day, but John Connally wasn’t getting a whole lot of attention in November of 1963. If the Iraqi stampede had happened a week ago, it would have been bigger. But it had the misfortune of being at the same time as the greatest natural disaster in US history. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/28 "2005-09-01T16:19:34Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > **70,000** possible casualties. The magnitude should speak for itself. I have looked all over for a cite for that and can’t find one. When you find one would you shoot it in here? My brother told me he saw a prediction on MSNBC of 40,000-60,000 deaths and I thought he was making it up, or had misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/29 "2005-09-01T16:42:08Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Another reason why this is engrossing and traumatic for some of us, beyond any immediate personal connections, is that a lot of us live along the same coastline. This point applies to anyone living on the Eastern Seaboard as well as the Gulf Coast. [Hurricanes have wreaked havoc all the way up the Atlantic coast](http://www.floridadisaster.org/hurricane_aware/english/history.shtml). One monster was the [1938 hurricane](http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurr1938.htm). More info on hurricane landfalls between Virginia and Massachusetts can be found [here.](http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/Majorne.htm) So, yeh, this hits home to anyone living on or near the coast. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/30 "2005-09-01T17:01:01Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > So, yeh, this hits home to anyone living on or near the coast. Exactly- I live in Maryland, which is pretty damned far away from New Orleans… but I remember going without power for two freaking weeks following Isabella and hearing the radio reports of the flooding throughout Oldtown Alexandria. There but for the grace of God. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/31 "2005-09-01T17:09:00Z")
Apropos of nothing much, last night I heard a local newsairhead say that Katrina was “One of the worst natural disasters of our lifetimes.” I spent a few minutes looking for a brick to bounce off his skull, but by the time I found one, the moment had passed. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/32 "2005-09-01T17:36:08Z")
> [@John Corrado](#): > > Exactly- I live in Maryland, which is pretty damned far away from New Orleans… but I remember going without power for two freaking weeks following Isabella and hearing the radio reports of the flooding throughout Oldtown Alexandria. > > There but for the grace of God. Yeh. I was a kid when two hurricanes hit Massachusetts in the 1950s, and I remember how frantic with worry my mother was for days afterward, since my father was a telephone lineman and was spending long hard hours dodging downed power lines to restore telephone service. There were huge trees lying like pick-up-sticks all over the place. Now I live in a seacoast town, only a couple of miles from the shore. It’s north of Boston, so not as likely to take as big a hit as Cape Cod and the south coast of the state would, but if a Category 3, say, rolled over us, we’d be fucked. Contemplating the Boston area taking anywhere near the kind of hit the Gulf Coast has is just horrifying. Especially because it _will_ happen some day. ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/33 "2005-09-01T17:48:14Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Funny how when it’s “us” getting killed, it’s the biggest thing in the world, and when it’s “them” it’s just another news day. > > I don’t need flamed, as I feel such sorrow for all those who lost life, loved ones, property and anything else in the NO, MS, AL area. Just beyond my comprehension, sitting here in Ohio, where I got three inches of rain. And no loss. > > But does anyone else see the irony of a similar disaster in terms of human life taking place in another part of the world, and it is only a minor blip on the radar of my life? > > Something just ain’t right… You are right, Something just ain’t right That something is **YOU** You are having a problem with a local disaster affecting millions of our friends and relatives gets more news coverage? Geez you must have been befuddled by 9/11- can see you going DUH everytime its mentioned again (just goes to show any dipstick can be a Mod) sorry to all the non dipstick mods ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/34 "2005-09-01T19:47:20Z")
What did you edit, **samclem**? ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/35 "2005-09-01T20:44:32Z")
Why dont you come down with me [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332870](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332870) would love your help ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/36 "2005-09-02T00:29:22Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I have looked all over for a cite for that and can’t find one. When you find one would you shoot it in here? > > My brother told me he saw a prediction on MSNBC of 40,000-60,000 deaths and I thought he was making it up, or had misunderstood. I’ll be happy to, if I see/hear it again. I was wondering if the guy was either talking out his ass or letting something slip that he meant to keep quiet, because I haven’t heard it anywhere else either. I was walking through the living room yesterday, and he quoted that figure. It nearly floored me. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/37 "2005-09-02T00:58:08Z")
> [@CWN](#): > > Why dont you come down with me [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332870](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332870) > would love your help If I didn’t have joint custody of a 12 year old and a 14 year old , I just might have done that. You’re the kind of person I wish I could be more like. Thank God for people like you. I gave blood Sunday morning, not that it had anything to do with NO. I just give blood. > [@jrfranchi](#): > > samclem > Do you accept the explanations given above? > You’ve only responded to the personal attacks against you but many of us have provide sound reasons & opinions to answer your questions. Yes, I accept the explanations. Hell, I mostly knew this. I’m sorry if my OP wasn’t as tightly written as it could have been. What I said was that the Iraqi disaster would be but a blip on **MY** radar. Of course I understand about the closeness of the disaster in NO. ( But you don’t understand–, “they’re shooting at ME!”) 🙂 > [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by samclem > There was nothing political in my musing. Period. You may have put your spin on it. > > You can’t write a pit thread entitled, “Number of dead in hurricane vs. number of dead in Iraq today”, throw up a couple of links, cite body counts, point out the irony of what you perceive as an ‘us and them’ lack of equivelancy in disaster reporting, and then make a lame, C.Y.A. ‘it’s not political’ disclaimer. You and others are right. I wish now I had linked to a ferry capsizing in the Java Sea with all 1500 pilgrims lost. No one would have linked my post to politics. Again, I had NO political motive. Iraq just happened to be the disaster of the day. And I was berating _myself_ for caring for only a moment about a thousand dead so far away, but I’ll be caring about the number of dead in NO for weeks to come. > [@CWN](#): > > Quote: > > You are right, Something just ain’t right > That something is YOU > You are having a problem with a local disaster affecting millions of our friends and relatives gets more news coverage? > Geez you must have been befuddled by 9/11- can see you going DUH everytime its mentioned again > (just goes to show any dipstick can be a Mod) > sorry to all the non dipstick mods No, I wasn’t comparing the lack of news coverage about the disaster in Iraq. I was musing about how the Iraq incident would be gone from my mind the next day. New Orleans won’t. It won’t be gone for weeks, months. Just the irony. Fortunately, not just any dipstick can be a mod. They’re taking applications. Your move. > [@The Gaspode](#): > > What did you edit, samclem? Mudane things. Spelling, if you must know. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/38 "2005-09-02T01:00:23Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Mudane things. Spelling, if you must know. Last edited tag coming soon? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/39 "2005-09-02T01:06:32Z")
And, if anyone else needs to know why I can’t just hop back in my thread, I go to work at 7am, and get home at 7pm. I try to access the board as quickly as possible, first responding to board matters in my capacity as a mod. Then I can be a civilian. I have NO internet access during the day. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538/40 "2005-09-02T01:12:40Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > No, I wasn’t comparing the lack of news coverage about the disaster in Iraq. I was musing about how the Iraq incident would be gone from my mind the next day. New Orleans won’t. It won’t be gone for weeks, months. Just the irony. It won’t be gone in part because of the long-term ramifications for the whole country. Just this afternoon I heard a discussion on NPR about the impact on shipping, for example. It’s harvest time for a number of crops in the Midwest, barges are loaded and heading down the Mississippi, and where are they headed to transship their caroges? The Port of New Orleans. Ocean-going ships are en route to the port with cargos.\* > [@](#): > > New Orleans is the largest port in the United States and the third largest in the world. It is an extremely busy shipping terminal that handles vessels with drafts to 40 ft as well as a multitude of smaller vessels engaged in a variety of marine transportation and service activities. River barge traffic is particularly evident as New Orleans is the southern terminus of the Mississippi River navigation system. That info is Googled from [this site, GlobalSecurity.org](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/new-orleans.htm), which also notes prophetically: > [@](#): > > New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen, with the Gulf of Mexico, a large lake close by, and a river running through town. \*Such as coffee. Don’t be surprised if the cost of a cuppa joe goes up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-dead-in-hurricane-vs-number-of-dead-in-iraq-today/319538.md?page=3)