The Blame Game

After watching the third part of the Hurricane Katrina film, I began thinking about the relationship between blame and subjectivity. We saw many individuals who work in different areas of society who have incredibly conflicting and contrasting thought about the disaster, whose fault it was, and how it can be fixed. Someone who held a high position at FEMA was one hundred precent convinced that it was the Department of Homeland Security fault that the disaster escalated to such and extreme height, yet the Department of Homeland Security thought the exact same about FEMA. Essentially, both FEMA and Homeland Security have completely different roles in society, as FEMA is to relieve humanity after a disaster and Homeland Security is merely to insure the utmost safety in the country. While their missions and roles in society overlap and they both provide for similar humanitarian needs, the question remains: whose responsibility is it? This question can be answered in countless amount of ways, but all responses will contain some partiality based on who one answers. The blame game and ongoing fight to determine whose fault it truly was continued/continues because neither side wants to accept the responsibility and consequences which come along with the blame. In reality, no individual or group wants to be the one who is identified and labeled as the one/s who were responsible for a catastrophic disaster, and therefore, they naturally put the blame on another individual/group to put the focus and recognition on someone else than the ones guilty. But, the truth is, when it comes to the responsibility of Katrina, no human or group can be singled out and blamed. It was humanity’s fault as a whole. That is the only answer that is justified and impartial, and the truth. The only way that Katrina resulted so poorly was through the collaboration of all aspects of humanity itself; a single one could not have caused and effected the victims and greater world like humanity did during and after the disaster. FEMA did not make sure that all necessary steps were immediately taken to help and deliver the things the victims in New Orleans needed. The Department of Homeland Security did not consider and secure every citizen’s safety, well-being, and protection as many were left feeling abandoned and vulnerable. When stating the facts of what each side did, we can determine that neither FEMA or Homeland Security improved the situation, and in fact, worsened it in some ways. Therefore, it was/is essential to not blame and argue over whose fault it was when it was everyone’s fault, and the collaboration of humanity which was not taking productive action caused catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina.