Hey, There's crisis in New Orleans & Mississippi. -- forget this MJW crap for now?

Seriously... isn't it a bit shameful that we have 1 million displaced people in the southeast US, cities literally wiped off the map, and we're spending 40 pages talking about some justice meeting?

Or having the meeting in the first place?

I find it really self-serving that people would rather meet and talk about the value of their L$ and land rather than gathering and talking about relief efforts for what is appearing to be the worst natural disaster ever to hit the USA.

<OzSpade> Help Youngest Victims of Katrina http://speakup.oxygen.com/campaigns/neworleans/register/157365a8da31cc0aa5ef9067d9e6123b/

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DAOC relief efforts thread.

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Thoughts and prayers thread.

Hamlet Linden's efforts to organize hurricane relief efforts:

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while our own internal problems require some degree of attention to be applied in the present tense, we would do well to focus on relief for these people (and the land) as well.

we're witnessing a major punch to the gut of the US and we, as a society, can help our RL couterpatrs somewhat effectively. we've seen it with VERTU, SL RFL, and many others.

i know there are in-world kiosks where one can donate to this cause, at least i think there are, and i would love to see more information posted about what they are for and where they're located.

the chaos that has erupted down there is just.. it's primal and desolate. i feel horribly for those that have suffering, as well as those that are and will be.

thanks, Hiro.

I don't see it as shameful at all. What can you do except donate money or blood or somehow go to New Orleans to help? Sure, you can pray about it and no one is trying to diminish the awful fact of Katrina, but Jesus Christ, what do you expect us to do, keep saying how bad it is?

I will not be made ashamed for something else that does concern me, however trivial it may seem in the face of this disaster.

I heard on the news that women were raped while staying at the dome, people looting, so many still missing. I've lived through earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons, and seeing what's left of New Orleans ... I can't help thinking it's not happening in the US and instead somewhere in a 3rd world country. It's a very sad time. If anything, this majestic league thingy has brought a humourous diversion from this massive tragedy.

Thanks for posting the links though. I wouldn't have known if anything pertaining to Katrina was posted here save for condolences.

I'm in Dallas. I'm about to get slammed by a figurative hurricane of hysterical refugees. I'm going to need a new car so I can get to work. I'm carpooling for now, but at least you know where the money is going!

Send your paypal donations to [email]yourtechsupport@gmail.com[/email].

There is nothing worse I hate then: it happened to my tribe so it's more important than anything else!! mentality.

Natural disasters happen all over the world all the time. So what if NO got hit. Did we all freak out when Iran got hit by an earthquake? Or when africa gets hit by a draught?

If you really want to help, then try thinking about driving your car less to decrease global warming and help save the whole world from natural disasters.

One thing I will say about this: someone in government should pay very very dearly for what happened in NO. Hopefully George Bush.

The US has massive military and the fact that they didn't rush in IMMEDIATELY should reflect very badly on their priorities.

1. Isn't that precisely what I'm speaking out against? (Let's talk about issues with Second Life because it more directly affects us than Katrina.)
2. I just read newspaper headlines - thousands are expected to be dead. This is one of the worst natural disasters on record. While the Tsunami last year killed many more, the scope and damage done in the US Southeast is far, far greater.


I actually did speak with people about the Iran Earthquake that killed tens of thousands, and I endorse one.org and events in-world that also support one.org - dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Africa. I also have been bringing up the topic of the stampede in Baghdad that killed almost 1000 people that happened Wednesday.


Done.

Hiro, if you pay for my airfare and provide basic lodging and sustenance, I'll be right there with a bucket. Barring that, I can only say that there are people far worse off than those affected by the hurricane, millions of people are dying from malnutrition and its been like this for decades. It hasnt stopped anyone from going about their daily business.

Here is a little prayer I'd like to share. It's our world. It's what we make of it.

Natural disasters happens all the time, with hundred and hundred of people dying regularly in them. It's no reason for the world to stop spinning. I can imagine US posters here to stop posting, as they don't feel like it, being distressed by what happened to their country, but these forum are international.
If you tell me this sound very cold, it is.

Well I got a brother in law whos stuck in New Orleans... he tried to get out on foot today and was turned back at gunpoint by the national guard.

I edit footage of it all day long at work as I wait for news from my bro...

I rather like the forums as they throw me into sharp releif.. a nice break from my 24 hour barrage of katrina.

I think that the current administration is looking pretty silly right now. Caught with their proverbial pants down. We have a skeleton crew of national guard to deal with it because most of them are over fighting in Iraq for a war of seemingly dubious nature.

We have dead bodies floating around, bodies on the roads, homes burning, 1000s of homeless people, roving gangs, rapes, murders, suicides, 20 to 60% of the police not showing up for work - for whatever reasons, we cannot check the activity of the looters, on and on, and there isn't a damned thing we can do about it. It's a farce. It's like Escape From New York down there, only it's the Big Easy.

Shame on our government for not being prepared for this. The repercussions from this are going to echo for many years to come.

All that said, my heart goes out to those people down there. It's truly heart wrenching to watch it unfold on TV.

WTF? why WHY would they turn you back with guns?

*nods* Best of luck to him. It sounds like if he got that far, he's somewhat resourceful - that's something to be hopeful for.

Hiro,

If you want someone to take an interest in relief efforts within SL for the states of Lousiana and Mississippi, you might want to start off in a less offensive tone.

For many of us, we have already dontated via the websites directly to the Red Cross. With this type of disaster being on all the news stations, websites; and with the reality of faces coming across the photos, films and other media -- it is taken very seriously.

Create another post, list an event or the location of ATM's where you can donate Linden's to this cause that is on a more positive note if you would like more dontations to occur.

Yes, we know it's happening. Yes we are aware of it -- it's in front of our faces every day. But posting on the forums about another subject does not mean that we are not doing what we can in the form of real life donations.

But from your initial negativity, I can't, nor will read what it is you're doing for this cause.

Honey, I sure hope you carry an umbrella, because with your nose that high in the air, if it ever rains, you're going to drown.

Hiro, whilst I appreciate what you're trying to achieve with this thread, I suggest that "one-upping" the tsunami with what you've said here is distasteful and unnecessary. There is no need to weigh up which is worse, especially not at the moment.

My wife's family lives in New Orleans. Everyone in the family evacuated and is accounted for now, but they've lost about half a dozen houses. I don't think people should feel like they have to talk about New Orleans here instead of talking about SL stuff. I don't think you can tell how much someone is doing or thinking about New Orleans by what they post here. Just my two cents

I agree. I'm spending most of my days sitting at the computer, with the phone by my side, waiting for and responding to emails and phone calls as we try to coordinate getting my brother, sister-in-law and the 5 other people they've grouped up with safe places to go once they can finally leave New Orleans. (As Siggy mentioned above, they were turned back at gun-point and told no pedestrians could walk out right now.) It could be days before they actually make it to Texas where we can go pick them up. The news has been on almost 24 hours a day since before the hurricane made land. My thoughts have been of little else but what's happening in the southeast and what those people are going through.

SL, with all of our drama and petty fights and trivial concerns we mask as righteous causes, is actually a relief.

Seriously, though, there's literally a dozen posts about the MJW thing, and the hurricane posts were getting buried. If it were just one ... even three... hell, five posts, that's one thing, but it's ridiculous how many posts and how many responses there are.

Yeah I've donated. Thanks.