Rising to the occasion

Jeanne looks at the comparisons made between 9/11 and the aftermath of hurricane Katarina and takes issue with the populcar characterization of both the governmental response and the way that ordinary people on the ground behaved. The media tends to focus on the contrasts, but in fact both tell the story of the collapse of authority and the way that everyday folks set aside their bickering and rise to fill the gap.

Civil society, in essence, doesn't fall apart -- it becomes strengthened. And it's not chaos and lawlessness that threaten authorities, but the signs of a society functioning without authorities telling it what to do. They need to change the storyline fast, before we realize how good and competent we are.

An important piece, both for our understanding of ourselves and for our resistance to the desire of all governments to wrangle themselves more power.