What frustrates me the most when reading this book, is the thought that perhaps many more people suffering could have been saved. While patrolling in his canoe, Zeitoun noticed a helicopter hovering over a body. Zeitoun thought it was a rescue mission, as I would have thought, but it wasn't. "No. A man was pointing a camera at the body. He did so for a few minutes and then the helicopter rose, tilted, and drifted off." (Eggers 148) When reading this, I felt disgusted to know that helicopters were flying around looking at the damage and dead bodies, while people were trapped in their homes and in the super dome. I think that every resource possible should have been in New Orleans getting these people out of the toxic flooded city. That helicopter should have been picking up all sorts of people to save, but instead it was used to observe the destruction and suffering. Anyone with a sufficient vehicle could have saved many. For example, Todd, who lived in the neighborhood, had a motor boat and saved many people. "Todd told him stories of his own rescues -- how he'd picked up dozens of people already, how he'd been shuttling them to hospitals and staging grounds, how easy it was with a motor boat."(Eggers 138) This shows that one person can make such a difference for the lives and safety of others. Federal forces could have done so much with their fan boat, and perhaps they did eventually, but why didn't the ones that Zeitoun saw help? Those boats could save so many people even though it may seem like a little for each boat, it adds up to many saved in the end.
I am contemplating what the goal of the media during Katrina was. For Kathy, the media only brought disparity. Every time she watched it she could not believe what she was seeing or listening to she turned it off so she would not get upset. "There were roving gangs of armed men. That's all the media could talk about -- that it was the Wild West out there." (Eggers 169) I don't see how this could help the situation other than sending in troops, but for the wrong reason. Everyone just needed help to get out, and needed food and supplies sent. Chief Eddie Compass would exaggerate the crime in the Superdome perhaps to get the attention of law enforcements so they may be sent. He said, "We had babies in there. Little babies getting raped...the people, in my opinion, they got to this almost animalistic state, because they didn't have the recourses." In the video we watched in class, there was someone who was in the Superdome and said none of that type of violence occurred. In fact we saw video of the Superdome and in the hard times people started singing not "raping babies." In Compass' self defense, I think he was desperate to get recourses to the people, but that is no reason to over exaggerate. I'm still unsure of the media's purpose, but I know it didn't help kathy in her time of need when she could not get a hold of Zeitoun. Right now in the book, Kathy hadn't received Zeitoun's phone call for about 2 weeks and she assumed the worst. Until someone called saying Zeitoun was in jail. Thats where I stopped. So far this book is pretty good, I cant wait to see why he's in jail.
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