Katrina's social effects

Interesting commentary from the BBC. I personally am surprised even that America is (apparently) seen as that immensely socially darwinistic. I think that there are two very different attitudes, coexisting in America, on that topic.

First, there's the government to the people relationship. This, I don't argue, is highly 'socially darwinistic'. Our welfare programs are generally ineffective and corrupt. We have a huge amount of violent crime and refuse to enact legislation that would reduce it (newsflash: if you make it harder to buy guns, it will be harder for people to get shot). People oppose affirmative action, oppose hate-crime legislation, and generally take the attitude that if something happens to you, it's your fault, deal with it. If I may speak from my parents' experience: Even 'middle-class' families have stared down the barrel of not having health insurance, and it's a scary thought.

But in opposition to that, there's the non-governmental, people-to-people America. I at least would like to think that this is a nation where we look after each other. People may not want the government to legislate it, but Americans are going to watch each other's backs. Sure, there's fighting amongst us, but one of the beauties of America is the plethora of subcultures and groups. No one truly exists in a vacuum here, no one is actually alone in their viewpoint, and the more communication (ie, the internet) improves, so does that camraderie. I think it's once again the difference between America the nation and America the people.

Of course, I do still freely say that both as a nation and a people, America is just kinda crazy.