In His Own Words - Brian Williams on Katrina. Oct. 27, 2005. (part 2)

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1Aw971Ke0

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asYWzCHNQKs

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2JUAbJocQI

______________________________________


The New York Times
Oct. 27, 2005.
"In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina" on the Sundance Channel serves as a study aid for those who wish to re-examine the government's neglect of the poorest victims of that terrible storm.

On "In His Own Words," Mr. Williams reminisces while perched on a backstage stool in his shirt sleeves, his tie loosened, looking a little like Joey Bishop in the days of cabaret. This normally suave anchorman talks a lot about his own feelings. "I can't get the faces out of my mind," he says, referring to victims he bonded with during their long wait for rescue. "But I shouldn't. They are part of who I am."

It's easy to sneer at the self-referential tone and show-biz touches, but the truth is, the hurricane did deeply affect the reporters who covered it. And Mr. Williams, whose previous experience in the field was broad but thin, burrowed deeper into that story than anchors usually do, under conditions most anchors manage to skirt. He impressed viewers both by providing calm, authoritative on-the-scene reports, and also by occasionally venting his own fury at the authorities' missteps.

"I carried a case of Vienna sausage, cans of Vienna sausage, as collateral in case we had a smash-and-grab car jack, I was going to offer it to someone in exchange for my life," he says on the Sundance documentary, describing the lawlessness that ruled in the French Quarter after the storm. "The government couldn't tell us that things were O.K. We were there standing next to the things that were not O.K."

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/arts/television/27stan.html

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News & Politics

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[DejaBleu22]

hurricane katrina exposed america's true colors; sad to say.

[paljetsun]

@Misku- So was Thomas Hobbes right about human nature? That man is like wolf to men? I just want to let you know, I grew up poor as well, I have my school friends who picked up garbage, collected bottles, cans after school to help with their families because they were that poor. What I was talking about was the people's way of thinking in response to an emergency. Remember not everyone stole "material things of flash and value". (Some stole just the necessity, what made them different?)

[mlsku]

@paljetsun You cannot understand the people who grew up poor and finally had the chance to "own" material things of flash and value? I can even if I'm not poor. These people, evidently, had a sense of right and wrong but were left to die by their own government. The men and women who died because George Bush and the National Guard and FEMA... just- simply failed.... I will never understand that injustice... EVER.

[paljetsun]

It is indeed an emergency, but human decency still prevailed in a lot of people. (People who stole to feed the hungry and clothe the naked I can understand, but people who just looted other than food and clothing and medication I can never understand)

[heal2012]

This was an emergency.. people need to steal to survive.. thats human instinct.