The Tambov students have twice won in the lottery. The first time happened when they got a chance to leave their godforsaken provincial town for New Orleans to have a training session there. The second one occurred when they managed to survive in that very New Orleans. As a result, they brought home a clear understanding of “how perfect their life in peaceful Tambov wasâ€.
Проте наше суспільство також стало свідком катастрофи такого ж масштабу, як Чорнобиль. Ядерна аварія була не просто катастрофою, вона фактично стала моментом істини, який виявив внутрішню слабкість радянської системи. При цьому на тлі останніх новоорлеанських новин чорнобильський хаос може здатися прикладом ідеального порядку та правильної роботи влади.
The scenario of the New Orleans flood fits perfectly well in the Hollywood format. The city is seized by panic, there is shooting in the streets, buildings surrounded by water, powerful explosions, well-armed cutthroats on the motorboats, and solitary superheroes. There were also ignored predictions by wise scientists, exactly like in the movies. One of the information agencies had even reported on the sharks, swimming about the city. Maybe, there is some guy in Hollywood who is already scrutinizing over another scenario, calculating budget and estimating the box-office returns of the future blockbuster aimed at beating “Titanicâ€.
However, all this breath-taking horrors blank out something a lot more alarming, namely the crisis and the collapse of the society. Chernobyl events had immediately uncovered the falsity of the Soviet system: at first the state tried to hold back information about the disaster, then to artificially diminish the sizes of the latter. What disgusts most is the fact that the authorities lied to the participants of these very events, thus making them sacrifice their health and lives when sent to perform restorative works in the area without letting them know the real scale of the danger. Still, it was not about the collapse of the society and the paralysis of the state. All the services functioned properly. People could lose their lives as a result of a foolish order, but all the orders were carried out thoroughly and unconditionally. The local residents were quickly evacuated. There were enough food and buses; everyone knew his or her place. When time passed, the old people, having decided they got nothing to lose, started coming back to their homes: they found their property untapped.
It goes without saying that one cannot put an ‘equals’ sign between villages and small towns of the Chernobyl area and the big city of New Orleans. It is perfectly clear that a natural disaster makes people in the best possible way display their very negative qualities as well as positive ones. Big cities are usually characterized by hatred, envy, and a high rate of criminality. It is a lot harder to maintain the order there. Bearing all that in mind we still cannot help asking some unpleasant questions.
Why did the world’s only superpower, which managed to intimidate most states, fail to raise funds for restoring two dams in the danger zone? Why hadn’t the country, which has officially been fighting terrorism for five years in a row by now, worked out strategies and prepared resources for large scale evacuation from the troubled city? It is clear that nothing had been done at that point, although neither the “Catherine†twister, nor even the flood had come as a surprise for the authorities. It is pointless to discuss how this disaster is related to the global warming, anyways storms and hurricanes are quiet commonplace for the Gulf of Mexico.
Why weren’t the authorities capable of gaining control over the situation in the streets, why didn’t they even show up? How could it happen that thousands of people, left to their own devices, started to act according to the principle homo homini lupus est? And, finally, why did the federal administration’s response come so late?
The United States have enough power and resources to keep numerous military units abroad, to stifle resistance in Afghanistan and Iraq, to control the Presidents’ change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. At the same time this country is incapable of mobilizing several thousands of the state troopers and reservists with a relevant amount of equipment to prevent the death of the elderly and the youngsters in their home country!
Порівняння Чорнобиля з Новим Орлеаном змушує думати, що сучасне американське суспільство копіює негативні риси пізньої радянської системи, ігноруючи, однак, її позитивні сторони. Радянська влада брехала постійно, інстинктивно, навіть коли брехня була абсолютно марною чи шкідливою. Ну хоч би порядок і їжу забезпечити. Сучасний американський уряд також постійно бреше, але він не може і навіть не намагається забезпечити безпеку громадян. Метою, яку досягла Чорнобильська катастрофа, було, насамперед, виявлення справжнього обсягу брехні влади, і, що ще важливіше, вона продемонструвала марнославство та непотрібність останньої. Ймовірно, новоорлеанська повінь змусить американців по-іншому поглянути на себе. Якщо це станеться, зміни обов’язково відбудуться.
Катастрофи часто виявляються особливо корисними для суспільства. На жаль, уроки, які ми маємо отримати, завжди коштують занадто дорого.