The reaction to Hurricane Katrina on dailykos is the latest in a long string of sensationalism that most of us here engage in some time or another, and it makes us look really stupid. I'm not saying that there's no reason to be concerned, or that we shouldn't do things to help. However, stop making it look like the apocalypse, and stop acting as if it's going to destroy America.
We seem to have some sort of psychological problem as a group that stands in opposition of Bush, the Republicans, the religious right, etc. We overreact in situations where we need to be calm, and we exaggerate in times where we ought to be more "conservative" (meaning holding back, not in the political sense) of what we say.
I'm beginning to understand what the Right means when they say that we act like we hate America. I know we don't, however, we are willing at some times to let our politics take precedence over our humanity. When you make a statement like, "This is what you get when you don't sign the Kyoto" you look like a big jerk. Even if it's true (which it is a stretch if it is), it is not an appropriate thing to say. Even worse, it shows that you don't really care about the people who are being affected by this natural disaster.
The same often goes for the Iraq war. I'm against it and I want to bring the troops home ASAP as well. However, it does seem like sometimes we latch onto things that are not as big of a problem as we make them out to be, and when we exaggerate or use untrustworthy news sources, we look stupid. Even I believed and fell in with the "there's going to be a draft in early 2005" crowd, and guess what? We all were wrong. In reality, there are serious problems such as the military retention policies, calling people back in, and aggressive recruiting tactics. However, we overshot things and said that there would be a draft. As a result, it is harder for us to take a serious stand against the real problems because we've defined ourselves as crying wolf on other issues. A draft still may end up coming, but because we said it would be here this year, we are already "wrong."
We are all eager to get rid of Bush and replace conservatives with sane people in our government, hopefully starting in 2006's elections. Our eagerness sometimes turns into something else, that makes us look like we are eager for bad things to happen. You know what I'm talking about. Those of us (I have done this myself at times) who sit eagerly paying attention to the news when something bad happens, and want to use it for "framing" to pin the blame on Bush or whoever is responsible. I think that the London bombings were a great example of this, where some people on this site were coming up with the conspiracy theory that it was planned or somehow assisted by the U.S. government to get Karl Rove off of the news. While I have no doubt that Rove felt some relief at that time, it's dishonest at the very least to say that he organized it or planned it. People will not take you seriously if you say things like that.
So go back to donating to the Red Cross for the hurricane, go back to telling people about the bad things that the right is doing to our country. Just don't lie or exaggerate about it to do so. We have a big credibility problem in this country right now. The blame lies somewhere between a right-wing media and spineless Democrats who are afraid to either tell the truth or give clear unambiguous statements. We have to clearly define who we are and do so with integrity and honesty. We can't tell everyone we know that Katrina is going to be like on that movie "The Day After Tomorrow" or that if they hadn't voted for Bush, it never would have happened. We have to take a look at the situation, and give an honest view. We have to be the ones who encourage people to donate to the Red Cross, we have to be the ones who offer to go feed people who are in shelters in our cities who have fled from the hurricane. We can't act like a bunch of Fred Phelps's out there gloating over a disaster and using it as a political tool.
Be calm, be honest, and be caring. This is what is required for us to be good human beings.