HURRICANE TOURISM IN THE BIG EASY ...

Much discussion these days over the ethics of the "Hurricane Damage Tours" that have sprung up in NOLA since KATRINA.

I'll have to say, when I first heard about these tours - I was disgusted. How could anyone profit off of running tours into the Lower 9th Ward or any of the other devastated areas of New Orleans? How would I feel if, in the middle of my rebuilding efforts, a tour bus of 100 tourists from around the country pulled up to my house and started snapping pictures?

"Outrage" would be an understatement of how I first reacted to the news of these tours.

Then I thought about it ... and here are my thoughts ...

Tourism was the number one industry in NOLA prior to KATRINA. A large part of what made NOLA what it was - was tourism. How can we back away from it now just because we might not feel so good about it? I think we should dance with the one that brung us. We made a lot of money off these tourists before the storm - ridiculous amounts of money. I don't think it's good form to just turn them away because we don't feel like dealing with them now.

Without these tours - the tourism industry verily will not make it through this disaster. They have to have a product to sell - otherwise, they go out of business and won't be there when we finally decide that we're "comfortable" with tourism again. Unfortunately -- "disaster" is the number one free commodity in New Orleans these days. And if there are people who want to pay for it ...

Many of the objections I've heard about these disaster tours involve the motivations of the tourists themselves - claiming that they must have some sick, macabre streak in 'em. Well, to a point ... I agree. I won't even go into the 9th Ward because I don't live there and I would only be going there to gawk at the devastation - which is actually the agony of others. However - regardless of the motivation of the tourists - a great deal of good can be realized from this.

Everyone of those tourists takes what they have seen back home with them - and they give their friends and neighbors a first-hand account of the destruction down here. Those of you who live here know - pictures and video do not capture the sheer magnitude of the tragedy - and they capture even less of the associated agony. To see this storm in context - you have to physically be here to look at the footprint it made on the Big Easy. These tourists take valuable first-hand testimony of the tragedy back to the "heartland".

And why would we want them to do that?

Well, some will say we want 'em to do that so they'll tell their Congressional representatives to send US more money. I don't agree with that - and I don't think great numbers of them would.

These tourists are mostly fellow-Americans. They need to know just how fragile civilization is. Most of them have no appreciation that the fabric of their civilization is delicate and can be ripped from them at a moment's notice.

That's why some of them bash President Bush for wiretapping Al Quaida phone calls. It's clear that these people believe that the stakes aren't very high here - that this is some kind of Monopoly game board where the money is all "play money". If you lose the game, you take smoke-break, grab a soda, then come back to the board for a "redo". That's not the way real life is.

Real life is different - and you can go from rich-American to Third World citizen in the blink of an eye...

If Al Quaida lit off a nuke in any city in America - what would happen? Would our society survive? What would happen to the stock market? What would happen if they managed to light off TWO nukes? What would be the "breaking point"? The point at which chaos would rule the streets in America - much the same as it did in NOLA in the days after KATRINA? How many States would "seceed" from the Union if they thought that Union was about to go under? What would the Union do, if anything, about the States that did seceed? Think about it. What would happen if old Osama got lucky and did something like this? Would there even be a "right to privacy" left for anyone to enjoy in a nation of anarchy?

Civilization is fragile. WE know that here in NOLA. We know what a treasure electric power is, what a treasure a cell phone is, what a treasure the Internet is, what a treasure a warm, dry house is. We know, because we lost those things on August 29th. And it's been a struggle to get them back - we still don't have them back.

But not all of our fellow-Americans know this. Many think they are guaranteed to died in the same comfortable surroundings they were born in - only more comfortable. They don't expect to die like many of the old-folks who died in our nursing homes did after the loss of power. They don't expect to have to put "stiches" in their 5 year old themselves without anesthesia because there is no medical help to be found - anywhere. They don't expect that their dead body will be left "matter-of-factly" on the pavement of the "break-down" lane on I-10.

And that's another reason I think these tours have some value to the average American - so they can see, first hand, Americans who are living in the THIRD WORLD in their own country. Many will ask the question ... "could it happen to me?" - and they SHOULD ask that question because the answer is "YES" - it could happen to them. Might not be a hurricane - could be a terrorist attack, or a meteor landing in Nebraska.

Most Americans take their freedom and civilization for granted - they can't imagine losing either. This leads them to do some pretty stupid things - like voting for people like John Kerry for President.

So in a way, these tours could do a patriotic service to the rest of our American brothers and sisters.

I'm for 'em.