It was interesting to compare the Columbine shooting with Hurricane Katrina in terms of prevention, response and aftermath. Neither one of these is completely preventable. I am sure there were warning signs that Eric and Dylan were planning this disaster, kind of similar to the warning signs of when a person is about to commit suicide. The thing is, it is pretty obvious that no one ever really paid attention to these boys in the first place, therefore no one really noticed if they started to act a little different. I think that is where this whole problem begins...
As for Katrina, there were warning signs sent out with a significant amount of time to react, but they were ignored. This problem stems from the lack of city planning and from those who didn't listen to the experts who said it was a bad idea to put a town at the bottom of a flood zone. The housing that was most devastated by the hurricane was of course that of lower income families who don't have as many resources to rebuild and recover from such a disaster.
Social media could be used in either situation although I think it would be more beneficial during a hurricane rather than a shooting. I know that if I were at a school when this was happening my first reaction would be to send a mass text message with my phone rather than jump to my facebook/twitter. Mostly because I know the majority of my friends/family would see my text before they would get my "tweet" or facebook notification.
Hurricane Katrina was preventable in the fact that Louisiana should have warned it's citizens and gotten everyone to high ground. The levy's should have been rebuilt way before the hurricane, especially if they knew they were faulty. The federal and state government responded poorly to this disaster. Shelter wasn't even properly set up and people ended up being completely homeless after this hurricane. There needed to be better communication and the government should have implemented ways to get information to its people; whether by social media or warning sirens.
ReplyDeleteFor Columbine it was completely unpredictable that it was going to happen. I agree with you on the treatment of Eric and Dylan and how SOMEONE should have seen the warning signs that these boys could snap. These boys had built up so much hatred that they resorted to killing others and themselves to justify the treatment they had received throughout the years.
I’m with you on the text message before tweeting. It seems much more immediate to send and receive a text rather than going to a specific website to get a message. In the case of Columbine I feel like the only is useful social media would be text messaging because its instant message capability.
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda, you brought up the point of prevention for both the Columbine shooting and Hurricane Katrina. You briefly mentioned how both crises had precautionary warnings. I was wondering on what level you would compare these pre-crisis stages. This is because to me New Orleans had a much greater forewarning than the students of Columbine. I was in the Katrina group so we talked about how New Orleans was built below sea-level, the levees were not meant to withhold a big storm, and that the protecting wetlands were destroyed. These are three strong pieces evidence that could have been used by PIOs to get the message across to the people of New Orleans. On the other hand, school shootings/massacres give little to no evidence of an oncoming crisis. A PIO in Littleton would not have any duties or responsibilities leading up to the event because there were no public warning signs. Eric and Dylan may have conveyed sadistic signs, but that is their parent's responsibility to prevent. A PIO is completely oblivious of an event such as a shooting not only before , but during the crisis as well. This is why to me Katrina and Columbine are comparable only because the PIOs in each case play opposite roles. In New Orleans it is the PIOs job to send precautionary warnings before the storm. For Columbine the PIOs did not receive their duties until the aftermath of the disaster
ReplyDeleteI agree that I wouldn't immediately jump on facebook or twitter during any event. My initial reaction is to use a phone where I can get in direct contact with my loved ones. Twitter and Facebook seem to be an after-the-fact use of social media during a crisis. In the VT shootings, it was used after to see if people were okay. You certainly couldn't use twitter to tweet for help as a hurricane was destroying your entire community.
ReplyDeleteSocial media for precautionary measures is different, too. I believe that PIOs could have changed the outcome of Katrina had they found a way to get the word out.