I read an article today about Brown's response to hurricane Katrina. Now, I don't know if the emails posted by CNN, etc. are ALL the emails sent and I highly doubt they are but their content is sad. It's not the "can I quit now?" or the "I bought it at Nordstrom's... are you proud of me?" Those aren't bad. I mean, if you were at work, dealing with some crisis, you'd still find a few seconds to make light, wouldn't you? I would. That's how I deal with stress. But that's at a normal job. That's at a job where the stress level is dealing with deadlines or crabby customers or crabby co-workers. Normal stuff. Asking if you can quit or go home isn't normal if you're the head of FEMA and responsible for the big decisions after a disaster. Not when people are starving or rioting or dying. Not when your representative IN the disaster area is saying it's all going to hell.

I think the problem I have with articles like this is that they sensationalize the wrong things sometimes. Like bringing up Brown's concern with his attire several days before Katrina made landfall. It's stupid of him, yes, but he's not the first person to be unaware of the magnitude of impending doom. I think that Americans have a hard time being really and truly concerned about issues when there are too many issues presented. It becomes easier to just grumble about each one a little and not pay significant attention to any one. Maybe it's a media issue. The media is too efficient. Every bit of trivia that can be called news is immediately broadcast across the country and everyone is familiar with it within hours or days. Sensory overload.