boinged out of perspective..

I read BoingBoing's infamous post two days back. I was too busy working on KatrinaHelp to bother to respond, though a part of me was really not amused, and puzzled by the attitude.

Over time I have come to respect some of BoingBoing's coverage. Their vague sense of humour, and love for trivia is entertaining. But this... suddenly reminds me that I am an Indian working on a relief project in America. All our pretentions of being global and human, are completely thrashed to bits when we bump into such wit. BoingBoing completely belittles any effort with an article like this, because what it does is endorse this post.

No offer is too small, or too brown to be rejected. Or is it that something that snapped out of your head while you were going up and down on the boingboing?

Update -
Bala wrote to Xeni of BoingBoing and this is from the mail she wrote back. I am putting this up without Xeni's permission, but I think I'll go ahead anyway. If there's an issue please write to me and I'll take it down:

Those are all good points, and I do not question or argue any of them. I am not of Indian descent. As a non-Indian, I'm not qualified to argue what ought or ought not to be offensive to someone who is. I'm sorry.

Allow me to instead share the intent behind what was a poorly-chosen title, then.

It's not one bit funny that India has offered aid. I don't think Bruce Sterling (to whose wired.com blog I linked) was being sarcastic when he characterized those offering aid from india as brave or generous. India is not a backward nation.

What _is_ worthy of ridicule, and what I intended to ridicule in this post, is the fact that the priorities of our government are utterly screwed.

What's worthy of ridicule is the notion that the US doesn't have sufficient resources to take care of its citizens. That the government of this country couldn't possibly have foreseen the risks being played out here. That it's beyond the capability of FEMA or DHS to have provided better protection and faster response.

This government has plenty of resources. They're just being wasted.

What we saw in this past week was evidence of colossal mismanagement of resources, and a sluggish response that amounts to criminal neglect.

Failures in judgement and action that led to potentially thousands of deaths.

The United States would not need to beg for aid from foreign governments if its vast resources were not being squandered and mismanaged by a corrupt, inept government.

The United States shouldn't *need* India, France, Sri Lanka, Germany, or any other foreign nation to rescue us.

Right now, it looks as if we indeed do.

--XJ

I still think it glosses over the issue. The Gunga Din reference is borders on offensive, and talks of a cultural divide as opposed the fact that other countries have to help the US out. It outlines relationships between the supposed Developed World and the Developing world. It wasn't a snide remark against Tony Blair offering help, or Canada's deep sighs.

Anyhow, within this moment of tragedy it is possibly irrelevant what one website thinks and does....

[katrinahelp, katrina, boingboing, India]