Word of the Day: Decadence

Now this is NOT a word that would be associated with Hurricane Katrina victims, the coming victims of Gustav (Katrina Part 2), or the New Orleans area in general.

How did this come to my mind, you ask? I was watching an episode of Oprah on Friday (they advertised Bill Cosby as the guest, but it turned out to be a rerun). I sat through the first 15 minutes or so, and then moved on because I already saw this show when it first aired. However, Bill said something very powerful in that first 15 minutes that I had completely forgotten.

He said people didn’t bother to evacuate from the hurricane because of decadence.

This made my hair stand up, because it seemed like the incorrect usage of this word. But when you really think about it, it’s PRECISELY the correct analysis. Look up “hedonism” and you get a better understanding.

There were scores of people (and still are) in that area who live their lives with everything handed to them—Uncle Sam pays welfare and food stamps for them to eat, provides subsidized housing for them to live, provides (through state subsidies) transportation, basically everything except wipes their asses and works their jaws to chew. It wouldn’t surprise me if Medicare covered home health aides just to do these jobs for them—it would be expected in a place like that.

Then they breed, and Uncle Sam picks up the tab for their births. This hedonism continues for countless generations until this is the only thing known as a way of existence. Then something happens, and they’re waiting for someone (meaning Uncle Sam or a state-level person) to come to their house and whisk them away in luxurious air-conditioned comfort. Then, they expect to MAINTAIN that luxurious air-conditioned, government-subsidized, handed-to-them lifestyle wherever they happen to wind up.

This is the normal definition of decadence turned on its head. There are no silver spoons, limos, mansions, or yachts involved here—only FEMA trailers, purposely misused FEMA debit cards, welfare, and corruption as far as the eye can see.

As we speak, there’s a CNN report of a woman who complains about the bus pickup point arrangements—buses provided by the state to evacuate the carless, the elderly, the sick and injured, and those who got the shaft last time around. FREE BUSES, and this woman is still complaining, because her elderly mother is in a wheelchair, her sister is pregnant, and they had to stand out in the hot sun waiting for their bus to arrive. According to her, “handicapped people and pregnant women should’ve gone first.” Where would that leave HER, I wonder—she wasn’t pregnant OR handicapped, and those buses she was complaining about WERE the first wave of evacuations, along with any hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes/senior centers requesting evacuation.

The complaining begins already, and the storm hasn’t even hit yet! This lady was really saying “me first.” How decadent. You'd think she'd remember to bring an umbrella for shade, but no.

Then the storm hits, and all of a sudden, this becomes a way to get new stuff—Red Cross hands out food, clothing, hot meals, water, and a few other essentials. Other organizations hand out more stuff after everyone else has left the area. Uncle Sam brings in fully-furnished and stocked trailers, furnishes and outfits temporary homes in town, and/or picks up the tab for hotels, temporary housing in town (usually at exorbitant rates), or whatever shelter needs are warranted—it’s like Christmas. Then, the cycle of welfare, food stamps, and Medicare/Medicaid-funded decadence grinds on, only with a new address. Some of these people will be going from one disaster (and all its booty) to another (getting all new booty), never knowing true suffering and sacrifice unless you count the times they had to stand in line for something without any air conditioning. Is that hedonism or what?

It's what they've come to expect because we've given it to them for so long. As the band The Dead Kennedys would say, the comfort they've demanded is now mandatory. It also explains the throw-away society I experience here every day with apartment complex residents throwing out or abandoning perfectly good stuff because they don't want it any more, including fathers walking dirty cloth diapers up to our dumpster because they don't know how or don't want to deal with them.

My former neighbor here was from New Orleans (well prior to Katrina), and she told me that some women join retail theft rings so they can get free designer clothing, or to steal everyday stuff for resale at so-called "lingerie parties" or on E-bay. This would be the one thing NOT provided to them by Uncle Sam—clothing, much less designer duds, unless they abuse a FEMA debit card or steal it.

So what’s the difference between the normal hedonism and this style? Both are don’t-make-me-move-or-even-turn-my-head lifestyles, but one is paid for by the participant, and the other is paid for by you and me through taxes. I’m tired of paying for this end of the hedonism scale, aren’t you?

Hurricane Katrina helped New Orleans clean out some of the hedonists, and hopefully Gustav will get the ones Katrina missed, as well as destroy the area so they can’t return.

Ted Nugent said something very insightful about welfare On Glenn Beck's show last Friday: "If I ran the country, welfare wouldn't exist. I've advised federal and state-level committees on what to do about welfare--end it completely. If someone is hungry, they can go to the nearest church. With their gold and jewels, maybe they can make you a sandwich." Go Ted!