Louis Vuitton and Katrina's Credit Line

The NY Daily Post, that reputable newsrag, has engaged in the battle for the most useless play in the Blame the Victim Game. Their take: some Katrina survivors are using their Red Cross issued $2,000 Debit cards to buy Louis Vuitton handbags.

OF COURSE this is a reprehensible problem that a minority of people are engaging in. Surely giving these folks $2,000 will enable certain individuals to abuse that privilege. Anybody who didn't expect this to be the case is foolish. And, depending on the circumstances, it is highly likely that the people who are abusing this privilege are those who can afford to do so.

Look, the intention of this story is not journalistic- it is solely intended to engage aggressively against all victims of the Hurricane. The story's title tells all: "Lavish tastes of card-carrying lowlifes." This implicates every survivor who has received these cards, not just the ones that abuse them. If anything, it also suggests that the Red Cross didn't fetter out every responsible survivor before granting them these cards- which says that the Red Cross is the only organization capable of helping mass numbers of people without overbearing beaurocracy. This is not a bad thing. They're helping people, people. Simmer down. This is bound to happen in a pork barrel consumer culture like America.