In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, horrifying reports of violence and sexual assault started coming out of New Orleans. Stories of women and children being raped in the Superdome, looting, and snipers firing at rescue helicopters were widely told. But now, it seems as if the vast majority of those stories were widely exaggerated, if not completely false:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/national/nationalspecial/29crime.html?hp&ex=1128052800&en=8c1bc51f975cbfb9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

It turns out that the stories of rescue helicopters being fired at never actually happened. They resulted from things like the valve on a car's gas tank popping open every few minutes causing police officers to mistakenly believe they were gun shots.

The stories of little girls being raped in the Superdome probably never happened, either. They were false rumours that started among the stadium's inhabitants and spread quickly because of the mass hysteria there. Police officers who were inside the Superdome at the time have so far made only two arrests for attempted sexual assault.

And most of the reports of violence and looting in the streets were greatly embellished as well.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, horrifying reports of violence and sexual assault started coming out of New Orleans. Stories of women and children being raped in the Superdome, looting, and snipers firing at rescue helicopters were widely told. But now, it seems as if the vast majority of those stories were widely exaggerated, if not completely false:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/national/nationalspecial/29crime.html?hp&ex=1128052800&en=8c1bc51f975cbfb9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

It turns out that the stories of rescue helicopters being fired at never actually happened. They resulted from things like the valve on a car's gas tank popping open every few minutes causing police officers to mistakenly believe they were gun shots.

The stories of little girls being raped in the Superdome probably never happened, either. They were false rumours that started among the stadium's inhabitants and spread quickly because of the mass hysteria there. Police officers who were inside the Superdome at the time have so far made only two arrests for attempted sexual assault.

And most of the reports of violence and looting in the streets were greatly embellished as well.



No replies to this one, imagine that. 

I'm glad to hear that most of the stories are false. Makes me sick to know that people make up stuff just to get attention but they did before and they will again.  Also makes me sick how this good news will be a dissapointment to some other members on this board.  I personally would rather know that a little girl wasn't raped and a rescuer wasn't shot, someones safety is a lot more important than my pride.  I'm a weird one though.

Also makes me sick how this good news will be a dissapointment to some other members on this board. 

You should change your avatar, mate. That's one of the most crass and vile suggestions anyone on this board has ever posted.

You should change your avatar, mate. That's one of the most crass and vile suggestions anyone on this board has ever posted.


Not by a long shot.  You can't be that nyeve that you don't know that's true.

You should change your avatar, mate. That's one of the most crass and vile suggestions anyone on this board has ever posted.


The Truth isn't always pretty, it can be quite ugly.

Fact of the matter is, that some one on this message board, may only be one person, but there is at least one person who will be dissapointed when the hear this because it gives them one less thing to complain about and blame Bush about.

There is a difference between "Fear Exceeded Crime's Reality" and "Mostly False".

People were murdered.  People were fireing weapons.  There were assaults, looting, and other crimes comitted.  And with the people now scattered throughout the country, I doubt any follow-ups will ever be done.

Well what I was thinking was it gives people one less excuse to make New Orleanseans out to be "raping, looting criminals" who deserve what misery they got.  

They will always find more excuses, though.

There is a difference between "Fear Exceeded Crime's Reality" and "Mostly False".

People were murdered. People were fireing weapons. There were assaults, looting, and other crimes comitted. And with the people now scattered throughout the country, I doubt any follow-ups will ever be done.


see?

see?


A little hypersensitive, aren't we?

I was commenting on the discrepancy between the phrase "mostly false", and the article which was headed with the phrase "Fear Exceeded Crime's Reality".

It is a shame when anything like that happens.  And I for one have never made the claim that "they got what they deserved".  No matter what social group somebody belongs to, there are always thugs and criminals in an area.  It may be Harlem, or it may be Brentwood.  That is simply human nature.

Don't jump to conclusions, please.

And I myself find nothing wrong with Harmonica's avatar, nor his comment.  He was stating a fact of life, not a fantasy world that some people want it to be.

No, I am appropriately sensitive.

I know that some reports were probably false, and many overexaggerated, but I also know that some of them weren't. :(



that's true...I have heard true accounts of some of the rape stories :\'(




Erin :)

The point is, what's the point.  To some people, the crime means "see, those people are criminals", to other people the crime means "look, now those poor people have to put up with criminals on top of everything else".

I know that some reports were probably false, and many overexaggerated, but I also know that some of them weren't. :(


Unfortunately this true. But I think with or without Katrina they are the incidents that would have happened.  The hurricane having nothing to do with them.  Rapes and murders and other sickening things happen day in and day out in Big City's like New Orleans.  Hurricanes have nothing to do with it.

I always say, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth pulls his pants back up!
:D

When civil order breaks down, rumors run wild.  I think our newsploitation networks were perfectly happy to report the scariest rumors they could find.  No matter what, you've got to keep the audience coming back in order to sell more ads.  I also think there's a need on the part of the power structure the media serves to keep stereotypes about certain people in the forefront.

I do agree we may never know about a lot of accidents and crimes in the after math of Katrina.

They mentioned on the news they'll never know how many head of cattle really died because so many got washed out into the Gulf.  Could it be that human bodies washed out into the Gulf too?  If so, I wonder how many.  I wonder how many human remains have yet to be found in the outlying parishes.

I almost felt bad for "Brownie" Brown the way Shays was beating up on him the other day.  Brown looked like an arrogant jerk getting all defensive like that, but I think the Bushies are using him as patsy!

No replies to this one, imagine that. 




Just got home from work.  Maybe the reason that there haven't been any answers to the topic is because that is where most people are during the day.

I do believe that there were serious things going on in the convention center and superdome, but I also believe that the situation wasn't as widespread as we were led to believe.  I am also not surprised that you would accuse some posters of reveling in the rape of a child.  Sad sorry commentary on you.

This is just one of many very serious issues facing this country right now.  People who are not comitted enough to get on line at work are not doing there civic duty, and this is very dissapointing.  ::)

I know that some reports were probably false, and many overexaggerated, but I also know that some of them weren't. :(


Based on the information I've heard in the past two days, I'd say the story about a ten year old girl being raped in the Superdome never happened, and the stories about snipers firing at rescue helicopters never happened, either.

Just got home from work.   Maybe the reason that there haven't been any answers to the topic is because that is where most people are during the day.

I do believe that there were serious things going on in the convention center and superdome, but I also believe that the situation wasn't as widespread as we were led to believe.  I am also not surprised that you would accuse some posters of reveling in the rape of a child.  Sad sorry commentary on you.


Don't sit here and insult me when you know I'm right.  Out of all the liberals on this board that wanted to bash Bush left and right and bring up all the horror in New Orleans, at least one of them had to be dissapointed that it's all just a rumor and the mass majority of the horror is really only a minority. 

What's really sad is all of us conservatives on this board know when we're at fault and when our leaders are at fault. 

Got some good liberals on this board as well, but the majority can do "no wrong", and neither can anyone else of the liberal party.

Don't sit here and insult me when you know I'm right.  Out of all the liberals on this board that wanted to bash Bush left and right and bring up all the horror in New Orleans, at least one of them had to be dissapointed that it's all just a rumor and the mass majority of the horror is really only a minority. 

What's really sad is all of us conservatives on this board know when we're at fault and when our leaders are at fault. 

Got some good liberals on this board as well, but the majority can do "no wrong", and neither can anyone else of the liberal party.


sorry, but you're hearing "mostly false" and equating it with "completely false".

There were exagerations, simply because twenty different people reporting the same dead person, reported it a different way so it gets counted twenty times.  To say it didn't happen, is "completely wrong".

Bush is still at fault for the lack of response in the initial week of recovery.  How does the number trending downward after an official body count suddenly change that?  There weren't enough dead bodies in the Superdome to satisfy that requirement?  The official death toll is still north of 1,000 at last count.  Was Osama and his ilk suddenly not guilty when the WTC death count decreased from 10,000 to 2,500 or so?  When a week went by, without a nursing home being evacuated after the flooding began, is that ok because there were fewer deaths than initally reported in the Superdome?

It's just more excuses from the rabid right to cover up the lack of response.  The blame game is the only thing they know how to do.  The whitewash has begun.  Bush begins with "mistakes were made" and then his little minions begin inventing spin to help point it away from him.

But, there WERE people being raped, people being shot at, looting, dead bodies floating in the water....THOSE were NOT fake.


Yes, perhaps those things did happen. But the point is that it was much less than was initially reported.

The article I posted is from the New York Times. I saw a piece from ABC News on Good Morning America yesterday that painted an even more convincing picture that most of those stories were inaccurate or vastly overblown.

I just had to mention this after hearing so many people making out everyone trapped in New Orleans to be rapacious thugs who don't deserve any help.

Don't sit here and insult me when you know I'm right.  Out of all the liberals on this board that wanted to bash Bush left and right and bring up all the horror in New Orleans, at least one of them had to be dissapointed that it's all just a rumor and the mass majority of the horror is really only a minority. 

What's really sad is all of us conservatives on this board know when we're at fault and when our leaders are at fault. 

Got some good liberals on this board as well, but the majority can do "no wrong", and neither can anyone else of the liberal party.

But there is no liberal party, and I find my beliefs as a "liberal," or "leftist," are in the minority in this country.  At least that's what conservatives would claim.

Why would liberals be disappointed?  It was not liberals trying to amplify in the media the violence in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
???

For someone to say that making the New Orleanseans look like a bunch of criminals is a way to make BUSH look bad is taking Bush victimology to a bizarre extreme.

sorry, but you're hearing "mostly false" and equating it with "completely false".

There were exagerations, simply because twenty different people reporting the same dead person, reported it a different way so it gets counted twenty times.  To say it didn't happen, is "completely wrong".

Bush is still at fault for the lack of response in the initial week of recovery.  How does the number trending downward after an official body count suddenly change that?  There weren't enough dead bodies in the Superdome to satisfy that requirement?  The official death toll is still north of 1,000 at last count.  Was Osama and his ilk suddenly not guilty when the WTC death count decreased from 10,000 to 2,500 or so?  When a week went by, without a nursing home being evacuated after the flooding began, is that ok because there were fewer deaths than initally reported in the Superdome?

It's just more excuses from the rabid right to cover up the lack of response.  The blame game is the only thing they know how to do.  The whitewash has begun.  Bush begins with "mistakes were made" and then his little minions begin inventing spin to help point it away from him.


Your reading "horror is really only a minority" and comprehending "Horror is really not there at all".  I realize now, and I realized then that a lot of innocent people did die. 

And No it's not ok.  Everyone's lives are important, regardless of whether it's 100 people or 100,000 people. No one deserves to die like that.  However the left wing liberals don't have as much authority to make Bush out to be a complete heathen, because sadly enough there numbers have died down.  A wolf steals one chicken, he'll probably get away with it, but the next time, he's gonna get shot.

But there is no liberal party, and I find my beliefs as a "liberal," or "leftist," are in the minority in this country.  At least that's what conservatives would claim.

Why would liberals be disappointed?  It was not liberals trying to amplify in the media the violence in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
???


Look on the bright side Maxwell, if it wasn't for me, Rock n Roll Fan, George W Bush and about 3 other members it'd be 100% liberal here on this message board.  Liberals do a lot of good things, and they know it.  Liberals do a lot of bad things, won't admit it.

Liberals would be dissapointed because it takes away their authority to make Bush out to be the ultimate bad guy.  The less deaths he's responsible for the less of a dirty rotten #@!$ he is. 

For someone to say that making the New Orleanseans look like a bunch of criminals is a way to make BUSH look bad is taking Bush victimology to a bizarre extreme.


Did you ignore the other post about Katrina?

If they could get away with it, they'd say that Bush caused Katrina to come.

Whose fault is it that The people didn't get out of harms way in time? Bush's

Whose fault is it that the people who knew didn't listen to the meterologist and others who told them that they need to leave? = Bushes

Whoses fault is it that the levees weren't built the way they were supposed to be a long time ago? = Bush's

Whose fault is it gonna be when things are perfectly restored to the way they once were? = Bush's

When it comes to fault, who's fault is it gonna be no matter what? = Bush's


Call me Bizarre?  I'm not the one blaming a man for a natural disastor.

Back to the topic.....

There is one underlying piece of information that seems to have been forgotten.

For years New Orleans' economic and social status has been overlooked.
The amount of crime has been hidden from Joe Public and Washington.
We now know this only because of Katrina...

Who's to say that these stories aren't now being covered up like everything else in New Orleans was prior to Katrina?

Look on the bright side Maxwell, if it wasn't for me, Rock n Roll Fan, George W Bush and about 3 other members it'd be 100% liberal here on this message board.  Liberals do a lot of good things, and they know it.  Liberals do a lot of bad things, won't admit it.

Liberals would be dissapointed because it takes away their authority to make Bush out to be the ultimate bad guy.  The less deaths he's responsible for the less of a dirty rotten #@!$ he is. 

I'm....uhhh...conused here.  You're saying that you guys...that I...that we...that they...that because liberals, uh that Bush is...uhhh...what?
:-\\

at least one of them had to be dissapointed that it's all just a rumor and the mass majority of the horror is really only a minority. 



You are wrong. 

You are wrong. 


You're a liar.

You're a liar.

Please, people, refrain from name-calling.  Let's keep it civil and stay out of hot water with the moderators.

Thanx.

You're a liar.


No, what I am is a person who will defend my fellow boarders against the claim that they are revel in
the claims of  murder and rape, for that is what you said.  You claim that at least one of the "liberal"
boarders would be happy if there were more reports of rapes, though you didn't say which one.  I say, after being on this board for the past year+ that there are many instances where boarders of all political
persuasions find reasons to jump up with glee, but those are on political issues.  Never, never, would anyone on this board celebrate the rape of children and murder. Shame on you for implying it, and shame on you for trying to denigrate me for coming to their(our) defense.

No, what I am is a person who will defend my fellow boarders against the claim that they are revel in
the claims of  murder and rape, for that is what you said.  You claim that at least one of the "liberal"
boarders would be happy if there were more reports of rapes, though you didn't say which one.  I say, after being on this board for the past year+ that there are many instances where boarders of all political
persuasions find reasons to jump up with glee, but those are on political issues.  Never, never, would anyone on this board celebrate the rape of children and murder. Shame on you for implying it, and shame on you for trying to denigrate me for coming to their(our) defense.


A polyograph would come in handy.  Then this would be settled for good.

You say not one member did, and I say that at least one member did. 

A polyograph would come in handy.  Then this would be settled for good.

You say not one member did, and I say that at least one member did. 


You call me a liar, and call for a polygraph. I haven't heard a comment like that in since 5th grade. Is this supposed to be adult discussion or Jerry Springer?
I was tempted to let the liar thing pass, an aunt of mine used to say if someone says something ignorant then you should consider the source. so I have decided to consider the source. 

You call me a liar, and call for a polygraph. I haven't heard a comment like that in since 5th grade. Is this supposed to be adult discussion or Jerry Springer?
I was tempted to let the liar thing pass, an aunt of mine used to say if someone says something ignorant then you should consider the source. so I have decided to consider the source. 


I base my hypothesis on that which is in front of me.