System Default

The panel tonight on PBS talked about whether race and/or class had to do with the lack of support in the wake of Katrina. The discussion soon got to if the problem was decisions made or by system default. The panel seemed to settle on what they considered to be the leaser of the two evils: default. They were mistaken; they had correctly picked the greater evil instead. A few people in position making wrong and racist decisions is easily fixable. Change the people, remove them from office, and the problem is fixed. It may not help this time, but it may help next time. If it is a result of system default, it is deeply serious. You cannot change people and issue directives to get rid of it. You will have to change the system, every part of it, to change the default. That is more difficult and all encompassing. And its implication is much more difficult to face: the system did not fail, the people did not make wrong decision, and this is precisely what is supposed to happen. It implicates everyone in the system.