Why I Hate The Internet, Disaster Edition, by Colin Newman

[KatyaR]

(I'm posting this because I have tornado storm burnout....)

http://okc.net/2013/05/23/frequently-asked-questions-hate-internet/

I considered putting together a big compendium of every snide, offensive, ignorant, or otherwise wrongheaded comment I could find about the tornado. I decided not to, both because I have railed against that tactic in the past and because it would literally kill my soul to compile it. Let me instead address the salient points that keep cropping up, in the hopes that someone who is modestly reflective will stumble onto this post and will be persuaded to not be an asshole. I realize that this is optimistic in the extreme, but a man can dream.[/exerpt]

1. “Stupid Okies. You should have had tornado shelters.”

A lot of people do, which is part of why a tornado that destroyed thousands of homes killed 24 people. A lot of those were children at school. Generally people assume that large institutional buildings like that can take a hit from a tornado better than a house can. Not necessarily. That’s one of the things we learned this week. We have already started pushing for better code requirements for schools and hospitals, but thank you for the concern about our stupidity. It means so very much to us in this trying time.

....

10. “Generic Snide Remark about Oklahoma, Okies, Flyover Zone People, etc.”

We’ve heard it all before, but could you at least hold off on it for a week while we bury our neighbors? I promise you can get back to sneering at the yokels any day now.