I ponder why the "bible belt" can also be known as the "tornado belt"....yesterday at Mass we prayed for the victims and their families....like you so poignantly note in your column the devastation is everlasting for those affected.....I believe climate change is a contributing factor to the extreme weather shifts and monster storms, sadly many of those representing red states in Congress deny climate change:(((
I have a half-assed theory about that. When the winds can come and take everything, you lean toward fear and an angry god is perfect for that. An angry god makes sense. (I told you it was half-assed. But maybe I should explore it more.)
An angry god also provides a simple explanation, and humans love simple explanation. Make that an angry god who takes bribes, whether material or in the form of prayer, gives that god's devotees some sense of traction....
I really can't fully imagine being in it, even with the video. It sounds horrifying. As long as science is vilified by leaders and politicians, we are fu@ked!
Yup. Quite a while ago I read some research speculating that it may be an issue of trailer park sites being free and marginal because they're low-lying and prone to flooding, and something about that terrain facilitating tornado travel....
“OMFG” is not gonna leave my head for a while after hearing that video. Tornadoes are the scariest. I cannot fathom living in Tornado Alley. I would be living in my storm cellar or bathtub half the time.
We have worsened these storms and devastation and sadly these red states have leadership that is anything but.
It's something we don't talk about, but my grandmother's house burned down when my mother was -- 2? -- and my grandmother was still talking about how disappointed that once she got the baby out of the house, she couldn't quite wedge the stove out the door to save it, as well.
Growing up in Southern Illinois, in a town that was somewhat inexplicably secure from tornados ripping through the streets*, I remember being a fathead of about twenty walking home from somewhere through post-near-tornado streets cluttered with large branches, feeling responsible in that I was "careful" about stepping *around* the downed and sometimes sizzling electrical wires.
* Tornados definitely hit the trailer parks at the edges, though.
We have created a world of hurt. Sadly (and incomprehensibly to me) we continue that act of creation.
I ponder why the "bible belt" can also be known as the "tornado belt"....yesterday at Mass we prayed for the victims and their families....like you so poignantly note in your column the devastation is everlasting for those affected.....I believe climate change is a contributing factor to the extreme weather shifts and monster storms, sadly many of those representing red states in Congress deny climate change:(((
I have a half-assed theory about that. When the winds can come and take everything, you lean toward fear and an angry god is perfect for that. An angry god makes sense. (I told you it was half-assed. But maybe I should explore it more.)
I am a big believer in "exploring" it always leads to learning
True that. Be right back.
An angry god also provides a simple explanation, and humans love simple explanation. Make that an angry god who takes bribes, whether material or in the form of prayer, gives that god's devotees some sense of traction....
Beyond sad and horrifying.
I really can't fully imagine being in it, even with the video. It sounds horrifying. As long as science is vilified by leaders and politicians, we are fu@ked!
True that.
The NY Times has a powerful piece in Today’s Opinion on the Climate Crisis, and it speaks directly to your point.
I saw that. It's very well done.
Yup. Quite a while ago I read some research speculating that it may be an issue of trailer park sites being free and marginal because they're low-lying and prone to flooding, and something about that terrain facilitating tornado travel....
Makes sense, doesn't it? A sad kind of sense, but sense.
“OMFG” is not gonna leave my head for a while after hearing that video. Tornadoes are the scariest. I cannot fathom living in Tornado Alley. I would be living in my storm cellar or bathtub half the time.
We have worsened these storms and devastation and sadly these red states have leadership that is anything but.
But you wouldn't. I bet you'd do what everyone else does, which is go about their business until they get hit.
I know after a while I would be like that. It’s sad.
Generational trauma struck that terrible Friday night, affecting even the not yet born.
It's something we don't talk about, but my grandmother's house burned down when my mother was -- 2? -- and my grandmother was still talking about how disappointed that once she got the baby out of the house, she couldn't quite wedge the stove out the door to save it, as well.
Growing up in Southern Illinois, in a town that was somewhat inexplicably secure from tornados ripping through the streets*, I remember being a fathead of about twenty walking home from somewhere through post-near-tornado streets cluttered with large branches, feeling responsible in that I was "careful" about stepping *around* the downed and sometimes sizzling electrical wires.
* Tornados definitely hit the trailer parks at the edges, though.
Amazing, isn't it? We used to call trailer parks "tornado magnets."