I wish I could say I didn't see this coming.
But after the disaster with the railway cars and the last few years, it's exactly what I expected as soon as I heard about the disaster in Georgia.
If you don't know, a fire at a BioLab plant in Rockdale county caused a HUGE plume of smoke and chlorine gas haze.
And of course, multiple officials and news agencies are minimizing the perception of risk while acting like people will be fine. At the same time, people have been reporting that they are coughing and getting the feeling of burning lungs WHILE INDOORS.
They're acting like it's just a "chlorine smell". As they say, "where there's smoke, there's fire."
And yet at the same time they're admitting that this is in fact a danger to the disabled, elderly, and children.
Do they even hear themselves?
Do they realize what they're doing?
Do they realize they're acting like it's fine if someone gets potential lung damage or other health effects?
You can't "personal responsibility" chlorine gas.
Even news casters covering the disaster are choking on camera.
They should be advocating far more than just staying indoors. Many people's houses are not built to be completely sealed from all air leaks. These people need to be evacuated, or at least have the option to be evacuated until the cleanup is done and the air clears.
And of course, the chlorine can also contribute to or cause acid rain.
Every time they mention it, they use qualifiers. It's supposedly not a "major" health hazard to "most" people. Which of course means that it is a health hazard to at least some, if not a lot more. Which means that they're casually letting the highest risk people and those with the least resources suffer.
Someone who is poor and/or disabled can't deal with lung damage on top of their other health problems. Or the resulting medical bills.
HOPEFULLY this does not end up being a worst case scenario. HOPEFULLY the chlorine levels are low enough for "most" people. But if you have people choking and coughing, that means it's burning their lungs and throat. That causes inflammation. And you know what really sucks when you're chronically ill or disabled? EXTRA PROBLEMS like inflamed lungs!
JFC!
I'm not sure if I'm pointing out the obvious or if most people don't realize the problem of what they're saying and the qualifiers. Maybe somewhere in the middle?
To point out the extreme, at a certain point when you're minimizing the suffering of the disabled and "personal responsibility"-ing the situation, it becomes eugenics.
Because those high risk, chronically ill, and disabled people may have health complications as a result of this or any of the other issues they minimize and dismiss, that can affect them.
Then they have to seek care.
And you know what chronically ill and disabled people don't have in America? Money and healthcare.
Because those things come with jobs and many disabled and chronically ill people can't work or can't work for the best of incomes. There are many jobs that exploit them.
So then they end up further disabled or chronically ill and possibly eventually dying. Possibly as a result of the financial consequences and becoming homeless. Which makes their "personal responsibility" a death sentence in certain circumstances.