How Urbane and Erudite Parisians Flunked the 2003 Heat Wave
Do you remember the Paris heat wave of 2003 and the shocking spike in the death rate.
By
David Gottfried
Perhaps we should applaud “liberals” for their attentiveness to the dangers of climate change. However, our applause should be coupled with plenty of jeers as well.
The current paroxysms of heat make me think of Paris in 2003. For about a week to ten days, temperatures soared well over 100 degrees and often approached or hit 110 degrees. The great majority of Parisians do not own air conditioners (Air conditioners were certainly the exception in 2003)
The elderly and infirm are, of course, more susceptible to the grave effects of extreme heat.
In Paris, the predominant religion has, for at least two hundred years, been the Left. (It appears to be changing, and it is much less leftist now than it was a few decades ago. As the left has declined, a sterile neo liberalism, which is abysmally bereft of compassion, has grown.) Because the predominant faith is Leftism, the poor and weak suffer.
People on the left believe that poor and unfortunate people should be helped. And they expect the state, and faceless bureaucrats, to do the helping.
Indeed, because liberals believe it is the state’s job to render social services, they believe it is their privilege to mercilessly ignore the bleeding human refuse piling up on our streets. Indeed, I live in New York City, a city bluer than the gaudiest sapphire in the most expensive jewelry store in New York, and every day I see snooty, haughty, bitchy, successful, liberals blithely ignoring the homeless lying, and often close to dying, on the streets. And I have known bible-belting Christian rednecks who will check in on an elderly person to find out if he needs help when a natural disaster strikes.
In any event, during the 2003 heat wave, elegant and aloof Parisians were not about to do anything as gauche and crude as knock on a neighbor’s door to ask if anyone needed any help. Mon Dieu, how undignified. How vulgar. It seemed to be the sort of thing that the uncouth Fran Drescher would do. (I am beginning to really love Drescher. Man, she is so alive and caring -- she has the brains of the Ivy Leaguers without the concomitant atrophy of compassion so common to “educated liberals.”)
Thousands of Frenchmen died because of the 2003 heat wave.
When Lyndon Johnson left office, he said that he was going back to the Texas “Hill Country.” Johnson said that unlike Washington, D.C., it was a place where people “Knew when you were sick and cared when you died.”
Sources re the 2003 heat wave:
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/16/6/583/587693
First.. bravo.. You'll know why. Or I believe you might.
Second.. I agree on many fronts. Although, when I was an active, teaching member, of a VERY WEALTHY evangelical church and our house was destroyed in a flood (in Arizona), not a single person offered to help, let alone called to check on us. So, believe me, plenty of people on the right and left are in self-absorbed worlds. And I suppose me to, at times.
Instead, the areligious Jew I consulted for, a new age realtor on his staff, and some old guy who lived down the street, provided some assistance and checked in on us. It was eye-opening for a number of reason. I made a commitment that I would always offer to help when I saw the need. I said that if I opened my door and looked 10 doors to the left and 10 doors to the right, someone in that space needed help with something.
It requires paying attention. People are loath to ask for help. Some are so ego driven, getting help makes them feel less... Know anyone like that? ;-)
In any case, I try to be aware. In regard to the homeless... we gave at the office. Or as I tell people, we help the homeless... we have one living in our extra room.