Houston-area officials defend decision not to evacuate ahead of Harvey: 'Nonsensical thing to do'

[Igel]

38. No.

And while it's not unreasonable to speculate, that's always true. So it's perfectly okay.0

Picture this: Obama won in 2008. He did certain things that McCain wouldn't, and McCain would have done different things.

Now let's say in 2024 there's a war with Russia that drags in China over North Korea (who does something opportunistically stupid) and we can point confidently back to events in 2014 as the point at which things seem to flow towards that war.

But what if we think McCain would have done something differently?

Suddenly we'd have to say that the 2008 election was a mistake. In hindsight. Maybe. But really, I can't imagine a worse waste of time unless you're an academic in search of some article or a writer in search of some story. We're people. We do the best we can. Electing Obama was the best choice given what was known at the time. And at that point, if we have done the best we can we score a 100%. That's what we expect for ourselves. That's the same standard I hold others to. I personally think I'd miss an important moral and ethical point if I did elsehow.

That kind of speculation can be soul-gutting and pointless. We make the choice that we make based on current information and likely predictions. We get it wrong sometimes. Oh, well. Recriminations are pointless. The choice that fits the current information we have and the predictions we have is the right and ethical choice. Think of it as "by definition." We may look back and say that it turned out to be wrong, but the best use of that judgment is to educate us, it's not a moral condemnation. This is a point many miss, who are big into the judgment business based entirely upon their current standards of knowledge and currently accepted principles. If we assume that others judge us morally in some important or defensible way we're forever second guessing ourselves--which can lead to the even more lethal indecision. It's a luxury that armchair quarterbacks can take, but when you're actually calling the shots you do the best you can and let the armchair quarterbacks show their empathy and compassion by looking at reasonable mistakes and saying, "Ah, yes, you had to make a decision and were limited by being human instead of being omniscient and all-wise, so you are praised for doing the very best you could ... No more can be expected." It's vaguely condescending, but only if you take it as such. The future always know more about how the immediate future will turn out than we do, and often knows a bit more about the immediate past. I take it as a point of honor to say, "Yeah, I messed up with this, but I'm going to learn from my mistake." With no further justification needed if the grounds for the cock-up are already known and reasonable.

Are there things to learn from Harvey. Sure. The very statement justifies some mistakes.

Best not to ruminate over reasonable choices reasonably arrived at. We're human. I don't hold Turner or Emmet or anybody else to a higher standard, and I don't make a distinction based on party--everybody's human, people make mistakes (not "mistakes happen"--it's okay to make a reasonable, best option mistake, people).

BTW, this entire "evacuate or not" seems a much bigger issue on DU than it does in Houston, at least for my social network such as it is. Can't speak for the rest of the country. Don't watch the MSM, can't stomach any of them.