Tough islanders and coastal dwellers…

It’s devastating to lose your home (or second home) and even worse to have loss of life due to a hurricane.  Ian was one of the worst.

But to blame others for their own lack of common sense is just arrogant and stupid.

There are two main categories of islanders and coastal dwellers on Florida’s southwest coast:

• Second home snow birds, usually somewhat wealthy.
• Natives who consider themselves tough guys who know best and no government agency is going to tell them what they should do.

In both cases they live there by choice. In both cases, they either pay through the nose for homeowners insurance or are uninsured. Huge insurance costs should be a dead giveaway about the dangers of living at these locations.

There is no excuse for their remaining in their high risk area when there is a growing hurricane aimed toward their general vicinity.  For two or three days prior to landfall the National Hurricane Center  (NHC) warned that the storm would likely rapidly intensify.  For two or three days prior to landfall the NHC showed landfall targets varying between the Florida panhandle and south of Tampa.

So what do many “tough” coastal dwellers and islanders do?  They not only remain in place, but then they complain that they were not warned.  They blame “the government” for not doing the thinking that they should be doing.

You can’t be stupid and be a coastal dweller or islander.  The two don’t mix well.

But such has become the mindset of too many Americans.  Rely on government instead of ourselves, our own common sense, to tell us exactly what to do.  And if we fail to do our own thinking, the government is always a handy scapegoat. 

Maybe we ought to hand over another several billion to one or more governmental agencies to solve this “human-caused” climate change thing that some idiots – like FJB - say caused the hurricane.  That will make some tough folks and snow birds feel better.