Almore Cato, II

Mr. Depp
Block 3B
1/4/11
Bush’s Dystopian Society
Throughout President Bush’s term, people began to wonder if the United States was
entering into a dystopian society. In a dystopian society, the nation would be in a police state and
citizens would be oppressed politically. Under Bush, New laws were being introduced which
suppressed citizens and separated people according to race and demographic background. This
was especially true after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the novel Zeitoun, the
reader follows events that occurred to a New Orleans couple, Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun,
after Hurricane Katrina struck. This couple finds themselves in situations of flagrant injustice,
separation from their family, and poor relief from the hurricane by the government; these
situations were present in most Hurricane Katrina experiences.
A few days after Hurricane Katrina struck, the levees broke. The city went in total shock.
People who remained in the city had little to no resources so they were forced to break into
homes, stores, and anything they could find that could help them stay alive. The news gave
reports of “lawlessness and death” (109); New Orleans had apparently “descended into a “third
world” state” (109). The media made New Orleans seem like a war zone; Residents were now
being referred to as refugees. New Orleans was being completed isolated from the rest of the
country.
In order to bring order to the “third-world “like city, Heavily armed National Guardsman,
coast guard, and mercenaries were brought into the city. There were thousands of military
personnel in the city who “[knew] how to shoot and kill, and they [were] more than willing to do
so if necessary” (118). Instead of helping people get out of the city, most of the guards were
there to control the citizens. Even Zeitoun and some other men were arrested because they were
Muslim. The guards would blunt out “Al-Qaeda” to him, and President Bush even compared “the
storm to 9/11 and the war on terror” (188). Zeitoun was put into jail for no reason, other than
blind racism.
With the media portraying New Orleans as being in a third world state, the country
believed it. It was impossible to get a clear cut picture of all the wrong doing and injustices that
were happening to the refugees, as they were called. Instead of Katrina victims being treated as
victims they were treated as suspects, as if they had done something wrong. It seemed as if there
was a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality. The Katrina experience did not just happen to
the Zeitouns, It happened to so many people who stayed during the storm. Using Katrina as an
example, it is clear that, under Bush, America was entering into a dystopian society in where
control and order was taking precedence over the rights of the people.