There was a time when natural disasters brought out the best in humanity.
The fires flattening Los Angeles this month are truly apocalyptic. Footage shows street after street of ashes. By Sunday, the death toll climbed to 24, a number sure to rise after the cadaver dogs start their grim work. Tens of thousands have evacuated and, gulp, high winds are in the forecast again this week. Fires have already consumed 160 square kilometres.
Imagine if half of Toronto burned to the ground in between two Leafs games.
The world is watching with horror and offers to help. Canada and Mexico, America’s neighbours now threatened with tariffs from the incoming U.S. president, have sent equipment and first responders. Ukraine, a country fighting for its very survival, also pledged assistance. That’s what friends do.
But the reaction in parts of America can’t be described as humanity at its best.
It took years for conspiracies to take flight over the moon landing. This time, the conspiracies were spreading faster than the flames:
Firefighters were haplessly battling blazes with water carried in women’s purses because their equipment was shipped overseas. The homeless sparked this inferno to drive up their ranks. Out-of-state fire trucks were delayed for emission testing by woke bureaucrats. The blazes were deliberately set to cover up Sean Diddy’s alleged crimes. The fire was started by eco-terrorists who want to gin up climate change hysteria. Blah, blah, cray-cray.
Mel Gibson mentioned “fear-mongering” over climate change during an interview with Joe Rogan, unaware his house was burning to the ground as he spoke. The list of celebrities who reportedly lost their homes now includes Eugene Levy, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, Milo Ventimiglia, Rosie O’Donnell, Anna Faris, Adam Brody, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, Mandy Moore, Diane Warren and Paris Hilton, who shared haunting footage on Instagram.
As she wrote: “I’m standing here in what used to be our home, and the heartbreak is truly indescribable … This house wasn’t just a place to live — It was where we dreamed, laughed, and created the most beautiful memories as a family … it’s devastating beyond words.”
Now, whether those words are coming from a rich celebrity or a middle-class normie, they should be met with empathy. Period. Yes, Paris has the means to rebuild. In the interim, she has her choice of any suite in any Hilton Hotel.
But none of that precludes her shock, heartbreak and sense of loss.
You wouldn’t know that by reading many of the comments on her post from those who were monstrously indifferent to her suffering. Or those who hijacked her misfortune to make political statements. Or those who now seem desensitized to any tragedy.
Equally repulsive were the Republicans who want to turn this catastrophe into political theatre. Really? You want to “attach strings” to any future aid because California is a blue state? Even as the fires were raging, these rabid scumbags were blaming diversity. If aliens invaded and started vaporizing cities, Marjorie Taylor Greene would point a manicured finger at the Obamas.
These dopes don’t seem to realize Mother Nature was not a DEI hire. When you have months of drought, Santa Ana winds reaching hurricane gusts and underlying brush dryer than the Atacama Desert, one airborne ember is all it takes for unstoppable destruction. A fire tornado does not care if the human below holding the hose is a straight white man or a black lesbian.
That fire gonna fire. And when it’s done, we will learn something.
The L.A. fires have revealed a shocking lack of empathy for celebrities.
Whatever happened to basic decency? Are you seriously making lame jokes about Billy Crystal after he and wife Janice lost their home in the Pacific Palisades where they raised children and grandchildren for nearly a quarter-century? Are you really mocking Mandy Moore for starting a GoFundMe to help her in-laws? Are you trashing Meghan Markle and Prince Harry as “disaster tourists” because they made the trek from Montecito to support Angelenos?
Forget your disdain for Hollywood glam — this red carpet was a literal conflagration. Just be thankful it didn’t come for you.
More from Ms. Hilton: “Let this be a reminder to hold your loved ones close. Cherish the moments. Life can change in an instant, and it’s the love we share that truly matters. I’m sending all my love to everyone who is hurting right now.”
Then she devoted time to helping displaced pets. God bless you, Paris Hilton.
Our hearts should go out to the normies who lost everything and the rich and famous who also lost everything, even if they can make up for it. What we can’t make up for is the lack of empathy, the blistering schadenfreude, on ghoulish display in recent days. A natural disaster does not care about net worth.
It is an equal opportunity destroyer of dreams.
