The Fawlty Towers / FEMA analogy

[malmapus]

So as I was cleaning my house today thinking of Fawlty Towers, my finacee had been asking her sister on the phone if she ever saw them, all of a sudden I had this moment of clarity heh.

See Fawtly Towers, for those of you who haven't seen it, is an ole BBC program that starred John Cleese. It was about a couple who owned a hotel and pretty much was a riot with the way it was run by Cleese's character (Basil Fawlty).

In one particular episode, Basil's wife (who really ran things for the most part) was in the hospitol for an operation. So Basil was left to take care of things back at the hotel. Pretty much the only things on his "two do" list were to put up the stuffed head of a moose he had bought but left sitting around for weeks, and to have a fire drill.

Well, neither gets done although he tries. But as he is explaining the differece between a fire alarm and a burglar alarm to the guests, one of his workers starts a fire in the kitchen by accident.

So this fire grows in the kitchen and this poor worker is screaming "FIRE FIRE", by Basil screams back, "IS NOT FIRE IS DRILL!".

Anyway there comes a moment where Basil realizes that there really is a fire. So he runs to get his fire extinguisher and then proceeds to read the pages of instructions that old extinguishers in the 70s had on them, before turning it on the fire and firing it off. The thing is instead of it putting the fire out, its shoots him in the face.

Anyway, here's where my moment of clarity came in. See Basil was in the hospitol after that and his wife was sitting by his bedside. Then Basil begins to rant and I quote:

"Do you know what that fire extinguisher did it exploded in my face. I mean what is the point of a fire extinguisher? It sits there for months and when you actually have a fire when you actually need the bloody thing it blows your head off. I mean what is happening to this country? It's bloody Wilson."


Isn't FEMA much like that fire extinguisher. There's not much we really expect of them when things are going well. So they sit and wait for when there is an emergency that we really need the help from our government. Then when the time comes and we really really need the bloody thing, it too blows our heads off.


Anyway thought I'd share :)

EDITED for bad grammer heh

[rocktivity]

1. And just as Basil refuses to believe there's a fire,

ignores the screams of his employee and grabs the fire extinguisher too late, Bush stays on vacation while the levees break, ignores the screams coming from the governor and the Super Dome, and calls in FEMA too late!

:headbang:
rocknation

[malmapus]

3. lol yeah! didn't even think of that

Basil = Bush

Fire Extinguisher = FEMA

Poor Manuel (guy in the kitchen) would be the local gov't


Wow, can find a lot to fit the situation today in that episode alone.

[Saphire]

4. poor manuel, he's from barcalona, you know.

[tx_dem41]

2. "Just don't mention the war" n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. And the tagline

"How ever did they win?"