A person I follow—and I want to make it clear that this person is someone I’ve met in passing, but wouldn’t consider a friend or acquaintance (not that people who fall under either of those categories are immune to the critiques I’m about to give)—on Facebook, posted a long, what I feel comfortable calling self-aggrandizing, post reflecting about the rapidly-approaching anniversary of when Hurricane Helene ravaged Asheville.
There are a lot of people who’ve made Helene trauma their entire online personalities (it seems to be that if you weren’t in Asheville during the storm, for whatever reason, you post about it more?). This particular person has a lot of Helene thoughts, so I just skimmed the post, but then a line jumped out at me that made me stop, screenshot said post, and send it several friends with the question of “Would writing, ‘people died,’ be out of line? Am I overthinking this?”
The resounding consensus from the four folks who texted me back was that I was not overthinking this, and that yes, what this person posted was self-centered at best, and super tacky, problematic, and frankly, deeply ignorant at worst.
I’m going to paraphrase to protect the guilty. After opining about their life leading up to Hurricane Helene, this person wrote something to the effect of, “Then, the hurricane hit, and everything changed, but in the end, those changes were for the better because it brought out the best of people, the best of the Asheville community, and showed us what true teamwork and compassion looks like. We should always be open to conflict and chaos, bringing out kindness.”
While there’s certainly something to be said for making the best of bad situations, and folks coming together to overcome adversity, it’s still boggling my mind how someone can sit and write—and publish! In a public forum!—that the changes wrought by Hurricane Helene were for the better.
As of this past June, there are 108 verified deaths from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, including several entire nuclear families and 13 members of one family in Fairview (Asheville Watchdog has done a fantastic job of ensuring those lost aren’t just merely reported numbers).
I don’t think that’s a change for the better.
Between September and October of last year, the Asheville metropolitan area lost 8,200 jobs, accounting for 4% of the region’s jobs. This figure doesn’t include some of the more rural areas in WNC outside the Asheville metropolitan area, which were particularly hard hit by Hurricane Helene.
I don’t think that’s a change for the better either.
A local survey published this summer found that the average Western North Carolina business lost $322,000 due to Helene, which in some cases resulted in business closures, leading to people losing their ability to earn a living. I’m writing this from Battle Cat Coffee Bar in West Asheville, which used to be home to Tiger Bay Cafe, which used to be home to my favorite breakfast panini in the area. They didn’t fiscally survive the storm.
I’d argue those aren’t changes for the better either.
There are indeed some inspiring stories to emerge from the flood, and Asheville looks more and more “normal” every day, but it’s startlingly ignorant to frame the changes Helene caused as a net positive. And to post it? Wild behavior.
But, I’d be remiss if I framed this as an isolated incident. This is far from the first time I’ve seen someone post on social media, making Helene about themselves, and using it to churn out a narrative about their resilience and hero’s journeys. As I alluded to before, it feels like this more often than not this narrative is spun for by folks who didn’t technically live through the actual storm, or whom, comparatively (because Helene did impact all of us here in some way) weren’t that negatively impacted.
Initially, I was going to make this blog an exploration of why people act this way. Still, I think sometimes that’s a fruitless game, going down the roads of blaming social media for a lack of empathy, growing narcissism, and lack of awareness (which, while I think one could argue has some validity, I think is somewhat of a boring take?). I think the human propensity to view things through one’s singular lens has always been around. Social media and the way our current society functions haven’t exacerbated it, as much as just highlighted it in a public forum (and for every thinkpiece asking if we’ve become more self-centered as a society, you can find a counterpoint about how empathy and compassion are “coming back”).
So I’ll just leave you with this: if you are someone who has participated in the kinds of public behavior I’ve just illustrated and critiqued, there’s still time for you…to change for the better (which could be as simple as just thinking it and deciding not to put it forth to the world).
AshevilleExplorer 