Some will live, many (perhaps most) will die. But to put their staying put down solely to a refusal to recognize reality on account of media damage is, to my mind, too easy and too simplistic.

Consider those who fled: Once the storm has passed, they will come home to literally nothing. Their homes and all their possessions will have been utterly destroyed, leaving them with just the few things they packed in a hurry. I expect that in thousands of cases even the lots their homes once stood on will have been washed away.

I don't know about the rest of you, but in that situation I'd feel awful damned shitty.

I think many of those who remain are not merely in denial of the storm, but are unable to bear the prospective trauma of being refugees: homeless, helpless, hopeless, and dependent on others for the barest necessities.

I think the stay-behinds are mistaken, but I don't think they're (all) nuts or brain-damaged. And to the extent that they are sincerely unable face the trauma of being permanently uprooted, I can't find it in my heart to blame them.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman