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I think I understand what you mean. It's not at all that she meant to be derogatory or condescending to people who have lost everything, but it can certainly be seen as offensive to suggest that anyone is better off for having had their city demolished. Saying that they were disadvantaged anyway almost suggests they should be grateful for the disaster because now they are recieving better hospitality and care than when they were just poor, but not disaster victims. And I think that while it might be true that their living conditions now could be an improvement over their previous existance, it cannot be discounted that they have gone through a terrible experience, losing everything they owned and everything they knew, whether small or large; and I would suggest that not one of them can yet look back with gratitude at Katrina for allowing them to experience Texan hospitality. Still, though, I believe that Barbara Bush is a good-hearted woman who would never have intended that comment to in any way discount or degrade, and would probably feel badly if she thought it had been taken that way by any of the hurricane victims.
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