Skip Navigation
6 comments

  • My biggest problem with the “Waffle House Index” is that Waffle House shouldn’t be able to make these fucking decisions.

    For a Waffle House to be open that requires staff be there, and it’s not like that staff magically teleports north when their shift is over. If Waffle House closes at the last possible second how are you, the Waffle House employee, supposed to evacuate?

    They should be forcibly shut down by the state long before they themselves are deciding to.

  • When Waffle House closes down, that's when you know shit is gonna go down

    • Pretty sure OP knows that. The point is how burger-brained it is that everything in the US is like this to some degree or another. In a proper society no serious newspaper would be reporting this in a serious way. They would just cite relevant governmental agency data and releases.

      Like many things that are wrong with borger-land it's these seemingly innocuous reports or statements that add up to reflect serious underlying issues. In this case, over reliance on private institutions versus appropriate, existing public institutions. Also it seems to indicate mistrust in the "simple facts" that even agencies like FEMA or NOAA get right (for the most part). Some section of society, growing it seems, are incapable of discerning the facts put out by government agencies vs the bullshit that government agencies put out. For example, NOAA is probably not bullshitting people, while anything coming from the DoD regarding anything foreign affairs related, is 99% bullshit or bullshit-adjacent. People with a teenager's critical thinking capacity should be able to pick apart the daily lies but also see the truths reported by other agencies.

      Of course this mistrust in government and replacing it with private institutions has been the neoliberal agenda for over 40 years. The more all Americans distrust the government as a whole, the more the agenda is succeeding. Rejection of anything good or required being done by the state has become political dogma to basically the entire populace at this point. Decades of Carter "We have to accept our shitty fate!" and Raegan "The government is bad!" going effectively uncontested by both parties...

      The Waffle House Index is just one comical fruit on that shitty project.

      • The Waffle House Index is just one comical fruit on that shitty project.

        I wouldn't dismiss it so quickly. The term "Waffle House Index" was coined by the then future-administrator of FEMA.

        “It’s an informal relationship,” Philip Strouse, FEMA’s Private Sector Liaison, told Yahoo Finance. “Waffle House stays on when the wind’s blowing—they never close. They have a small footprint, they’re easy, and if these little stores are going out when it only takes a few people to staff…that’s bad.”

        According to Strouse, the very unofficial index all started when FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate was director of the Florida Emergency Management Division. Noticing Waffle House’s incredible resilience in the face of natural disaster, Fugate coined the index in May 2011 after the Joplin, Mo., tornado. “He was saying if the Waffle House closes, it’s really bad and you know to go to work there first.” So when he came to FEMA in 2009, Fugate brought his barometer to the new position.

        Many people misunderstand how the index works, however—a fact that’s partially represented by the response to that Waffle House tweet on Wednesday and articles like this. As an emergency management agency, FEMA handles the aftermath more than the run-up, funneling federal assets to damaged areas that need it most. “We really support the state and the state supports the local community,” said Strouse.

        This means you should pay closer attention to the index post-hurricane. “The index was for aftermath, for damage assessments,” said Strouse. The chain’s ability to function on essentially nothing also makes it a prime location for first responders, who know they can get something to eat—almost no matter what.

        Look into things even especially if they sound silly or ridiculous. :)

        Also it seems to indicate mistrust in the “simple facts” that even agencies like FEMA or NOAA get right (for the most part).

        The US government botched the Katrina response, people were left for over a month to fend for themselves in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Many people haven't forgotten that. I was gonna write I'm sure they learned, but it's America, whether they learned from it or not is a coin flip.

  • The coverage for this hurricane is actually insane and the conspiracy theories surrounding it makes it so much worse.

6 comments