Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
🧵 I live in Los Angeles. We have not had to evacuate and are safe, but like many people here, I have friends who have lost everything. I realize I can't combat the firehose (see what I did there?) of bullshit spewing about this disaster from internet and media sources, but I'll say this:


‪Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY OR MANPOWER could have stopped these fires in a bone dry landscape that's gotten virtually no rain in 8 months during 80-100 mph winds. This is not a liberal policy failure, it's an ongoing heartbreaking tragedy. So--

‪Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
--IF YOU DON'T LIVE HERE, please feel free to: Express sympathy and sadness; Ask how people are doing; Donate to charities helping those affected. All of those things are needed and are accepted with enormous, heartfelt gratitude.

OTHERWISE, and I know it's a tough ask for the internet, but--

‪Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
--given the ACTUAL SUFFERING going on, please don't comment/speculate about L.A. and California state politics and budgets -- which, come on now, admit it, you know absolutely nothing about -- just to victim-blame or scold or reinforce preconceived notions of what life is like here, especially if--

‪Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
--you're repeating something you heard on Fox News or worse, from the incoming president, who knows even less than you do about what's going on in my city. As a wise person once said: Remember, shutting the fuck up is always an option.

Thanks. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rake a forest.

‪Tom Astle‬ ‪
@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
I'll add: People often fail to grasp the scale of this place. Los Angeles is unbelievably diverse and enormous - geographically, economically, population-wise. We have city department budgets bigger than the yearly budgets of whole cities, maybe even a few states. And L.A. isn't just the city--

‪Tom Astle‬
‪@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
2h
-- of L.A. The greater L.A. area includes much of Los Angeles County and many independent cities around (and even within) the boundaries of L.A. itself, like Pasadena, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, etc. For instance, the Eaton fire isn't in Los Angeles city, but is in the greater L.A. area. So--

Tom Astle
‪@tjalamont.bsky.social‬
--it's complicated. And like all large, complicated systems, not everything works well all the time. There will be reviews and reckonings. But right now, while some people are wondering if the relative or friend they haven't heard from has burned to death, maybe try to show some humanity.
January 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM