Don't Blame the Victims Who Stole the Money

The LA Times has an editorial criticizing FEMA for the waste and fraud that has been uncovered in the post-Katrina relief program, and includes this interesting paragraph at the end:

It's easy, and necessary, to criticize FEMA's across-the-board incompetence in responding to the largest displacement of Americans since the Civil War. But obsessing about the spending habits of refugees comes perilously close to blaming the victim.

This comes perilously close to excusing the victims who spent money on "Girls Gone Wild" videos, sex changes, and expensive booze at Hooter's Restaurants, while putting all the blame for their poor choices on FEMA.

Why can't we blame the victims if the victims misused or stole the money? The LA Times acts as though the people who found themselves in trouble after Katrina immediately took on some type of nobility which excused them from bad or criminal behavior. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. While we can feel sorry for those who were displaced by the storm, they still have a responsibility to themselves and to society to use taxpayers funds that were given to them appropriately, and though FEMA can be blamed for a lack of oversight, the victims must also take their share of the blame for their spending choices.