The BBC's "World Have Your Say" in New Orleans

On Thursday I was lured to a French Quarter hotel to participate in an episode of the BBC's "World Have Your Say." I'd never listed to the show before, but it struck me as awfully similar to Vox Populi from the old, brilliant satire "Network." So they had forty important New Orleanians in the room, and they asked the world "Should anyone care what happens to New Orleans?" And phone calls and emails poured in from Afghanastan, India and all over, and most people seemed to think the answer was "No." Meanwhile, a team of producers came running through the room asking people to explain why people should care. They picked a lot of the wrong people and kept going back to them. When a caller from Portland suggested that nothing should be allowed to be built in such a geographically dangerous setting as New Orleans, I waved my hand in the air, wanting to talk about earthquakes and volcanoes, which the Portlander apparently doesn't regard as a threat. But they didn't bring the mic to me. And I sat through the show getting redder and redder, according the person next to me.