Ignorance is not bliss, but when we are not told the truth, when our ideas and suggestions are ignored and down right unwelcomed by the agencies you named than that is not ignorance on our part in my opinion.
So we can make it a point to be responsible for ourselves & families. Get on line and get the Red Cross lists for disaster preparation, and don't just look at it get the needed items and get prepared to take care of yourselves and your families. Ask yourself how you would cope without a functioning government and financial institutions? No banks or money, think about ways to set up a small community with a no cash barter system among the crafts people (crafts I define as: plumbers, carpenters, roofers, doctors and lord help us lawyers and anybody that has a practical knowledge of how to do something.) I think that no matter where you live, you should start learning how to grow some of your own food. Start small like me, I don't have a big in ground garden, but I'm getting pretty good at growing tomatoes and other veggies in large planter pots. It may be a fun hobby now, someday it may be a necessary survival tool. Plan for your survival for yourself and family. You don't have to join some nutcase survivalist group or build a huge compound. Just quietly start getting prepared, and learn from the bad stuff that went down in New Orleans. They learned through tragedy that you cannot rely on the government to take care of you in an emergency. So I say Ignorance is Never Bliss, it's a recipe for great tragedy, just ask the thousand of victims of Katrina.
Sorry of the long post.