Posted on 09/01/2005 5:17:32 AM PDT by AbeKrieger
I knew it would happen - just didn't know when.
I'm talking about television news footage of looters played over and over in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Looting occurs whenever law and order breaks down as a result of disasters natural or manmade. But since the advent of television, looting seems to be a black thing. From the Watts riots in the 1960s to today, you can count on pictures of black folk hightailing it away from some store with electronic appliances, jewelry and furniture.
So while reporters from 24-hour TV news channels poured into the area almost as fast as the rising waters, I didn't have long to wait for the looting story to flash on my television screen. And even though it was expected, I found myself a little sad. But mostly mad.
We journalists have a collective knee-jerk reaction in certain situations, disasters especially. We look for people, things, quotes that will convey what we want or need to convey. But overuse of this practice leads to cliche and stereotype.
In Iowa, where tornadoes are a summertime surety, reporters are always looking for someone to say that the barn-flattening winds sounded like a freight train. At my old newspaper, the first reporter to get that quote was treated to a beer after work.
For television reporters, shots of blacks looting are quick, easy and downright expected.
New Orleans is more than a party-time tourist destination. It's a city where two-thirds of the population is black, so I'm not surprised to see black people looting. Many are poor: The median income for whites is a low $31,971; for blacks it's a subterranean $11,332. Truth is, life in the Big Easy has never been that way for many.
My question is, are blacks really the only looters? Or are they the only ones deemed worthy of camera time? Does 30 seconds of tape, rewound and replayed, tell the whole story? If pictures of looters never made it onto the air, would viewers be deprived of crucial information? Do these images advance the story of the plight of people?
Or do they play to stereotype, prejudice and fear?
Yes, stealing for profit and personal gain is wrong. And I hope those who decided to take advantage of a disaster to haul off flat-screen televisions and DVD players find no way to profit from their theft.
But during a devastating disaster like this, good, law-abiding citizens may do things they would never do normally. On TV I saw people carrying what appeared to be groceries, water, and bags of ice. With no water, power, or way out of town, it looked to me that the "looters" were trying to survive rather than upgrade their stereo system.
Before you say "I would never," just remember that's pretty easy to say and believe as we sit in our comfortable, dry, air-conditioned homes with ice, water and food a few steps away. Hunger to us means we haven't eaten in a couple of hours.
Think about it: Water's at your knees, kids are hungry and thirsty. You'd call 911 if you had a phone and if someone would answer. How could I say that if this were my situation, I wouldn't be one of those people heading out of the Wal-Mart with things that could help my family survive?
So don't draw conclusions about the ways of black people from the few moments of "de rigueur" pictures of looters. Black citizens are also among the weary, the rescuers and the rescued, the resilient, the righteous... and the dead.
They just don't get much airtime.
The nursing home folks were told to evacuate!
This phrasing begs the question. Yes, if law and order breaks down, looting is naturally part of that breakdown (unless there's nothing at hand worth stealing). However, it is entirely up to the people on the scene whether or not a disaster causes law and order to break down.
In any case, trying to make it a race issue (either by fru-fru greivance-mongers or by drooling melanin-challenged Stormfronters) is a sure mark of idiocy.
Food and water is fine to take if you are in a survival situation.I think any reasonable person agrees to that .Taking computers , jeans , TV ..Shoot em >
"Think about it: Water's at your knees, kids are hungry and thirsty."
I am sure you say that with tongue in cheek. :o) If not, let me say we have a nephew down there piloting one of those helicopters. And I might add that he has served two tours - one in Afghanistan and a shorter one in Iraq. To think he made it through both of those to come home and be shot at by so-called Americans just will not stand in this house.
That's probably because the community leaders all hauled out of there before the storm and they are not coming back. What I see are a lot of poor people without much resources caught in the middle of a flood.
Why do you *straw-man* by pissing on the *old* people for "still being there" - rather than admitting "hhmmm, you're right, those scum shouldn't be robbing the old people"?
What Muawiyah said in post #132: ""I assure you, if it ever comes to a choice between my family's life and your food, you lose!"
What Muawiyah says our response should be: ""You poor man, let me bind up your wounds, and here, I will pay for your keep at the inn ~ ..."
Typical hypocritical selfishness seen in many "christians" (lack of capitalization is purposeful.)
When you don't have principles, it is hard to maintain consistency in thought.
WERE THERE any WHITE looters?
"jeans" are a survival situation commodity. Did you see how terribly beaten up many of the folks were on that piece of highway? They got torn up getting there. No shoes either.
God bless your relatives.
I hope they're not *double* victims of these jerks down there - and the liberal-types everywhere else.
Could you see if they had NO LE insignias on their uniforms? Could have been rent-a-guards.
No doubt the scum shouldn't be robbing the old people, but that's no excuse for the management of the nursing home to have failed to get them evacuated earlier.
"The nursing home folks were told to evacuate!"
So were the looters! Yet in your mind, looters=heros and nursing home folks=deserving of death.
>> We all swore
If we ever got caught
We would pay the Mini-Mart back
Yeeeees sir, Yeeeees Sir.
Shouldn't giggle, but I know that song intimately. Best Buffett album there is.
I think Jesus had some things to say about that. Give me a moment and I'll find some of them. (pause while riffing through Bible).
Ah, yes, here it is in red: "He who is without sin throw the first stone". There's a bunch of other stuff like that. Although I've taken the position of being the victim hee (just for argument's sake), I think it's fair to start tossing these words at you.
I think that's the only problem with the water heater solution, is it's not portable. You can't really bring it with you if you have to flee. Unless you had already drained it into smaller containers, of course.
As for wtc911's comment, I think that makes alot of sense. Going forward I think I'll pay even more attention to the storage of emergency supplies, making sure that they're split up in such a way that if one set is lost/washed away/burned up/stolen, another can sustain us for a little bit.
The best way I know, for me, to deal with catastrophes like this is to learn from them.
I say the hooligans are not "looters" they are gangstas. New Orleans is a largely black city, so the gangstas are black. If this happened in South Central LA, it would be the same thing. If it happened in East LA (which is where I thought we'd see rioting this summer), it would be mexicans.
This is beyond looting. This is a riot situation. I'm now understanding that in a civil breakdown, taking food and drink (non-alcohol) is a legal gray area and may be legal.
This is the Johnb838 plan. Get the people out of the superdoom. Start picking up the hooligans one by one. Put them in the toilet bowl. Let them live in there for a while. If they kill each other, so much the better.
Take a close look at: or something.
Looters taking advantage of Katrina devastation
Looters were grabbing whatever they could, carrying big garbage cans full of clothing, jewelry and other goods as they waded through hip-deep water down Canal Street -- the main thoroughfare in the city's business district.
In some cases the looting took place in full view of overwhelmed police officers and National Guard troops.
It appears that you are trying to draw a line in hypothetical sand.
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