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.
I agree. This looting is out of control and needs to be severely dealt with.
However, how many people are actually looting? Ten or 25%?
Either way that still means that 75%+++ people are NOT looting, are trying to get help and need the prayers and support of the nation.
It is hard to get past the pictures of the looting taking place, but I am trying to remember that there are many more good people who just need some help. Children who need water and shade. Good people who have lost everything and don't know where to go.
How can we sit here and hear stories of people who can't find family members, homes are destroyed, city is in ruins and not feel sick for what they are going through. It makes the looting pale in comparison.
Prayers to your family and all the others affected by this disaster.
BINGO.
So, you can't live with your own words?
Spot on, CSM, and exactly right. It's simply astonishing the amount of gibberish and logical fallacies the pro-looting brigades here on the forum are churning out right now. One expects it from such intellectual cesspools as DUmmyland, but not from posters at FR.
Just needs to pick on a liberal SNiVEL advocate.
It is the natural result of basing the principles on emotions rather than reason. It becomes evident every time.
Jeans ??? yea right...excuses my man excuses ...
I don't know how the hell you figure that. What kind of reasoning is that?
No, we had people make absolute statements. They drew the line. I'm just letting them know what they sound like.
A flooded store, that will not be dry out for months. Is is looting or salvage?
We do, however, have people who deny that they have any charitable impulses.
Didn't you wonder why people were willing to dress in prison clothes? They'd just lost EVERYTHING, including their trousers and shoes, trudging through debris and broken glass filled streets covered with water to get there.
It tells a compelling story, and it tells it to the whole world. It's unvarnished, unedited, and it's TRUTH.
You SAID in so many words YOU would MUG somebody - yes, steal it rite out of their literal HANDS even if it was just a little.
Don't try tying YOUR being the *criminal* MUGGER in w/the mugging *VICTIM* in the NT story.
Excuses,excuses,justification,reasons and etc.
It comes down to morals.
They are just looting for food, water and necessities. Looting is looting.
How many NIKE shoes can a person eat?
We don't. Don't worry about it and God bless. I just hope, as w/mhking, your relatives aren't DOUBLE victims of both natural AND man-made disasters.
Did I say "mug"?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
"He who is without sin throw the first stone".
Ah the favorite of liberals.
Do you know what else it says, rite there?
GO AND *SIN NO MORE*.
well look on the bright side....
the people in the nursing home will die a peacefull dignified death from starvation just like Terri Schiavo.
*rolls eyes*
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