They are if they are taking it from another person, and I would suppose that penalty would be death. ( assuming, of course, that the victim was armed and able bodied )
Hey ... you ... get offa my cloud
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.
Yeah all four of them.
For what it's worth the Bible makes a distinction between those who steal bread to feed themselves and those who steal for other reasons.
I'm sure that some of the theft is survival related.
yea - you'd think that until you come across a total gun grabber...
"If walmart didn't have all those guns in the firstplace, the looter's wouldn't have stolen them!"
You know it's time to just walk away when someone responds like that.
Should black cops in the process of looting,like on FNC last night with shopping baskets be shown?
They are not worth saving.
THIS is a racist article!!
The politics of victimhood, always-blame-others syndrome to deflect your own shortcomings, whine and second-guess.
"I, my wife, and my 48 cousins are all minorities. This is typical "defensive black RAT Jesse Jackass cover-your-ass" stupidity."
And where is Jackson BTW? Oh, he's more interested in soothing evil Chavez' nerves about a Pat Robertson comment.
(P.S.: It's scary, that pix you posted looks like a co-worker I have - only she's white! Otherwise they look the same!! AAAAaaaaaa!)
It's their law ~ respect it!
But more importantly, her knee-jerk reaction isn't to display facts, it's to play the race card.
Few people think of this, but just about everybody has an emergency supply of water already in place. Usually there is 30 gallons or so in the water heater, which can be easily accessed through its drain valve.
"For television reporters, shots of blacks looting are quick, easy and downright expected"
Quick and easy... because there is a lot of it going on decade after decade?
Expected? not a very PC attitude for someone trying to rationalize this action... in fact, it sounds RACIST to me.
As one Freeper said earlier if they wanted pictures of white looters they should have gone to the gun stores.
This is about the dumbest waste of effort by the media that I have seen so far. They DID show some whites looting. Should the cameramen hold off shooting until they could search out more whites?
They are if they are taking it from another person, and I would suppose that penalty would be death. ( assuming, of course, that the victim was armed and able bodied )
Hey ... you ... get offa my cloud
It's looting in English. I don't care what LA thinks, liberal domain that it is, OTOT.
I've been on plenty of threads.
And I stand by my statement: there is no need to steal TONS of food at once.
The law of the jungle.
survival !?!
ROFL
I see people so fat they could live for a month without another meal carrying off whole truckloads of food.
Louisiana law does not allow you to commit holdups or steal. On the other hand, it does allow you to take the water, food and other materials (e.g. shoes and clothes) that you need to survive.
In short, Louisiana law does not require that you die on behalf of someone else's ownership claims.
I assure you, if it ever comes to a choice between my family's life and your food, you lose!
typical liberal. Never responsible for their actions.
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