Comments on: That “Looting”

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:42:12 +0000

Nice Michigan Jersey! It looks pretty orderly, except the borderline look on the one kid’s face.

By: lytom

lytom — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:14:24 +0000

@D
Non fiction book called “Zeitoun” written by Dave Eggers (McSweeney 2009)tells the story of Syrian in New Orleans. It is not about the violence from the people, but about organized violence and profiling by military toward people who have survived the disaster. There is a section describing the birth of “Guantanamo” right in the heart of New Orleans constructed by military responders and government to contain people who have done no harm. The human rights, the constitutional rights are just not part of it.

By: D

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:14:11 +0000

It depresses me to see this media hype of chaos and “looting.”
In some ways, the Katrina fiasco was not only the product of a Republican administration’s incompetence; but also fed by media hype. (The media sensationalization of “rampant” (black) “violence” in New Orleans crippled emergency response and aid even more than Heckuva Job Brownie.) Then, long after the fact, we find out that, surprise surprise, the violent anarchy “throughout” New Orleans in the wake of the disaster was nothing of the sort. Some guy heard a few stray shots; another guy saw someone steal beer.
And because of that, thousands of old, sick helpless people suffered for a week, utterly abandoned. (abandoned because of cowardice fed by misinformation.)
The “armed gangs of machete-wielding thugs” and “rampant looting” talked about in the press may be everywhere in Haiti. But (given the past media hype), I rather doubt it. I am sure there are people trying to take advantage. And other people trying hard just to make it, just to get by. And many other people doing everything they can to help each other out. That’s the way societies are. I hope that the “looting” and “anarchy” won’t keep aid and response teams out this time.

By: D Bradsher

D Bradsher — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:18:04 +0000

“Looting” is a very loaded word. These people are not looting. They are on recon duty…finding and distributing supplies. It takes the strong ones to do this work. What they find will be used by many people. These people have large extended families with many needs.
People are quick to judge others in a situation they know nothing about. I’ve been in a natural disaster or two and you do what you have to do. It is survival, folks.

By: mon_oeil

mon_oeil — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:25:31 +0000

To focus strictly on the photo I read it in a very different way than two men arguing and looting. The young man at the left is saying to the one at the right as he hands him the rather heavy box, “Hey man could you help me? Watch out this box is heavy so handle it very carefully, we need every item that is in there so don’t let it fall. Also don’t hurt your back because we have many more items to charge from the distribution center.”

By: Michael (The BAG)

Michael (The BAG) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:41:58 +0000

Yes, the link to the “Crawfish Shak” with the picture you’re talking about is in the second line of the post. It was interesting to see it again. That post also has a photo of people “looting” necessities in the aftermath of the hurricane.

By: donna

donna — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:16:03 +0000

Not that Haiti hasn’t been looted by capitalists for centuries…. lol….

By: janinsanfran

janinsanfran — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:28:58 +0000

Salon had an excellent article by Ben Wisner on what the impacts of a disaster are really like, before the media misconstrues them. He would describe what we see here as "Self-provisioning to meet basic needs ..." What do we expect people thrown back on their own devices to do when disaster brings normal government and commerce crashing down?

By: lytom

lytom — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:17:55 +0000

Just an addition:
There is already a thriving black market where water, gasoline and food are sold…Where do you think these products are coming from and who benefits?

By: Wordsmith

Wordsmith — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:16:13 +0000

This isn’t looting – this is survival, self-preservation.