or maybe the media just didnt make such a big deal out of it? when isabel hit richmond and va beach a few years ago, there was looting goin on in downtown, and this place wasnt even flooded that bad, most of the city was up and runnin in 3-5 days.
Here's a suggestion, until some of you have had your home destroyed, your entire city destroyed, and any prospects for the near future destroyed, don't pass judgement on people who have. You guys act like these people go out and loot every week for enjoyment. I've just lost my home, I have no job to go to, I'm poor to begin and I'm looking at an unguarded luxury, its no telling what I what I might do. Its easy to sit here and say yeah, I've got superior morals, but my morals have never been tested like that.
Show me where I wrote that. I said its easy to pass judgement on these people from the safety of our own lives. I'm saying you don't know how you would react in these extreme circumstances.
If someone had been in that scenario before and had chosen not to loot, does that give him or her any more right to criticize it?? Hmmm. Have you ever criticized the President for a decision? How does that fit with this philosophy? It seems to be the same. Until you've been in his shoes and have to make decisions that can affect millions of people, you don't know what it's like. So you should never criticize, right? Similarly, you've never been in the position of some of the despicable leaders in Africa. You have no idea the stress they are under that might cause them to have their military go on a murderous rampage. So don't criticize? Looting is either right or wrong - it can be more or less understandable given trying circumstances, but it's still either right or wrong. Why shouldn't people criticize those actions?
Reading Comprehension. I never said I have no opinion on whether looting was right or wrong. As a matter of fact, on the first page I'm I said I don't condone it. I said I'm not going to judge these people, what they are doing is wrong, but I'm not going to judge them. These people aren't their president, their some broke ass citizens of New Orleans who have just lost everything they've known.
Isn't deciding that what they did is wrong judging them? Or what exactly are you referring to when you say judging people?
Yes you're right, it was all so simple to evacuate a few hundred thousand people in a couple of days.
So one of the news reports just reported gangs of armed men roaming the streets in parts of NO looting and robbing anyone in their way. Apparently an entire stock of firearms from a Super Walmart that wasn't locked into safes was the source of the arsenal.
No kidding. I'm amazed they got as many people out as they did. Just a few days before, it was on track to hit Florida - then suddenly on Saturday or Sunday, NO became the focus. To get hundreds of thousands of people out in an orderly fashion was phenomenal. But there's simply no way to get everyone out of a city like that in that kind of time frame.
PGabriel, Well you're exactly correct yourself. Because the city and government did not get them out, the looters DESERVE flat screen tv's and jeans and purses! I wouldn't give a damn if someone was looting for food, but people are looting just to steal possessions. If I lose my job that doesn't mean I can go ask for free food at McDonalds, so if the people in New Orleans things were destroyed that doesn't mean they can go take someone else's things or that society owes them something.
I predict a group of armed looters is going to try to take on some National Guardsmen at some point and get massacred. Then we're going to debate for weeks whether it was right or wrong for soldiers to open fire on looters. Some will say that it was OK, since the looters were armed. Some will say it is horrible since professional soldiers with automatic rifles took on some poor people with a Wal-Mart special 12-gauge. Then it will come out that only 2 or 3 people in the group will have had guns, then we'll debate some more. They should only take on the armed men, or shoot em all since you don't know. I can picture the thread right now and who will be on what side. And we'll ALL be a bunch of dumbasses because NONE of us are there right now and have ANY idea of what its like to be in that situation. But we'll ALL pass our own judgement and argue about it with our holier-than-thou attitudes from the comfort of our computers while hundreds of thousands of people have just lost everything.
i think pgabriel is being picked on a little too much. he said the looters were wrong and was just trying to understand how, under extreme circumstances, people could bring themselves to lawlessness.
This morning I woke up in a curfew; O god, I was a prisoner, too - yeah! Could not recognize the faces standing over me; They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality. eh! How many rivers do we have to cross, Before we can talk to the boss? eh! All that we got, it seems we have lost; We must have really paid the cost. (that’s why we gonna be) Burnin’ and a-lootin’ tonight; (say we gonna burn and loot) Burnin’ and a-lootin’ tonight; (one more thing) Burnin’ all pollution tonight; (oh, yeah, yeah) Burnin’ all illusion tonight. Oh, stop them! Give me the food and let me grow; Let the roots man take a blow. All them drugs gonna make you slow now; It’s not the music of the ghetto. eh! Weeping and a-wailin’ tonight; (who can stop the tears? ) Weeping and a-wailin’ tonight; (we’ve been suffering these long, long-a years!) Weeping and a-wailin’ tonight (will you say cheer? ) Weeping and a-wailin’ tonight (but where? ) Give me the food and let me grow; Let the roots man take a blow. I must say: all them - all them drugs gonna make you slow; It’s not the music of the ghetto. We gonna be burning and a-looting tonight; (to survive, yeah!) Burning and a-looting tonight; (save your baby lives) Burning all pollution tonight; (pollution, yeah, yeah!) Burning all illusion tonight (lord-a, lord-a, lord-a, lord!) Burning and a-looting tonight; Burning and a-looting tonight; Burning all pollution tonight.
I'm directing my comments to you...NOT... about looting. My comments to you were simply in response to your underhanded racist comment that they should be looting birth control. But since you asked, I'll go ahead and respond to each of your points. Pardon my wordiness. That is true. It is very unsafe and I sure as hell am happy I'm not there. But if I need to feed my family, I'm gonna do whatever I feel is necessary short of personally inflicting harm on other people. Don't get me wrong, I'd shoot a person in a heartbeat... if they were targeting my family. How do you know it was looters shooting people? Or how do you know it wasn't a looter getting shot because somebody was defending themselves. You don't know. How many shootings would there have been in this timeframe had there not been a storm? People shoot themselves all the time.
Yea! My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Yea! My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Yea! My Bucket's Got A Hole In It I can't buy no beer. Well I'm standin' on a corner - With a bucket in my hand I'm waitin' for a woman - That ain't got no man. 'Cause My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Yea! My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Yea! My Bucket's Got A Hole In It I can't buy no beer. Well, I went upon the mountain - I looked down in the sea I seen the crabs and the fishes - Doin' the be-bop-bee. Well, there ain't no use - of me workin' so hard When I got a woman - in the boss man's yard.
You can judge all you want. But looting is as old as civilization. Don't be so surprised it is happening...particularly where poverty is rampant. b**** and complain as much as you want and looting will still happen 100 years from now when another natural disaster hits a poverty stricken area. IT IS WRONG. BUT $hit happens and we move on. We need to concentrate on saving people that want to be saved. Looting is low on the priority list of things to address right now.
