Sigh...

[pecunium]

What's wrong with these pictures?





Nothing, right?

Well, if you go and look at them here and here you will see that the couple in the first picture are just grabbing needed food, where the kid in the second has looted a grocery.

The only differences I can see between them are the color of their skin, and the bag of food the kid has (and the guy has a knapsack, so it's possible they have more than a "bottle of milk, a loaf of bread and come home right away." Absent knowledge of what's in the bag, and of how many people the kid might be taking it too; or of when he might be rescued, I'm willing to cut him the same slack the ones in the top picture get.

The food in those groceries is doomed. The perishables will perish and the semi-durable (canned goods) will probably be unsalvageable by the time they get the waters out of the city for not only are the pumps not capable of more than an inch an hour (as I recall reading) but they put the water into Lake Ponchartrain, which would be, until they repair the levee breaches, a Sysiphean task, since it will just run right back into town, charging anyone with looting; for food, is pointless, but the distinctions made here... sigh.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I also wonder what the ratio of whites to blacks who are still in the city is.

Then again, look at the ratio of blacks to whites in our prisons (as a percentage of population).

TK

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

That's what I was wondering.

[spimby.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. Are you?"

Uh, no. I'm not the one suggesting that one of these pictures was tagged "looting" simply because it's the one with the darkest skin in it.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

The the cutline needs to say so. But it doesn't, which means all we have is what we see.

As an editor (which I've been) I'd have spiked the looting caption, because until someone is convicted, that's a libel.

TK

[batagur.livejournal.com]

No body in either picture 'bought' those groceries. Why aren't they all looters?

[spimby.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. Absent knowledge, I'm not going to start inventing theories about it that fit my biases.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

She has the same skin tone as half my relatives, none of whom are black.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I don't know that fraud about looting is going to be neccesary for most storeowners. Just "water damage" should be enough.

[zaimoni.livejournal.com]

I can't blame the police for not wanting to hide behind the aegis of martial law.

Residents weren't the only people raiding abandoned stores.

Two police officers stood guard outside a drug store on Canal Street as Ritz-Carlton Hotel employees packed large laundry bins full of medication, snack foods and bottled water.

"This is for the sick," Officer Jeff Jacob said. "We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law."

Legal? Yes.

Ethical? Haven't thought that out, although it looks like one of those inversions when going from individual to government.

[conuly]

Plus the clothing will rot too, so you can use the food argument for that as well.

Electronics - well, that dries out. Same as jewelry. That doesn't rot. No love for that.

[batagur.livejournal.com]

Very true. And yet, the editors of the news service did not catch the fact that they have allowed the labeled of looter to go on one lone individual while allowing the other individuals (one obviously white and the other most likely not) to be spared such labels perhaps fitting their bias.

I can see this. Perhaps you cannot. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you. Perhaps one could say that you are less cynical of the press than the other people commenting here. Nevertheless, because it can be perceived as a biased portrayal by a large segment of the audience, it should have been seen as inappropriate by the editors.

[lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com]

yeah, thanks for THAT! I already have that in the back of my head. Plus, lots of these places operate on cash-only basis, and have no records to speak of. Those that did, the records are probably gone. So, there will be a lot of payments made without a lot of questions answered.

[lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com]

police and national guardsmen can't spare the time and effort necessary to stop widespread looting when they cannot even rescue survivors. I don't hold them responsible for looting they cannot control. Plus, if they arrested the looters, where the hell would they take them?

[lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com]

speaking as a property insurance geek, lost inventory due to theft is covered. lost inventory due to water damage probably isn't, because flood is not covered under nearly all standard property policies. only the government underwrites flood insurance; most property insurers sell flood endorsements that cover excess damage over and above what the government will, but they require the existence of a flood insurance policy first.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

The point of the story was actually that the police had seen so much widespread destruction and death and injury, that they were intentionally letting the looters take food and supplies on the idea that it was better they get it than letting it all be ruined.

[lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com]

Oh. Yeah, I could see that. If you know whole groups of people will starve without fresh food and water, I'd probably look the other way and hope it was going to people in need also.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

Ethical or not, the police were earlier trashing what the looters stole. I'd rather see stuff be commandered than wasted altogether.

[lagilman]

Plus, if they arrested the looters, where the hell would they take them?

Not the State Penn, since that's being evacuated, too...


Personally, I think for anyone taking anything not a 'survival' supply (water, food, basic clothing), a tranq gun wound, a "looter" tag or tattoo in their ear, and release back into the wild would work.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of jewelry and other things which won't be damaged by water, but could easily be called lost.

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know that they came from the same agency. To be fair to Yahoo they may not check cutlines.

CNN did (most likely because this is, prima facie a libelous cutline) and Yahoo should have.

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I'll make qualifications on clothing.

Needs of the moment, fine.

Outfitting a new wardrobe, not fine.

TK

[goalcam.livejournal.com]

It's not necessarily racist. The editor who tagged the first picture could be sympathetic towards the looters in the first picture while the editor who tagged the second may not feel the same.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

I'm curious - you're just being jovial about the tattoo, not serious, correct?

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

If that pissed you off, this should take the cake Law enforcement efforts to contain the emergency left by Katrina slipped into chaos in parts of New Orleans Tuesday with some police officers and firefighters joining looters in picking stores clean.

...

Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inchn flat-screen television. Officers claimed there was nothing they could do to contain the anarchy, saying their radio communications have broken down and they had no direction from commanders. (http://blighty.multiply.com/journal/item/537)

[lawgeekgurl.livejournal.com]

to be completely pedantic about the whole thing, there is so much sludge, sewage and oil in the water, I think everything will be ruined, even stuff you'd expect could have been salvaged.