# Worthless shithead New Orleans looters. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379 "2005-08-31T02:46:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/101 "2005-08-31T18:02:41Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Actually, if you want the truth, _I’ve_ heard that Fox has rented out the water tank used to film _Titanic_ , constructed a big set of New Orleans in it and _hired_ black actors to pretend to be looters. This way the evil right-wing Fox execs can _ensure_ that no white looters accidentally appear in any of their shots. :rolleyes: The version I heard is that they did accidentally film a few white looters, but digitally altered the images to make them look black. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/102 "2005-08-31T18:04:04Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I don’t know what the fuck this means. > > Do you save the babies or do you save the Gamecubes? Quit stalling and answer the question. ‘Book learning’ says there will be 5 birds left…‘common sense’ tells you there’ll be zero. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/103 "2005-08-31T18:04:16Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I don’t know what the fuck this means. Puh-leeze. (Hint: How many birds actually **would** be on the fence afterwards, and why?) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Wrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mr.Wrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Wrong)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/104 "2005-08-31T18:07:08Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > Look, I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding in this thread - nobody’s saying the looting isn’t legally/morally/ethically wrong, we’re just saying that it’s pretty damned low on our list of concerns and priorities right now with what’s going on in NO! Actually, \*\*Diogenes \*\* is. Check Post #56 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/105 "2005-08-31T18:07:20Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > You’ve gotten entirely too strange with this one. > > [CNN anchorman] > We would like to mention that the reason you only see black people in these shots of looters is that only black people live here. Rest assured, if any white people lived here, they would also be breaking into stores and looting. > [/CNN anchorman] > > Is that what you expect? Yes, that’s what I expect. As it is, they’re just revelling in the opportunity lament the immorality of all those \_\_\_\_\_\_\_'s without ever saying the word out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/106 "2005-08-31T18:07:42Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Ha ha ha! Gotta love _Airplane_ ! Yeah. It’s just sad how often I read something here on the SDMB that smacks of the same level of compassion as that line. ---
**Author:** ![Flyhalf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea5d25/32.png) [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/107 "2005-08-31T18:07:50Z")
It’s very likely that my parents house was destroyed/blown away as it was only a couple hundred yards from the beach (can’t confirm this because I haven’t been able to reach them). But what is 100% certain is that they aren’t looting. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/108 "2005-08-31T18:08:42Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > ‘Book learning’ says there will be 5 birds left…‘common sense’ tells you there’ll be zero. Who gives a fuck about birds? What does it have to do with the question? Answer the question. Do you rescue the babies or do you rescue the Gamecubes? ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/109 "2005-08-31T18:11:18Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Yes, the majority population is black. The racism isn’t in the pictures alone but the commentary which not only dehumanizes the people doing it and carictures all of them as subhuman scum, but in the fact that they never TELL you News Orleans is majority black. They leave an _impression_ that only black people are doing it because they don’t tell you that only black people live in those neighborhoods. Or to put it another way, they’re leaving an impression that white people are choosing _not_ to do it simply by refraining to tell you that there _aren’t_ white people. **DTC** I think you’re correct, but I don’t know how you can fix that. My missus, who’s from the UK, commented on how the looters were black and that the only time she saw white people was when they were helping other folks. She felt it made black people look bad to the public. I told that New Orleans as a high percentage of black people and that’s why the video has lots of black folks committing the crimes and she got it. Still, if I hadn’t informed her, she would’ve believed that there was this high percentage of black people looting, while the white folks were handing out food and saving the lives of their neighbours, because that was ALL she saw on the tube. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/110 "2005-08-31T18:15:26Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Yes, that’s what I expect. As it is, they’re just revelling in the opportunity lament the immorality of all those \_\_\_\_\_\_\_'s without ever saying the word out loud. It’s interesting that you felt it necessary to cut my last sentence before making this comment. To a limited extent, I see your point. That extent is very limited. The fact of the matter is that the people stealing things that they don’t need to survive are unmitigatedly thieves. They are criminals. I have hopes that the same faces you see smiling and waving into the cameras today are in court being identified from the videotape tomorrow. That they are black has nothing to do with those hopes, that they are immoral scum does. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/111 "2005-08-31T18:15:34Z")
> [@Flyhalf](#): > > It’s very likely that my parents house was destroyed/blown away as it was only a couple hundred yards from the beach (can’t confirm this because I haven’t been able to reach them). But what is 100% certain is that they aren’t looting. YMMV. How do you know they aren’t looting? Are they imbued with some kind of divine, super human virtue which inures them to hunger and thirst? Would they satarve themselves to death before they would steal a loaf of bread? What’s it like to be brought up by saints? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Wrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mr.Wrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Wrong)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/112 "2005-08-31T18:16:37Z")
And why the fuck is it fair game to take someone’s property just because it may or may not be “unsalable”? Who the fuck made that rule? Do you know for sure that all that stuff would be thrown away? What about jewelry? Is it all necessarily ruined? Then why risk your life to steal it? What about all the guns that have apparently been stolen? Does that make it easier to rescue the rooftop babies? If I put something out in my garbage, and you think you can use it- knock yourself out. Until I do that, however, it still belongs to me. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/113 "2005-08-31T18:17:54Z")
> [@holmes](#): > > **DTC** I think you’re correct, but I don’t know how you can fix that. My missus, who’s from the UK, commented on how the looters were black and that the only time she saw white people was when they were helping other folks. She felt it made black people look bad to the public. > > I told that New Orleans as a high percentage of black people and that’s why the video has lots of black folks committing the crimes and she got it. Still, if I hadn’t informed her, she would’ve believed that there was this high percentage of black people looting, while the white folks were handing out food and saving the lives of their neighbours, because that was ALL she saw on the tube. That’s _exactly_ my point. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Flyhalf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea5d25/32.png) [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/114 "2005-08-31T18:24:45Z")
Diogenes, I have to say that I’ve been coming to this board for quite some time and even though you and I have different ways of thinking, I find myself to be in agreement with you more often than not (even with the issue being discussed in this thread). Having said that, I must say that you are being a complete dick in your response to my post. While I may not disagree with what you are saying, the way you are saying it makes you a total fucking asshole. And finally, the reason I know they are not looting is because I know my parents better than you do (and believe me, they are NOT saints), and I am certain they are helping out other, less fortunate, survivors of the hurricane. YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/115 "2005-08-31T18:37:42Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > OK, so let’s say we’re neighbors and you heeded the numerous warnings and evacuated your home, and I utterly ignored everyone and decided to stay. There is now a foot of water in both our houses. Do I have the right to break into your home and help myself to whatever ‘destroyed trash’ I might feel like taking? You won’t mind that, right? I think this post deserves an answer. It is odd that when it is some mindless “company” that everyone talks about insurance and victimless crime. Well, this poster posits a victim. They are stealing YOUR undamaged, totally usable stuff. Invading YOUR home, going through YOUR drawers. Seeing YOUR personal belongings. Is that wrong? Believe you me, looting is not relegated to simply stores. A failure to control this situation means tens of thousands of victims… besides being displaced, homeless and out of work. The ones who do this, besides food and basic supplies (which I doubt comprise the majority, who the fuck goes hungry in 24 hours in their house. Should they not have grabbed a can of fucking spagetti O’s and a bottled water before they decided to ride out a storm. I dont know, maybe fill up your bathtup, and a couple of glasses for fucksake. IT HAD BEEN 24 HOURS. before the looting started), are common criminals. Evil, uncaring and inhuman. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/116 "2005-08-31T18:41:43Z")
I’m assuming that if I got out of something like a Category 5 hurricane alive, I’d have taken with me whatever (more than likely few) possessions where of real value. Either in a must-need way, like a respirator would be, or for sentimental reasons. However, in the latter group, one wouldn’t be able to take much if leaving was an emergency and you actually could. But since I live in a place only threatened by tornados, the only true fear is the direct destruction. Typically, flooding isn’t part of the equation. So, what gets damaged is probably brief and I wouldn’t think it moral/ethical/wise/judicious to take things that weren’t yours simply because you could or wanted to or hoped that whoever owned them wouldn’t mind for whatever reason. That said, if I lived in NO and I was now safe and dry outside the city, watching tons of others still stuck there in infested waters, with no food at hand, medical attention available or possibility for easing their situation for Og knows how long, I would _hope_ they would take anything of mine, anything, that could help. They need my TV to barter for food, go for it. Or the PS to occupy their time as the only thing left, same deal. Any or all. Please. I can’t help but see the folks remaining aren’t the ones who have lost their Lexus, or are running around in Tommy Hilfiger or look anything but poverty stricken, desperate, tired and hopeless, and in a lot of cases, diseased. And many have been just kids. Again, take my stuff. I can’t imagine caring more about that than someone’s child or health or emotional well-being. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/117 "2005-08-31T18:45:55Z")
[Black people “loot.”](http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530) [White people “find” stuff](http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/...shxwaoma_photo1) (Links originally posted by **Lochsdale** in the [IMHO](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6528947#post6528947) thread. **Flyhalf** , I think I must have expressed myself badly or misunderstood you or something. I was trying to say that you can’t say for sure what your parents would do merely to _survive_. I did not intend to imply that you culdn’t be sure they wouldn’t do anything beyond what was necessary for survival, but that you couldn’t categorically state that they would never steal under any circumstances at all. My impression was that you were saying they would rather die than steal food and that’s what made me dubious. I apologize for any offense. I honestly did not mean to imply that I thought you couldn’t rely on them not to do anything gratuitously selfish or ethically unjustified. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/118 "2005-08-31T18:52:46Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > This points to one of the reasons why the suppression of looting is critically important. If it is generally perceived that looting will be permitted to run its course, a lot more people are going to ignore the next evacuation warning and bunker up at home instead, thereby costing lives and increasing the burden of post-disaster relief. That is one of the stupidest things I’ve read here. Yeah, the people wading through chest deep sewer water are having so much fun! We should do that! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/119 "2005-08-31T18:57:48Z")
I think \*\*Steve MB \*\* means people will stay home to protect their stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379/120 "2005-08-31T18:59:16Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > [Black people “loot.”](http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530) > [White people “find” stuff](http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/...shxwaoma_photo1) > > . OK. Your posts seem to imply that the AP is racist. I have no problem with that theory. But your original rant was about Fox News. Any evidence that _they_ are being racist in their looter coverage? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthless-shithead-new-orleans-looters/319379.md?page=7)