[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
The stores are all going to write everything off as a total loss anyway, QUOTE]
Great Seinfeld episode:
Jerry: “You don’t even know what a ‘write-off’ is, do you?”
Kramer: “No. Do you?”
Jerry: “No.”
Kramer: “Well, they do! And they’re the ones writing it off!”
It doesn’t matter. I don’t think anyone’s expecting anything to be usable anyway. If I was I shop owner, I don’t think I would care. It’s done.
I think if it was a black-out, that’s different, but a store that’s gonna be underwater shortly? Who cares? If Mr. Smith can somehow manage to use a Plasma TV in a city that’s destroyed, more power to him; whether for barter or whatever.
Most likely, most of that stuff’s gonna be dumped anyway, as the realization of the seriousness of the disaster sinks in and will end up in the same place it would have if they didn’t loot the stores; in the dump.
Is it still stealing, if no one’s going to claim it?
I totatlly disagree about stealing ‘foo.’ You’ll get my ‘foo’ when you pry it from my dead, cold fingers!
I am not in the “Who Cares” camp and I didn’t mean to sound that way.
Also
I just heard on CNN that looting is not usually covered by insurance. So I stand corrected on that.
Well, gee, maybe the relief crews will show up after conditions – such as the restoration of some semblance of law and order – make it possible for them to accomplish something useful. :rolleyes:
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.
Why don’t we save the jack booted authority trip until we’ve pulled everybody out of the water.
I’m still waiting for you to address the fact that, without the “jack booted authority trip”, a lot more people will need to be pulled out of the water next time.
I just can’t comprehend the amount of anger you guys are showing at the looters! “Animals?” “The lowest of the low?” “Human scum?” “Snipers should shoot them all?” “I’ll buy the bullets!” What am I missing here? It’s not like they’re raping children - they’re stealing destroyed trash.
WHO CARES?
There is no longer a “New Orleans” - it no longer exists.
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 once had a job helping to clean up a Walmart that had its roof blown off by a tornado, with subsequent water damage. The rules were counter-intuitive. We packed up stuff like moldy bread and soggy boxes of cereal to be resold at a salvage store. All canned goods were to be destroyed due to the possibility that they had been punctured and were therefore a potential source of botulism (or whatever). A lot of perfectly good canned food got thrown away.
I can’t condemn someone taking food or medicine in an emergency situation. It saddens me, however, to see so many people willing to take things they don’t need just because they can. Stealing ultimately hurts other people, whether the stealing is from stores or people’s homes. Increased insurance payouts and premiums are paid for by an increase in the cost of consumer goods.
Most importantly, it saddens and frightens me to see moral values thrown out the window so quickly. I don’t steal because it hurts other people and because I have to live with my conscience. The current situation reminds me that there’s a significant part of the population who are restrained from savagery and lawlessness only by the fear of being caught.
I don’t give a fuck about next time. People need to be rescued RIGHT NOW. Imagine you’re in a helicopter and you see a family of five on a roof suffering from injuries and dehydration. A couple of blocks away, you see a guy running with a frozen turkey from a Winn-Dixie. Do you rescue the family or do you peel away to gun down the turkey thief because you want to make sure nobody steals any turkeys the NEXT time?
The water, as of last report, is still rising in New Orleans. The officials are saying the parts that are still dry are going to be under water soon.
Not a whole lot of stuff that spends a long time underwater is salable afterwards. Food, even canned food? Nope. Medicine? No way. Electronics? Certainly not. CDs and DVDs? It’ll be cheaper to burn them anew.
So put me in the “bad, but not bad enough to start shooting people over” camp. Are the looters going to be able to drag their new plasma TVs to higher ground before the waters rise around them? Probably not. Time wounds all heels, and in this case it probably won’t take that much time.
And add me to those who are disturbed by the racism here, especially the posts berating the black people who stayed for being too dumb to evacuate. A lot of people in New Orleans don’t have cars. N.O. is something like 67% black, 27% white; you tell me who most of those people are. Greyhound stopped running buses out of the city on Saturday. I can’t blame them, but it certainly limited the options of people without wheels and with limited money.
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!
How many mandatory evacuation orders did this ‘family of five’ ignore?
The only reason I can think of to rebuild New Orleans where it is, is due to its history and charm. And you can’t ‘rebuild’ that. Either it’ll be salvageable, or it won’t be. But if it’s not, you might as well ‘rebuild’ the entire city in a more sensible location, AFAIAC.
“They bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash!”
[QUOTE=VCO3]
I just can’t comprehend the amount of anger you guys are showing at the looters! “Animals?” “The lowest of the low?” “Human scum?” “Snipers should shoot them all?” “I’ll buy the bullets!” What am I missing here? It’s not like they’re raping children - they’re stealing destroyed trash. QUOTE]
They are putting people in danger. Many are armed and a looter already shot a police officer in the head. New crews are being pulled out of the city because it is too dangerous. Looters already tried to rob news crews or at least screwed with them for kicks. Rescue and relief crews cannot work effectively with anarchy all around them and fearing for their lives.
These people have to leave eventually.It might as well be now.
The mandatory evacuation order was issued Sunday morning, IIRC. How far were they gonna walk before Katrina arrived, and where were they going to be when it caught them?
Ha ha ha! Gotta love Airplane !