Praying for tidal waves

[stillsostrange]

To all of those people out there with no sympathy for the people left behind, those who are doing what they need to to survive...

I hope you all know how to fucking swim.

Mom's gonna fix it all soon.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

People picking through wreckage for food or diapers or tampons or clean clothes are not looters. The media is having a great time babbling about looting when the majority of the people are trying to scavenge whatever they can to survive.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

If you haven't been watching the coverage, then I'm not sure you know what we're all talking about. Righteous commentary about the evils of looting while the camera focuses on a woman in shredded clothing picking through the remains of a neighborhood grocery trying to find diapers or unbroken baby food jars for her naked kid...damn, I hope if you were in that situation you'd put the needs of your child over the moral qualms of otherwise criminal behavior.

Nobody is defending the people stealing from ATMs or jewelry stores. Frankly if I evacuated and came home to find someone had been able to use whatever food I left behind to survive, I'd be grateful that it hadn't gone to waste.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

If you haven't been watching the coverage, then I'm not sure you know what we're all talking about.

Though I am firmly in your camp on the looting issue, the above is a bit unfair. Brit made valid points and carefully qualified her statement. The quantity of media coverage she views neither validates nor negates an opinion on looting.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I have to disagree. She carefully qualified her statement by admitting she had not been keeping up on the situation about which she was then posting an opinion. She has a perfect right to her opinion on looting as an abstract concept. If she's going to discuss it regarding a concrete and ongoing situation, with people who are following that situation, it would behoove her to know what we're referring to when we discuss it rather than presuming Amanda was defending people stealing VCR's and jewelry.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

This is the qualification to which I was referring:

I'm not talking about missing cans of food or tampons. I'm talking about expensive electronics...

But yes, I see your point that opining about a "concrete" situation requires information.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

Imagine you're a New Orleans resident who evacuated. How would you feel to return to your home in a week to find it looted? I'm not talking about missing cans of food or tampons. I'm talking about expensive electronics, and maybe some things that mean a lot to you.

"new orleans wasn't fucking destroyed utterly! YAY! how annoying, my tv is gone."

you're having a snit fit over a television set? jesus. they got lucky. so lucky. because 20 miles to the east would have been all it took to wipe out the whole fucking town and everyone abandoned in it. I'm sure you could have gotten weepy over an entire economic sector losing their lives, but now you're getting all fucking het up about stuff that was left behind when the assumption ran that it was going to be gone anyway.

That blows my mind, it seriously does.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

west!

fuck.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

If you can't manage to make a distinction between the people who are breaking open ATMs or vandalizing for the hell of it and the people who have no food, no fresh water, and nowhere to go, then yes, I am defending looters.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

I told Chelsea over on her LJ that my main concern about the looting was the fact that they were trying to do it in high winds. I saw footage of some people coming out of a warehouse in 70-80 mph gales, and prayed that they'd safely make it home no matter what they took.

I've been reading a lot today about what was ironically named the Catastrophic Hurricane Evacuation Plan. The more I read it, the more I've been siding with the looters.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

exactly. people who value jewelery over LIVES just blow my mind.

I mean nobody is saying that taking dvd players isn't wrong. but shit happens when you lift up your head and say "sweet Legba, I'm not dead! ASHE! let's go get some grub."

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering what I would do if I had no food or potable water. Would I steal? As much as I generally love to be on a moral highhorse, I'm pretty sure I would. I'd steal a whole big bunch if I had people depending on me.

I'm not wishing for a tidal wave, though.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

If I was in that situation I would absolutely steal to feed myself and my family, or anyone I knew who needed food. It sucks to be those business owners who had to abandon ship, but it sucks worse to be the people starving with no power.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Dude. Butler would get fed. Period. How much more obnoxious would I be if I had kids? (And were I a store owner, I'd be glad my canned tuna went to a good cause.)

[cricketshay.livejournal.com]

I would probably steal too if faced with the option of stealing or my kids starving. I wouldn't like it, but I would do it if I had to.

I don't wish a tidal wave either. I have a belief that karma is always repaid. The evil will get theirs.

it's all about balance

[mekkavandexter.livejournal.com]

if you steal one loaf of bread and that loaf of 10 slices feeds 10 people, or five people, then is the harm of stealing that loaf greater or lesser than letting 10 people go hungry (er).

to me it's not about Stealing or Not Stealing, it's about levels of suffering. There is no excuse to steal items that are not Food/Clothing/Shelter provided you NEED those items. Provided you share those items, provided you GIVE those items to those who need, to those who may need them more than you do.

karma knows that trick. It's not black nor white.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, the yhave footage of downtown Biloxi on MSNBC right now.

It's gone.