Looters Unite!

[oxymoron]

Note to the idiot media: Going into a collapsed building and grabbing a sack of rice or some water for your injured family is not fucking looting in this situation. If most of us were in the same desperate situation, we would not hesitate to do the same. This spin by the media is disgusting and smacks of racism.

That is all.

[dysfunctional press]

1. but they're BLACK!

omg...they're ALL black! :scared:

[Robb]

2. Indeed.

White people "scavenge." It must be in the AP style book.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. White people heroically provide for their families....(nt)

[donco6]

4. White people "overcome obstacles".

Ugh.

[Odin2005]

6. Or "make a profit".

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

8. We sieze opportunities....

I have to reread my Gordon Allport -- a 1950's sociologist who wrote about racism and prejudice. One his points was that prejudicial behavior involves taking positive attributes of one group and turning them into vices, and vice versa.

[Hissyspit]

26. White people "find."

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. We "discover" too....

as in look at this continent that I discovered with all of these people living on it!

Hoorah for me!

[Leopolds Ghost]

74. White people "desperately try to find supplies".

[Leopolds Ghost]

76. We also "try to prevent looters from coming into our neighborhood"

By shooting at all black people trying to leave the area on foot and enter a neighboring jurisdiction, thereby ensuring that only "our folks" are allowed to grab stuff at the abandoned local A&P. If local people do it, it's ok. As long as they aren't black.

[Leopolds Ghost]

77. White people are "advised to arm themselves and protect their house".

Black people "run around with guns, shooting at people."

[earth mom]

37. I think it's more like poor people loot, middle class/ rich "provide heroically" or whatever.

We're in a Class War, it's not about skin color.

Even Spike Lee said that in his film about Katrina.

[AuntPatsy]

48. True to a point but in all reality, even the poor whites believe it is because of skin color

anything to help themselves sleep better at night and find someone to blame other than the ones who are truly to blame...no surprise here, God the things I heard spouted after Katrina, here we go again..

:crazy:

[earth mom]

49. Until we all unite against the class war that is being waged against us all,

we will all-no matter what color-continue to be screwed over by the powers that be.

[tavalon]

63. Yes, the elite class have perfected the art

of getting us to snipe at each other, thereby keeping us all too weak to combat them. It's unfortunate that we are so easily manipulated.

[winyanstaz]

71. truer words were never spoken.....

K & R

[LooseWilly]

72. Because the poor whites are the ones who are being most targeted with the notion that its skin color

They need to be sold on the idea... because there are an awful lot of poor whites... and if they ever got the idea that it was the relatively few rich whites screwing them... rather than the "blacks that loot and aren't like us white folk who forage"... well then the Tea Party Folks might start showing up at corporate headquarters, rather than Democratic Town Halls... and that simply wouldn't do.

That they believe it is about skin color... obviously doesn't make it so... it just makes them wrong.

[Xenotime]

24. I forgot about that!

[tavalon]

65. I remember those two captions particularly

I knew before about the bullshit framing but this was as overt as it gets.

[Jamastiene]

67. That sums it up.

Thank you for finding that photographic evidence of double standards in journalism from back then.

[Rage for Order]

81. I hate to be the one to break up a good poutrage party, but...

The "looting" versus "finding" issue was explained several years ago.

:eyes:

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/looters.asp

(apparently you can't copy & paste from snopes, so I'm including their source articles)

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index.html

Jack Stokes, AP's director of media relations, confirmed today that (photographer Dave) Martin says he witnessed the people in his images looting a grocery store. "He saw the person go into the shop and take the goods," Stokes said, "and that's why he wrote 'looting' in the caption."

Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, told Salon that all captions are vetted by editors and are the result of a dialogue between editor and photographer. Lyon said AP's policy is that each photographer can describe only what he or she actually sees. He added, "When we see people go into businesses and come out with goods, we call it 'looting.'" On the other hand, he said, "When we just see them carrying things down the road, we call it 'carrying items.'"

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=17204

The AFP photographer Chris Graythen explains his "finding" caption:

"I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow."

[Jamastiene]

66. They are taking notes from Yahoo back during Katrina, it seems.

It's called survival, not looting.

[oxymoron]

10. Exactly

And I am seeing this term used by all the media across the board. Usually by idiot reporters cowering in an airport.

[newtothegame]

18. ??

Who said it's looting because they're black? I've never seen that anywhere. Nice sensationalism.

[Solomon]

22. I guess you weren't around for Katrina either.

Your tag name really fits.

[newtothegame]

32. Again I ask, who said it's looting because they're black?

You're the only one who's looking at two pictures and only seeing the differences in race. But I suppose if you want to have that ultra-cynical, "the whole world is racist and evil," viewpoint, that's fine.

I for one think the media isn't even CLOSE to as bad as everyone thinks they are, and for an obvious reason. Both political extremes sincerely think the media is EXTREMELY biased against THEM. So it's probably somewhere about in the middle.

[donco6]

Well, I'd say that sounds "fair and balanced" to me.

Snicker.

[dysfunctional press]

50. "You're the only one who's looking at two pictures and only seeing the differences in race."

actually- i'd say that you're one of the very few people who DON'T see the difference in race in the pictures (from post-katrina news reports on the same day).

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

51. Alright, what's the difference between the two pictures besides race?

[Hannah Bell]

75. The *media* does. They DID, during Katrina.

[Hissyspit]

23. Here you go:

[City Lights]

43. I was hoping someone would post that!

Thanks!

[Jamastiene]

68. Why? Because it has been done before. See Post # 24. It's a pattern.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7470612&mesg_id=7471066

[kayla9170]

38. AND OMG, they are "POOR BLACKS TOO"

They HAVE to be LOOTING....what else do "Poor Black People" do?....:sarcasm:

[Hugabear]

82. It's pornography for rethugs

Rethugs eat this stuff up. "Look at them, they're all the same, running around stealing and looting" is what they say when they see these images on TV. Nevermind the fact that these are desperate, starving people who are grabbing whatever FOOD they can find to eat. It's not as if they're grabbing big-screen HDTVs, Playstations, iPods, or any other extravagant luxuries. Rethugs never let the actual details get in the way of their racist logic. You can rest assured that the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity will be using this as justification for not wanting to lend them a helping hand.

[dysfunctional press]

83. "it looks about the same now as it did before the earthquake- i don't see no difference..."

[Berry Cool]

5. Really, what does "looting" mean in a situation like this? The term is meaningless.

It'd be one thing if people were running around having a jolly time grabbing jewelry and TVs and crap. But when everything is destroyed and people have no food and water, and they go into a building (at risk to their own lives because it could collapse even further on them) and grab something to eat and drink, well, shit...I dare anyone to say they would not do the same, especially if you had hungry kids to feed. It's so ridiculous.

What these people are taking is not "loot." It's survival rations.

[seabeyond]

12. i was going to answer. food, water NOT looting. tv's = looting. but i see

you have already answered, lol

[Soylent Brice]

7. pretty fucked up, isn't it?

[oxymoron]

11. It's freaking unbelievable

People climbing over the bodies of their neighbors to find food are now looters according to our media.

[Soylent Brice]

47. no, not unbelievable by any means. really quite predictable.

it was only a matter of time before the media started this shit.

[KharmaTrain]

9. This Was Inevitible...

I'm sensing a good deal of racism in the coverage I've seen. While it's not said outright, the storyline is how how this is such a backward country and how jinxed it is. It's not said that this is cause of centuries of isolation and exploitation but it surely has to be due to the country being predominately black. I saw one report that focused on the island's practice of Voodoo...not that this has any bearing on the disaster, but framed as to a reason the country remains so desolate.

Now imagine a 7.0 quake hitting one of our cities. How prepared is this country for such an event? When civil authority and social order breaks down, it's everyone for themselves and right now it's basic survival...food, water, shelter. Grabbing a sack of grain isn't walking off with a wide screen...but it doesn't matter, the corporate media seems to be hoping for a worse crisis...a total breakdown in order that would mean more pictures they can exploit.

[lunatica]

14. In the US total devastation is very regional

I agree with you but in Haiti it's national. Even under the worst circumstances during hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes the rest of the country comes to the aid. Even when Bush dragged his feet in New Orleans civilians mobilized very quickly. Hundreds of people were rescued by dingy little boats steered by civilians and citizen volunteers. Had Bush bothered to care and mobilize the National Guard the help would have arrived very quickly. Instead he chose to use NO as a photo op.

[KharmaTrain]

16. 9/11 Was Regional As Well

You are spot on about NOLA...and one element that the corporate media seemed to avoid...and that was the extreme sense of community in the wake of Katrina...and that still goes on today. They prefered to spotlight the suffering and the "looting" as those get the eyeballs and attention. It was so frustrating to see the governments...federal, state and local play games while people were dying and then rushing to either deflect the blame where things went wrong or tried to take credit for the hard work of the locals.

Haiti's problem is now regional...thus I was glad to see the Dominican Republic rush in to assist their neighbor...something they had avoided in the past. Had the epicenter been 100 miles east, it would have been Santo Domingo that was in shambles. The luck of the draw and sadly the Haitians once again have come up with fate's short straw. Here's hoping the assistance is not a short term fix.

I do have to point out how a regional tragedy can be used on a national scale...and that's 9/11. While the impact was regional, the intention was to create fear nationally and it succeded. People in Kansas were worried A-rabs were gonna fly airplanes into their Farm & Fleet and just look at how our air traffic system has come under martial law...along with all the other repressive acts (primarily of the previous regime) that did away with our remaining freedoms. In the video and internet age, regional can become national and international in a hurry.

Cheers...

[KittyWampus]

20. An aside, there was looting during 9/11. Firefighters who got into vaults under the ground.

[kayla9170]

41. On Your Second Paragraph..........

I wrote about a situation similar to this happening in the US last night and how would the SPOILED American public would react here at DU. The thread dropped like a rocket but was very true in what would happen here. In Haiti, the people are already poor so they are use to surviving but this is total destruction. They can only survive so long before desperation kicks in (i.e.-Obtaining food by ANY MEANS NECESSARY to survive). In America, first day, 10 hours afterward in total destruction IMHO, you would have race riots, "looting", shooting, killing, etc. Why? We are spoiled....no access to a ATM, I-Pod's, electric items (Flat Screen TV's, Radio's,), their Homes, Gas (or Gas would be $45.00 a gallon), food rationing, etc..ALL HELL WOULD BREAK LOOSE IN THE USA. The point was that most Americans would not last a day in similar situations, less known 4 days and counting like the people of Haiti..........

[Jamastiene]

70. They are wrong. About 95% of the population claim Christian beliefs...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Haiti

[lunatica]

13. I posted about this in another thread

Looting is about robbing and plundering, especially in war. Looting is when people take things like TVs or historical objects from museums. Looting has nothing to do with taking food when none is to be had any other way.

How long does one have to go without food or water before they're not called looters anymore? Especially in 80+ degree weather with no shelter and no water.

There's that insidious racial stereotyping again. Fuck them!

[lpbk2713]

15. Katrina revisited.

But these people had a lot less to begin with.

[blondeatlast]

17. Because big screen TVs and Wiis are so prevalent in a destitute,

desperate nation.

Have I mentioned how much I despise the media?

:banghead:

[oxymoron]

58. Precisely

Our media has lost all touch with reality.

[lapfog_1]

19. I think this sums up our media...

[KittyWampus]

21. And you and those who latch onto that photo demonstrate your own bigotry and bias

Cause when you look at that bottom photo, the girl you ASSUME is white actually looks quite a lot like an old high school girlfriend of mine who was BLACK.

Go ahead, demonstrate the girl on the bottom is white by just looking at the photo.

You can't.

You can make a case for bias in media coverage. But using that photo is screwed up.

[Hissyspit]

27. Wrong. There is one white person in the photo.

The male. Makes the case for racism AND sexism. When I posted it, I saw QUITE CLEARLY that the ethnic idenity of the young woman is ambiguous, but that she is LIGHT-SKINNED with a WHITE male.

[KittyWampus]

39. ah, so the woman is invisible? She isn't. She's part of the failed attempt by some to prove

something and end up demonstrating something else.

[Hissyspit]

52. No, she's not invisible. What did I just say?

[lapfog_1]

28. Wow, just wow.

The MEDIA decided the race of these people and indicated what they thought of the actions of the people in the photographs by writing what they wrote. *I* didn't do a DAMN THING other than to find the comparison of the two photos, NOT TO MENTION that the comparison is mostly left up to the viewer of the photos (all they did was circle the words used).

I made NO ASSUMPTION AT ALL. The writer of the caption did. They demonstrate their racism by their word choice.

Black people loot, white people find. That is the bias of the authors of the article on display.

Please find something else to pick at... you are off base here.

[KittyWampus]

40. The writer of the caption made no assumption about the two individuals' race

it's those who insist on using that photo to say "media see white people as finding not looting".

One can successfully make a case for disparate treatment of races in disaster coverage. But using that photo is ill-advised.

[lapfog_1]

46. Bullshit.

The media knew exactly what images it is portraying and the language used.

That's why it's become iconic. A metaphor for the racism still prevalent in this country.

You are simply way off base.

[kayla9170]

44. Apologizing for the Media Use of the Word "Looting"

I guess that the ticker line on CNN for DAYS that "95% of the Haiti population are Black" and now the word "Looting" is used to describe DESPERATE PEOPLE OBTAINING FOOD means nothing to you huh? :eyes:

[oxymoron]

60. Seriously?

Really?

[Hannah Bell]

78. she isn't *black*, whatever else she may be.

[tkmorris]

84. Oh my. You don't know what you sound like do you?

That's a shame, truly it is. Being able to see yourself the way others see you is a very important ability to possess.

[Brewman_Jax]

25. Black people loot, white people find

'nuff said. :eyes:

[timeforpeace]

29. Undocumented shopping.

[era veteran]

30. I think foraging would be the correct word

The only sane thing to do for immediate movement of food. Probably not very fairly moved but the aid agencies and govt. not functioning so at least food got out. There will be more later.

[oxymoron]

31. Let's hope it arrives today

[blondeatlast]

35. "foraging" is a very apt description but the media wouldn't use it because

they'd have to define it to many people.

I only wish I were kidding about that but I really think most people wouldn't know what it means.

[annabanana]

59. I think you're right.. Does anyone really want to see Blackwater

standing between the starving and the food?

[oxymoron]

33. Wow, getting unrecs like crazy

Racism lives.

[kayla9170]

42. Are you surprised about Racism Popping Up Its' Ugly Head Here at DU?

I am not.....There was a picture of a Noose on another thread and someone thought it was appropriate to post this picture. Mods had not removed it, up to that point....it could be now, I reported it. Also, the continuing stupid arguments by some people at DU that racism in America, its' Media Coverage, in life in America does not exist. It is either their fantasy on how they would LIKE the world to be, they are avoiding the subject or they are just racist themselves. Time to call it for what it is..........

[oxymoron]

56. Guess not

Very sad :(

[Tatiana]

34. It disgusts me everytimes I read or hear the word "looting" used.

WTF? Does the media not understand what the word SURVIVAL means?

If aid had been able to reach the people in a timely manner, there would be no foraging for items of sustenance. The food is not there yet; the water is not there, so what are the people expected to do?

These people will DIE without food and fresh water. They are doing exactly what they need to do to survive and no one should expect any different.

[oxymoron]

61. Well put. nt

[kayla9170]

45. K & R................

Let's :kick: this up!

[mstinamotorcity]

53. Looters give me a break

That s--t right there is survival.and even though there are Haitians there what about the rest of the visitors and resident from other countries surely i saw faces that were not all dark.And as far as racism goes any time the media can point to a disaster and spin it toward race it will happen.That is why Rush Limpdick and Pat-tee Robertson got there digs in first.This way the contention with any comment can come off that way.don't believe the hype.

[madmax]

54. +1

[fascisthunter]

55. Well, Hopefully those Cheerleaders Gone News Anchor

never find themselves in a predicament like that.

[Arugula Latte]

57. But ... But ... they're poor people taking FOOD!

Obviously, looting is only acceptable if it's done by rich white guys from Wall Street. DUH.

[tavalon]

62. Yeah, I really hate that

It isn't looting, it's trying to stay alive. I know, I'm preaching to the choir.

[LatteLibertine]

64. *Cough*

It seems to me some outlets and commentators are looking to promote this narrative. "Are you sure you haven't been shaken down by gang leaders?" "No." "Are you sure they haven't stole all your supplies?" "No." etc etc.

I've done a 10 day water fast in ideal conditions. I can't imagine all the people in Haiti are enduring; smell of the dead, dead family/friends, listening to people die in wreckage, most of the city in rubble. Now couple that with no food or water and +80 temps.

I've donated to the Red Cross, Yele Haiti, and Artists for Peace and Justice. I pray for the people of Haiti daily.

[oxymoron]

79. Agreed

and the need there is absolutely overwhelming. Heartbreaking.

[AbbeyRoad]

69. Amen.

[Hannah Bell]

73. If black people do it, it's looting. Black people are criminals, don't you get it?

And if they don't eat for a couple of days, they start to kill each other.

They've been pushing this since DAY ONE. The US media is a pack of face-lifted jackals.

[Greyhound]

80. Many unrecs and no defense or identity.

:kick:

[CoffinEd]

85. Not only do black people loot...

But in particular young black males are the biggest looters. Of all the "looters" emerging from the grocery store, the one photo taken was of a young black male apparently 'fleeing the scene of the crime'. Never mind that the young man looked to be carrying soda and a garbage bag of canned goods -- maybe to feed members of his family, he was nonetheless a "looter." In other words, young black males cannot ever be heroic. They must always be looked on with suspicion and distrust.

Regardless of the questionable ethnicity of the young woman in the second photo (I have relatives in Louisiana who self-identify as "black" but could very easily pass for "white"), I wonder how the caption would have been written if the young white male wading though the water were behind the young black male. I seriously doubt the word "looting" would have been used simply because *in my opinion* the presence of the young white male would have made the caption writer think twice about using the word for no other reason than it's not a word that is generally associated with whites (at least not in this country), be they looters or not.

Back in the 70's and 80's there used to be a trend among many sportscasters and sportswriters to frame the abilities of basketball players (and maybe to a certain extent football players) in one of two ways: naturally gifted and "heady" (implying an above average intelligence that made up for not being "naturally gifted"). Of course we know who was routinely labeled "naturally gifted" and who was labeled "heady". After many black players began calling out the media for its biased framing, the term "heady" was expanded to include both black and white players (even players who are not "heady"), and "naturally gifted" was used more selectively; being applied to those athletes who are indeed "naturally gifted."

Can the US news media be accused of applying double-standards in its coverage of events? Of course. Can the US news media be accused of sometimes becoming lazy in its coverage of events? I think the fact that some reporters are now labeling people who are merely trying to survive another day as "looters" says it all.

Oh, and let's not forget the "refugee" label that was so casually tossed around during Katrina.