muckefuck | Looterville

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Looterville

If you're looking for a little schadenfreude this morning in the wake of disaster, the crazy woman who decided to remain in New Orleans because her cats weren't worried has been forced to evacuate.

I have to confess some frustration with people who defy a mandatory evacuation order and then turn around and scream for rescue when things get worse than they expected. On the one hand, a state's power to force people from their homes should certainly be limited. Moreover, people should be allowed to make bad decisions without being required to pay the ultimate price for them. But demanding to be left alone and then suddenly changing your mind just makes matters worse for everybody.

For instance, if all citizens had evacuated their homes in the beginning, then law enforcement could basically assume that anyone on the streets who wasn't a rescue worker was a looter and take appropriate action. Of course, a lot of people who stayed behind did so to protect their property since they expected that the police wouldn't do much to prevent widespread theft--and they're being proven right. The first-hand accounts of conditions in the city today are nothing less than harrowing. What I want to know is: What the hell are the looters doing with all this crap? After all, 80% of the city is flooded and passage in and out is drastically curtailed. Are they taking it all back to their flooded homes where it will simply be destroyed? The idiocy of it all pisses me off.

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What the hell are the looters doing with all this crap? After all, 80% of the city is flooded and passage in and out is drastically curtailed. Are they taking it all back to their flooded homes where it will simply be destroyed? The idiocy of it all pisses me off.

THANK YOU! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was wondering this! Seriously, it's not like you can plug in that TV you just swiped anywhere, and it's simply transformed into prolonged vandalism. Why the police just let this happen in a number of cases is beyond me ...

They're too busy trying to keep people from dying. Just a guess.

The mayor of New Orleans recently blasted emergency crews for using helicopters to rescue people rather than plug up the breached levees. I'll admit, it's a tough choice, but if they could stop the water flowing in, they could begin pumping and fewer people would need rescuing. Plus the cleanup would go faster--the mayor claimed the delay would add at least four weeks to the time needed to drain the city.

Some of those people couldn't have gotten out earlier (I read one account of a man on a respirator who died when he ran out of oxygen) but if all the ones who could've had, imagine what a difference it would've made.

Right now might not be the best time to make this point.

Maybe not, but when is? Plenty of people made this point again and again before the storm hit and thousands ignored them. They're suffering for it now and I see no reason to rub it in. (At the same time, they're incredibly unlikely to read any of this, having better things to do right now than LJ.)

But hundreds of millions of people are watching the situation unfold. Somebody should be pointing out to them "See what happens when one ignores the experts? It's not just your own life that you put at risk." That way, when a disaster strikes their hometown, hopefully they'll react with a little more humility and foresight.

Your argument is based on logic, so it might be better to wait until people are reacting less emotionally.

When people are reacting less emotionally will be when the crisis is past--and they go back to not paying any attention any more.

I'm really just venting. I feel pretty confident that nobody's behaviour will alter one iota because of anything I say here.

While we tread on sensitive sodden ground, when will it be appropriate to begin questioning the wisdom of encouraging people to live below sea level when they are virtually on the sea shore?

You're right: Someone needs to head to the Netherlands now and tell those retards they're fucking nuts.

Well, we know what they've been smoking anyway.

Touché -- when I wrote that I was thinking only of the cases I've read of people doing this right in front of police (as opposed to any other instance -- there are obviously larger priorities than policing specifically against vandalism and looting!). But you're right -- it WOULD be far worse to occupy an officer with something like that when, at that moment, someone's life could be at risk.

Reportedly, at least one officer has been shot trying to prevent it and is in critical condition. They've called in SWAT teams to secure the downtown area.

Egad -- and I had just read an article about people stealing a bunch of guns from a WalMart there ...

It gets even worse: There are reliable reports of police joining the looting. (It's not on this page, but the print article has an accompanying photo of a police officer in full uniform carrying out a stack of DVDs.)

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