Insomniac ponderings
Sep. 2nd, 2005 04:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
infrogmationThe natural disaster in New Orleans is dreadful, but the magnitude is not unprecedented and other cities have come back from such-- eg, Chicago after the Great Fire and San Francisco after the Great Quake of '06. The human disaster may be another matter; this remains to be seen.
Hungry people breaking into a grocery store are desperate Scavengers and I have sympathy for them. People who see a disaster as a chance to enrich themselves at the expence of others are Looters for whom I do not.
From accounts I heard, there was at least one attempt, in the case of the Uptown Wal-Mart I believe, to commendeer and distribute goods as a Society. Police opened up the store to get food and supplies for the neighborhood. That the situation got out of hand shows that the logistics were poorly planned, but IMO the intention was completely appropriate, and there should have been much more of this.
Faced with disasters, the majority of people are willing to work together if they get the message that this is something affecting all of us and we all need to help each other.
Hungry people breaking into a grocery store are desperate Scavengers and I have sympathy for them. People who see a disaster as a chance to enrich themselves at the expence of others are Looters for whom I do not.
From accounts I heard, there was at least one attempt, in the case of the Uptown Wal-Mart I believe, to commendeer and distribute goods as a Society. Police opened up the store to get food and supplies for the neighborhood. That the situation got out of hand shows that the logistics were poorly planned, but IMO the intention was completely appropriate, and there should have been much more of this.
Faced with disasters, the majority of people are willing to work together if they get the message that this is something affecting all of us and we all need to help each other.
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ribbit!
Date: 2005-09-02 02:33 pm (UTC)Thanks for the definition. I like it better than the big Media intentionally-polarising "white people find, black people loot" spot that's been passing around LJ. Yeah, if I were there and hungry, I'd go get some food. And when the corner store guys returned, I'd help them clean up their store...
People ought to help one another, in disaster and in good times. Seems simple to me!