The MSM needs to STOP CALLING HUNGRY THIRSTY PEOPLE LOOTERS!

[Joanne98]

First Haiti now Chile. WTF? Is this a new trend?

Notice to human race!

If you're in a diaster zone and you have food and water, you're suppose to SHARE IT!!!!!!

DUH!

:argh:

[fascisthunter]

1. typical of an upper class

not surprised to see the corporate media with the same mentality of those they represent. It's more obvious everyday that the class war is real and is being waged by the wealthy.

[Echo In Light]

18. Yes. And when it happens here, those "looters" will magically morph into "terrorists."

[fascisthunter]

20. yeee-up

[dipsydoodle]

2. Fair comment

but what we saw on our TV news here in the UK were boxed cookers and fridges being carted off.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. OK -

Person A: I've got 50 lbs of beef here, but I need to cook it up in the couple hours or throw it all away.

Person B: I know where I can get you an oven.

Is that 'looting'?

[dipsydoodle]

12. I know where you're coming from

but that don't apply to televisions which I didn't mention. The comment at the time was that with no power exactly what was the destination of the goods. This wasn't random looting by individuals - it was gangs using pallet loaders as levers to force shutters open.

[zipplewrath]

3. It is a "for profit" MSM

Looters creates the image of mass chaos and feeds the fears of a general population in a manner they can understand. That keeps them glued to the screen. "People nationalizing the available food stocks" sounds like a society functioning within normal bounds. Folks turn it off.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. Gathering from abandoned stores for food, water, and NECESSARY supplies should be OK.

If a store or someone's private stock of supplies is not abandoned (the owner is there looking after his property) then it is not OK to loot. Nor is it OK to loot TVs, stereos, computers and other valuable items simply because of no security. Such items are not needed for survival and taking them is simple theft.

[Joanne98]

6. If there's no food left then you take the TV's and try to trade them!

It's called the barter system!

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

10. I wonder if items that do not get bartered are returned.

There is a big difference in people eating perishable food from a defunct supermarket versus jacking car sterios, tv's and appliances.

People accepting stolen items in trade for survival supplies should be held accountable for receiving stolen items.
People stealing items not needed for survival should be held accoutable for theft.

[anigbrowl]

19. Grow up for heaven's sake

Of course essentials need to be shared following a disaster. If there are many people without shelter then people who have stocks of food and blankets etc. should share them out and just add the loss to their insurance claim or whatever mechanism that society uses to manage property.

But you seem to think that a disaster legitimizes any and all behavior. Hasn't it occurred to you that anyone who is into the idea of handing over food in exchange for a TV has a surplus of food and is trying to enrich themselves by exchanging instead of sharing? If you help yourself to a TV and trade with them, then you're actively enabling their selfish behavior, by giving them stuff that actually belongs to someone else.

So you say you're for sharing in your OP, but here you're expressing approval of a system in which a temporary food shortage is exploited for high exchange rates on stolen goods. The guy who owns a TV store is a filthy capitalist whose stock can be confiscated, but the guy who is handing out food in exchange for TVs is a fine fellow because he has something you currently want. If you actually think this way then you're a monumental sucker.

[sufrommich]

5. I think most people can differentiate between desperate people

taking food and water and looters taking TVs and electronic gadgets.

[sarge43]

7. Poor brown people are looting

Rich white people are enterprising.

Codes, it's all codes.

[redqueen]

8. But... they're *brown*!

And they're taking things without paying for them!

If they were white they'd be 'finding' supplies.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I have seen reports that the looting involves much more than taking food and water

necessary for survival. Apparently, some of the looters are armed and organized and moving around the city in groups and have even attacked firefighters and city workers who are trying to distribute water. There are also reports of armed groups looting houses. Vandalism and deliberate burning of buildings is being reported, as well. It appears that criminals are capitalizing the chaos surrounding this disaster.

[emilyg]

17. I've heard that, too.

[harkadog]

24. Please keep facts out of this thread!

[Turbineguy]

13. Or maybe they should jus start calling

wallstreeters, CEO's and banksters looters. That will get the Randian squad smoking mad.

[dipsydoodle]

14. Chile quake curfew ends as troops seek end to looting

A curfew has ended in Chile's second city, Concepcion, with thousands of troops now trying to prevent a renewal of looting in the earthquake zone.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet says 14,000 troops are now in the region, after dozens of people were arrested for looting on Monday.

A special air route is being set up to deliver aid from the capital, Santiago, to Concepcion, 430km (270 miles) away.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8544693.stm

[bamacrat]

15. I agree, taking food and things necessary for life is not looting. Its surviving.

Taking tvs, stereos, cars, or anything you don't need to live is looting. I wonder if it were white people doing it would they say that people were struggling to survive having to resort to gathering necessary supplies from a deserted supermarket.

[Xithras]

16. Every nation has a criminal underclass.

And in every nation, that criminal underclass will take advantage of disaster to increase their power and wealth. In that regard, the criminal underclass and corporatist upperclass are simply two sides to an otherwise identical coin. It's that criminal underclass that you're seeing on TV, carting away plasma TV's and couches. And yes, that is a criminal act, and it is looting.

When people take food, water, and other items needed for survival, it's called scavenging. When they take items that are strictly for entertainment, comfort, or to "improve" their lives beyond mere survival, its looting.

[Canuckistanian]

21. Even the Chilean army is letting people loot for food

And they're arresting people who steal merchandise or alcohol.

A very sensible policy.

[WolverineDG]

22. They call it "looting" because there isn't another term for it nt

[Feron]

23. Well it is looting even if it is done for survival.

I can't blame people for scavenging supplies, but it's certainly a dangerous and inefficient way to distribute needed items.

Sadly the opportunists who use the chaos as an excuse to steal stuff tar those who loot for survival.

Really though I hope that Haiti and Chile provide data on how to move aid distribution centers in ASAP.