The New Road

Looting/Finding

I ran into this little gem from the guy who took the picture that was given the term 'finding' instead of looting:

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.

Seems to me like the "They would have floated away anyhow." clause applies to the perishable food stuffs found in stores that are already opened which are bound to go bad before power is restored and the flood waters subside.

This whole looting thing is ridiculous. Yes, stealing TVs and that sort of thing is just stupid. But taking food, water, clothes and something like a bike or a basket makes perfect sense to me. The food in particular since it's going to waste.

What I think does merit a lot more reporting is the situation on the bridge between the convention center and Gretna. This is the bridge where according to many reports the Gretna police ordered those on foot not to cross, shot over the heads of people, verbally and physically abused people. All in the name of protecting property across the river. And having done so, people died. People are more important than property. Period.