CNN Just Not Finding Enough Looting in Haiti Yet, But Give It A Day
"Friday dawned clear and calm in Haiti's capital, but there were increasing concerns that the peace may not last. Many residents of Port-Au-Prince have not had food or water since Tuesday's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake, and worries are growing about what could happen in the next few days if aid does not get in their hands quickly…. Although there is relative calm, there was sporadic looting and violence Thursday afternoon."
-Not finding quite enough looting, CNN's getting really hungry for some potential future looting. (Related! "Almost all of the 4,000 inmates in the capital's main prison have escaped. 'They obviously took advantage of this disaster,' Marcal Izard, a spokesman for the International Red Cross, said." Yes, why not hang tight in jail and just die of starvation?
Credit where credit is due: on NPR's "The Takeaway" this AM, they refrained from the "looting" characterization and instead went with (IIRC) "foraging for food and supplies".
Gah! Why aren't they eating the corpses yet?! What is wrong with these people? Don't they know they're in the middle of a DISASTER?! How can I feel the horror if they don't start dissolving into zombies?!
Our receptionist just got the call the three of her family died. Jesuschrist, I feel so fucking terrible for her.
The Gessier couple's childcare giver was killed. she was only like 22.
Obviously a lot of people were killed. the point being how far reaching the ties to this disaster go.
I feel bad for everyone involved, but watching her sit at her desk constantly checking her email, facebook, etc. just NOT KNOWING is what was killing me.
That's a terrible end to a terrible wait. My condolences.
saw a report last night that went something like "some even stealing mattresses, maybe because they didn't want to spend another night sleeping on concrete." yeah, maybe.
'stealing' WTF!?
it was the "even" that got me.
Onion September 7, 2005 | Issue 41•36
White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters
NEW ORLEANS-Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of shopping districts have reported seeing AfricanÂAmericans "looting snacks and beer from damaged businesses." "I was in the abandoned Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I'd managed to find," said white survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination. "Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going straight for the booze. H*ll, you could see they had already looted a fortune in diapers." Radio stations still in operation are advising store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against marauding blacks looting gun shops.
A true measure of fortune in the New America: Diaper Rich: "Oh yeah, he's wealthy. But is DIAPER WEALTHY!?"
At what point did tv-news' addiction to narrative run so amok? it's like only with the most gruesome transgressions do we see how fundmentally flawed the narrative-finding approach to news-reporting is.
ALSO: and late: can we, here, either have coverage that is in-depth and analytical/edifying/original or just none at all? Personal request. Please don't slip "latest from haiti" bullet points in between Jersey shore meta-enabling and movies-i've-waled-outta' bloggy-gags. Either do it wholesale or leave it to the (few) professionals (who are doing it right). okthankxbi
A little bit of good news maybe? A friend just posted on my FB feed: "My uncle was found and is safe. The hospital is standing and he has food and water."
From campusprogress.org under the title The Looting Lie (last question in interview):
[Interviewer:] And what's to be said of the people you see in these disaster areas who aren't taking rice, but instead taking TVs and DVD players?
[Sociologist:] Again, norms of various kinds emerge in disaster situations, sometimes antisocial norms. But to report these incidents as if they're common – without nuance – it's a departure from journalistic integrity, and they should be called out on it. [...]