Awkward, do we really want to discuss racial politics on webdip?

Have we ever shied away from that in the past? Acosmist, I find it odd you suggest we might want to shy away from it, but you are suggesting it is racially based at the same time? Kind of an oxymoron.

Chile looting -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8542789.stm

How is looting racial?

Capitalism

racial?? I would have it pegged at part social-cultural and part economic materialism but never racial.

i think people think of it as racial in the US after some embarrassing stuff happened in New Orleans after Katrina. Black people taking things from stores' rubble were labelled looters by the media whereas whites doing the same were labelled scavengers or something like that.

That got some press and it was all very embarrassing. Katrina as a whole was very embarrassing.

Looting is an equal-opportunity occupation. Still, I'd say places with a strong communal culture (such as Japan and the Scandinavian countries) would be less affected by looting in the event of a disaster than places with an emphasis on individual success (since that emphasises greed as a driving factor in advancement, since with greater success come greater rewards).

@Thucy "i think people think of it as racial in the US after some embarrassing stuff happened in New Orleans after Katrina. Black people taking things from stores' rubble were labelled looters by the media whereas whites doing the same were labelled scavengers or something like that."

Yes, that was Kanye West's claim on national TV during a telethon to raise money, right before the infamous 'George Bush doesn't care about black people'. If you think he is the spokesman for American public opinion, I suppose that's your right.

Here is an interesting article on that 'looting' vs 'finding' photos.

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/looters.asp

So, DJ, make up your mind, did the media make that distinction or was it all in Kanye's mind?

Xapi,
I don't think it was all in Kanye's mind. I remember at the time, before Kanye, that Wolf Blitzer said something that I can't recall exactly, but thinking 'man that was incredibly racist.'

I don't think he was being intentionally racist, but I think something was revealed about him at the time. I can't say whether there was a uniform media racist bent on the news coverage, as that was the only thing I remembered as being racist. if I watched all the coverage again, through racist-colored glasses, perhaps I'd see more now.

As per the particular images, I think its difficult to find racism when they were two different people writing the captions.

I think alot of it has to do with an areas culture, Pirate Jack said. If a place has avery strong sense of community then I doubt much looting would take place. However, in large cities, where there are ghetto's and not such a strong sense of communities, I'd definitely say that looting is very likely to take place. So in the end it isn't really a matter of race, but a matter of culture.

Looting does not always happen in the US. During the blackouts in the NE looting was limited to isolated cases as was the case during 9/11. As jman points out also in small communities it is also less common. Perhaps a sense of isolation from the rest of society is a key component.

interesting thing i was reading recently about 'race' and socio-economic groupings.

http://knol.google.com/k/the-perception-of-racial-traits#

and @ "since that emphasises greed as a driving factor in advancement, since with greater success come greater rewards" - actually it depends on the type of task you are doing - for some 'creative' tasks offering a greater reward signifigantly reduces performance - there is actually good science to back this up - but i can't find it right now...

warsprite,
America also has a very strong patriotic culture, so in the event of a major terrorist attack I would imagine (and 9/11 proves it) that the majority of people would be too aghast at the event to loot anything.

Also, as far as I'm aware, the NE was regarded more as an excuse to have some fun than to cause havoc. Many street parties were had, or so I've heard.