Posted on 09/12/2005 6:13:03 PM PDT by steve-b
By now the images and stories of looting and mayhem in New Orleans--the residents "shopping" for nonessentials in an abandoned Wal-Mart, alleged rapes in the Superdome, a shot fired at a rescue helicopter -- have been burned into the brain of every television watcher and newspaper reader in America. But do they give us an accurate picture of the aftermath of the flood?
In fact, if criminal violence were indeed rampant in New Orleans after Katrina hit (setting aside the taking of food, water, bandages, and other necessities of survival), that would contradict much of what sociologists have learned in a half century of research about such situations. "The evidence is overwhelming," says Enrico Quarantelli, an emeritus professor of sociology and the founding director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, "that in the standard natural disaster or technological disaster"--like a chemical spill -- "you're not going to get looting."...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
This is hilarious! The looting was obvious. I'll bet Kerry and Kennedy read this junk and believe every word of it.
...to say nothing of federal grants. Oh yeah, same thing.
There weren't really that many dead bodies. There wasn't really that much looting. There weren't really that many rapes. There weren't really that many shots fired.
Ben Stein is right: the story of New Orleans is the MSM screaming fire.
Psychology, sociology, etc are all just THEORIES and generalities based on observations.
So, all the semi's lined up at deserted Wal-Mart's were not looting? What about the jewelry stores, clothing stores, the DVD's, CD's, the big screen TV's? I am sure these items were needed in the Super-dome to feed the people there.
While I question the sociologist and the research, I also believe that some of the more bizzare reports were also of the Telephone Game type. That is the media would jump on and sensationalize any rumor. The media also exaggerate for their own benefits whatever is awful, tragic. They do the same thing with the Iraq coverage.
So what they are saying here is "DON`T BELEIVE THE MEDIA" !!
That part I agree with.
Fishwrap? Heck, I use it as puppy-pee absorbent!
NOLA was an example of rioting by the MSM and a looting of the truth.
I wonder if the sociologist will bet their degrees that Texas's crime rate won't be up next year.
Ingrateful welfare recipients wouldn't act that awfully? That's a stretch to me. Given the lyrics of Rap - those pics and vidoes seem very inconveniently true.
< "that in the standard natural disaster or technological disaster"--like a chemical spill -- "you're not going to get looting."... >
...but you will get stealing.
Good point. The stories of rapes and child-killings in the football stadium have since proved false. The lamestream media is just as deserving of criticism as the bungled rescue effort.
They should talk to this woman:
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20050905072844306
Gaynell Farrell, 56, who has worked for the Whitney National Bank in New Orleans for 27 years - her husband rode the storm out in a suburb of New Orleans and has survived - says she is certain of what she saw and heard. If there is an official investigation of events in the arena, Ms Farrell might want to testify.
"You don't want to know what it was like. We had killings, abortions, babies born, toilets stacked up and it was hot, hot, hot." Pressed for details, she doesn't hesitate. She speaks of two girls being raped and murdered inside the dome, one aged seven. The other was 16 and was "slit open" by a knife after she was raped in the woman's bathroom, she says. Much of what she tells is similarly described by several other dome evacuees. A boy aged seven was also raped by two men. (Mr Allen says the rapist was chased down by other men and beaten before being handed over to the soldiers. He claims they also beat him and then threw him from a terrace outside the Superdome to the asphalt, killing him.)
"There was babies born and put in the garbage," Ms Farrell continues. Apparently, someone else found one infant alive and took it to the small clinic they had inside. Almost everyone talks of gunshots in the night, including one shooting of a National Guard soldier. Ms Farrell says the soldier died, others spoke of him being wounded in the leg and surviving. Meanwhile, she adds, a black-market trade flourished in marijuana cigarettes, crack cocaine, guns and alcohol, in plain view of the authorities. Men were flashing their penises at the women, who dared only go to the bathroom in groups of five. When the bathrooms became so foul that going into them was impossible, people began squatting down just anywhere to relieve themselves. "Human beings don't live like that, people in the street don't live like that," she says.
Who are you going to beleive -- the expert sociologists, or your untrained eyes?
_________________________________________________________
Were you there? If not your eyes saw what sensationalizing members of the press wanted you to see. Really what sensationalizing members of the press knew you wanted to see. So you saw the looting and heard the rumors of murder and rape. We shall see if they turn out to be true.
If the prior experience is different, then the professionals are correct to question the press reports. In my view we have too little not too much questioning of press reports in this country.
The result was inconclusive.
However, this gentleman is showing you the correct way to recover and transport potable beverages in an area covered in contaminated water.
Folks have learned to be careful when someone starts the debate about a situation with that one.
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