Comments on: Looting Vs. Finding

By: Sean P Aune

Sean P Aune — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:46:50 +0000

“Perhaps if the photog was a bit more descriptive this rush to judgement would not have occured. The reason for the outcry was the perception that all parties entered a store and were carrying things off and differing terms were used in describing them.”

Totally agree with you there. The photographers did a lousy job in this case because all qualifiers were removed from the picture. You had to take their word as for what was going on, and at first glance, they are the exact same situations. If these pictures had been labelled “Survivors make do with what they can.” there would have been no outcry. But to have two pictures, that at first glance are the same situations, the verbage choices were very poor.

“after all the notion that there was a purposeful delay assumes the Govt could have acted in a proficient, coordinated and expedient manner which now seems almost laughable.”

Ok, you got a good, hearty laugh out of me on that one!

By: Alfonso

Alfonso — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:55:36 +0000

No reasonable person has anything against those who seek to obtain food and water regardless of whether that entails entering a store or not. (Stereos, TVs and DVDs are another matter.) With that said it clearly would have been unfair to label the two (actually only one person is shown carrying things) “looters” when they grabbed some stuff floating by. Perhaps if the photog was a bit more descriptive this rush to judgement would not have occured. The reason for the outcry was the perception that all parties entered a store and were carrying things off and differing terms were used in describing them.

I can share your disgust with the delays in assisting people in need, there is a lot of blame to go around and at least half will rest with the Governor and Mayor. In any case these delays IMHO were bureaucratic bungling at its finest without the sinister motives some have been all too quick to suggest, after all the notion that there was a purposeful delay assumes the Govt could have acted in a proficient, coordinated and expedient manner which now seems almost laughable. Best, Alfonso

By: Sean P Aune

Sean P Aune — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:38:33 +0000

I had not located the other photographers comments, though I did look for them. I appreciate you pointing them out though, and I will try to locate the source for them.

Yep, I am still disgusted. This is also bad journalism on top of everything else. “Oh well it floated out of the grocery store, so that makes it free.” Whatever. It was a bad editorial choice no matter how you slice things.

I am “disgusted” by the vast majority of things that have happened since this entire tragedy began, and will continue to be so until someone can explain to me why so many things went wrong.

As for Kanye West’s comments, they obviouslly came for a fit of emotion, and they certainly did not sound planned out to me.

By: Alfonso

Alfonso — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:15:18 +0000

Too bad you didn’t get the other photographer’s side of the story (two photographers, two different circumstances):

Jack Stokes, AP’s director of media relations, confirmed today that [photographer Dave] Martin says he witnessed the people in his images looting a grocery store. “He saw the (black) person go into the shop and take the goods,” Stokes said, “and that’s why he wrote ‘looting’ in the caption.”

Now you have the answer to your question of why the terms looting and finding were used and hopefully are no longer “disgusted”.

BTW what disgusts me is the rush to cry racism at the drop of a hat. Also the person with the bread is clearly mixed race and has been described as “light skinned”. Also, Kanye is stupid for voicing his political opinions on a fund raising telethon – why alienate half of the potential donors who could be helping out in this tragedy.