different ways to lose it

General Dilbert starts to lose touch with reality as he and his tiny, armed paramilitary squads consider seriously going out to restore order to the city and snipe at looters, because they're really really outraged that policemen in uniform have been looting DVDs from Walmart. Wow, crimes against property! So outrageous! He's turning vigilante! He's going to save the world from those desperate, panicking refugees, by shooting them! Because, now they're just animals!

Earlier, he said this:

When people freak out (women especially, sorry if you think that's sexist, but I'm telling you how it is), it adds an element of stress and wastes time and effort that could be directed elsewhere. Stay calm, use your head, set your priorities, act, evaluate your situation constantly, and remember that everyone is in this together. It's easy to want to step on everyone else to effect your own survival, but remember that every person who dies becomes a sanitation risk to you.

and was answered rather interestingly, thus:

I think there's a tendency to notice people of the other gender "freaking out" more than people of your own gender. As a trained emergency worker (firefighter/EMT) I notice that when men freak out, they become over controlling in a "take charge" way even when they have no idea what they are doing. It's men's way of having a hysterical reaction, and it gets people killed on a regular basis.

For both genders, training and information will help keep them calm and allow them to manage a crisis in an effective manner.

What a perfect example of a guy with guns and military training, utterly losing touch with the point of society and having no respect for human life. Only specific people deserve help, or respect, or refugee status. Not those bad people who are panicking and poor and quite stupid. Great. Ethics now reduced utterly to who's got the most guns.

The real looters and property criminals are going to be the banks who end up owning all the people's houses as they can't pay their mortgages. FEMA is not going to save people's middle class, property-owning status. Most of the national money to rebuild will go to an insane plan to restore the low-lying areas which have only been there since the 1910 levee plan (as Rook points out.) So the tax money will go to make things nice for the banks and very-wealthy developers who have the capital to ride it out, and who will end up owning everything. Now THAT's looting.

Comments

[Ms. Jane]

My mother sent me two pictures from Yahoo news this morning. One was of an african american guy chest high in water carrying a case of diet pepsi and a garbage bag of food with a caption saying "New Orleans resident with spoils from looting" or something like that.

The next picture was essentially identical, only had two white people, with the caption "New Orleans residents with food they found in a grocery store."

Black people loot. White people find.

[lori]

I half-believe General Dilbert is a hoax.

[e]

amen. only I think it might be 1927, the last time this happened. Just like this time. Bravo, keep posting!

[badgerbag]

I know, Lori, I kept thinking "plain layne, surely..."!

[Melissa Gira]

Did you see his LJ community memberships?

"conservatism, debate, father_figures, guns, liberal2, libertarianism, loyno, madbardmusic, nawlins30plus, neworleans, real_men"

Right.

Hoax or no hoax, the guy's a mediapig.

[Iris]

From the news here it is obvious that large numbers of people are looting (or stealing) huge amounts of stuff that is not necessary for survival.Like ripping steel shutters off small shops and filling garbage bags with jewellery or coming out of stores with wheelbarrows full of trainers and then selling them on the street.I haven't read the person you are talking about and trust your judgement implicitly but in general terms stopping all looting as fast as possible seems crucial even if done in an 'uncaring' manner.

[Madeline]

I looked over that guy's site just now when I realized that what he was doing was keeping my DNS up. Came to the rapid conclusion that he was a total dick. There's a certain tytpe of ex-military people who let you know very soon that's they're ex-military and they could kill you if they wanted... The idea is for you to be all impressed and fawning and turn over the decisions to them. I've met several. Sounds like he's one.

As for the looting, have you seen this beautiful essay?

I figure, people without the money to get out of New Orleans: why begrudge them TVs and jewelry that are going to be totalled by the sewage water and mold anyway? Reminds me of "Beckett", when he's giving away his clothes to the poor... "May it keep you warm, my son." "They're just going to sell them to buy booze!" "Well, then, that will keep them warm."

The police are better used to rescue real living humans.

[Iris]

I won't comment on any of this any more because I am not some hateful far right bastard but nor do I see the 'poor' as an extended holy family who can do no wrong.The looters that we see on the news are not desperate single mothers they are armed, organised gangs.I am sure that many of them have now stolen enough money to leave the city but why waste this golden opportunity.Anarchy isn't a useful background to any cleanup operation.
I am obviously missing many nuances of American feeling about this whole tragedy but there does seem to be an element of .. as badger says in a later post .. hyperempathy, (was that the word?), in the air.

[ginmar]

I've had encounters with the guy in question, and he's a rightwing nutjob with huge issues about feminism and so forth. He posted a vicious essay about Cindy Sheehan and he may in fact be a sock puppet: I seem to remember seeing that mentioned elsewhere.

So, yeah, his credibility as an eyewitness is pretty damned suspect.

[Iris]

Badger has explained in kindly detail that I am totally wrong and understand nothing of the background to this situation. Which I now accept.Another example of people generally having no real clue about what goes on in other countries.You might be scared to know that I am considered a minor authority on American stuff because of constant blog reading ...

[badgerbag]

Oh I don't know... I just sent you about a million emails about the history of racism and conservative politics... I don't know if that constitutes "explanation" but it's sure complicated! And... note that all my "British expertise" comes from reading 1920s girls' books....

I like hearing your perspective Iris and your bitterness and sense of humor are crucial!!!

[Iris]

As nothing has changed here since the days of Elsie J. Oxenham, you can feel perfectly confident in basing your views on British politics etc. on her wide-ranging stories.
('Bitter'? I always thought more 'objective'.)

[Lea]

Iris: Beer's bitter. Chocolate without an excess of sugar is bitter. We have taste receptors just for bitter.
Bitter is what people say when they mean, "Man, you tell it like it is." and sometimes when they're uncomfortable with another's jaundiced take on things.

Bitter's good. My own "bitter" take on Katrina relief: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/divalea/nlexd/series.php

As for Himself, I've followed his blog for news, but as someone else pointed out, the dude's userpic is a -knife-. As I pointed out, his interests include "assassination."