When the levee breaks

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
sufi said:
discussion of 'inconsistent captions policies' here

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=17204

Jeasus, I don't belive how much crap I'm getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I'm completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.

Please stop emailing me on this one.

I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn't have taken in, because I wouldn't eat anything that's been in that water. But I'm not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)


I'm not trying to be politically correct. I'm don't care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent's neighborhood shooting, and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don't belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.

Please, please don't argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can't even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.

This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don't email me any more about this caption issue.

And please, don't yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.

When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.


Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen
 

sufi

lala
fairynuff

it could just as easily have been a different selection of shots and captions instead,
media representations seem only to be one way that race is an issue in this crisis, particularly the way that the security situation has affected aid to victims :(
 

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
sufi said:
it could just as easily have been a different selection of shots and captions instead,
media representations seem only to be one way that race is an issue in this crisis, particularly the way that the security situation has affected aid to victims :(

?

You do realize that much of the surrounding area, as well as places like Gulfport and Biloxi, is mostly white, and that they too have been stuck waiting for any kind of help for ages?

Here's an example. Chalmette, Louisiana is a (mostly) white town a couple miles to the east of the New Orleans city limits. The first rescue workers arrived there yesterday, six days after the hurricane.
 

luka

Well-known member
pearsall just defends anything doesn't he? any cunt that needs an apologist pearsall rides in to the rescue.
it's so predictable it becomes funny.
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow.

Meanwhile, the food and other goods being 'looted' would have been immediately put to use and would in no way have been spoiled I suppose...

And I know he's been through it, but is there any excuse for howlers THIS bad

my parent's neighborhood

DEFINATELY looting.

symantics

from a JOURNALIST?
 

dominic

Beast of Burden
Pearsall said:
?You do realize that much of the surrounding area, as well as places like Gulfport and Biloxi, is mostly white, and that they too have been stuck waiting for any kind of help for ages?

Here's an example. Chalmette, Louisiana is a (mostly) white town a couple miles to the east of the New Orleans city limits. The first rescue workers arrived there yesterday, six days after the hurricane.

yes, but wasn't there a much higher concentration of distressed people in downtown new orleans -- people who were stranded in much more dangerous circumstances b/c of (1) lack of sanitation coupled with large numbers of people in same place = greater risk of disease; (2) less physical security b/c of high concentration of people (plus, large anonymous masses, escalating rage, etc) -- such that factors like these would militate in favor of rescuing the people there first? and, the simplest reason, that that's where the most victims were to be found?

further, new orleans is where all highways lead to, whereas a small town is more likely to be off the beaten path, such that you'd expect a place like chalmette to get a less immediate response
 
Katrina over NOLA

They're calling it the Nolacaust on some boards now. This is how it started
Katrina1615z-050829-1kg12.jpg
 

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
dominic said:
yes, but wasn't there a much higher concentration of distressed people in downtown new orleans -- people who were stranded in much more dangerous circumstances b/c of (1) lack of sanitation coupled with large numbers of people in same place = greater risk of disease; (2) less physical security b/c of high concentration of people (plus, large anonymous masses, escalating rage, etc) -- such that factors like these would militate in favor of rescuing the people there first? and, the simplest reason, that that's where the most victims were to be found?

further, new orleans is where all highways lead to, whereas a small town is more likely to be off the beaten path, such that you'd expect a place like chalmette to get a less immediate response

Sure, sure, of course. The point of the post of mine that you quoted was that the received wisdom on the Left seems to have now congealed around the idea that "the governmental response was so crappy because the people left behind in New Orleans were almost all black," a premise that is instantly falsifiable by looking at the fact that a whole shitload of whites throughout the region were left waiting for days for any type of outside assistance.
 
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