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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Is It That So Many People Are Looting?
It's like they have no respect for the law.
Imagine that.
Why?
I am trying to wrap my head around it. I would never break windows and steal stuff, but many others feel differently. Ideas why?
Lars39
(26,109 posts)40 million or so people are out of work
The question is why did you not connect those dots?
brooklynite
(94,560 posts)Please, these are not the struggling working class raiding supermarkets,these are people who dont have respect for property or civil order.
Lars39
(26,109 posts)You can turn a tidy profit having a yard sale.
HotTeaBag
(1,206 posts)Seems, uh I dunno...
Lars39
(26,109 posts)HotTeaBag
(1,206 posts)Nothing says 'Rest In Peace George/End Police Brutality/Black Lives Matter' like breaking shit, stealing and profiting.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)That was as peaceful and as silent as you get. There is no right way to protest to get people to address these problems.
Most of the protests are peaceful.
HotTeaBag
(1,206 posts)And I realize that I am in the minority when it comes to the destruction and looting taking place but it is what is...wrong as far as I'm concerned.
This last week will be remembered for destruction and not much more until the next black man is murdered by police and we'll do it all over again.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)I just worry about using incidents of looting to take the focus off the reasons for protests. It seems protests are peaceful during the day & looters come out at night. There are also outside agitators & those looking to discredit the legitimate protests.
HotTeaBag
(1,206 posts)I had a feeling that as soon as this crap started the focus would be on this crap and not the absolutely horrific treatment of POC at the hands of police.
And it kind of has, although it seems this murder was so egregious that maybe, juuuuust maybe some kind of shift may be happening for the better - I really hope so.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Lars39
(26,109 posts)and now have zip coming in. What would you do to keep your kids fed?
Watchfoxheadexplodes
(3,496 posts)Lars39
(26,109 posts)Tipperary
(6,930 posts)In one of the Target looting videos, I saw no one leave with food. Food would be easier to carry than electronics lol.
Lars39
(26,109 posts)Just how far do you think the stimulus check went.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Devil Child
(2,728 posts)Yours is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)charities where I live that are actively helping people with ALL living expenses right now.
Lars39
(26,109 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Some of the people that lost possessions were likely barely meeting payroll.
A person can't rail against the rich looting the Treasury then turn around and say that it is ok for some people to steal other people's possessions. That is a constant, I really don't give a shit about where that constant must be applied.
Lars39
(26,109 posts)The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)There is certainly some casual activity, but it was noticeable in Chicago that jewelry stores, stores selling sports memorabilia and equipment, and high end clothing, were quickly stripped. This stuff has good resale value, and doubtless a good deal of it will be appearing on e-bay and such over the coming weeks.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)replenish ones wallet.
Mariana
(14,857 posts)ancianita
(36,055 posts)RobinA
(9,893 posts)lots. Its unconscionable. Lots of people with their own businesses getting hit. Its an excuse for breaking things. Im angry as a white person with no dog in this hunt, Id be livid if I were an African American who was for justice and a bunch of criminals were stepping on my message. And the looters here are white and black. No one group has cornered the market on being a hooligan.
maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)You can use rough percentages if you like.
RussBLib
(9,008 posts)but I do wonder if hard economic times and unemployment have anything to do with it.
On MSNBC the other day, the reporter in Santa Monica was saying that there seemed to be some communication between the looters. They knew where the cops were, so they knew they could go where the cops were not. As if some command center is telling them, OK! The coast is clear on 3rd Avenue. All the cops are on La Brea (making up street names). And then a lot of looters would flood in, smash windows, go in a grab as much as they could, until the cops started showing up.
That's kind of a scary thought. Organized crime, basically.
ancianita
(36,055 posts)MoonlitKnight
(1,584 posts)Is still looting. And they are taking trillions vs millions or thousands.
And the looting in the streets is due to sending police after the peaceful protests and leaving other areas without any protection.
The cities where police have marched with protesters and provided a destination have had no issues.
DC was the best example of stupidity by police. They had a peaceful group in Lafayette Park and keep dispersing them into the streets and causing the bad actors to have cover for causing damage. Even Friday night when they pulled away the barricades they didnt rush past the police when they clearly could have done so.
New York and LA look to be organized gangs looting. They would be better off allowing a central protest location and free up police to patrol the rest of the city.
ancianita
(36,055 posts)Thanks!
bigtree
(85,996 posts)Released 50 years ago, the infamous report found that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence
by Alice George
smithsonianmag.com
March 1, 2018
Pent-up frustrations boiled over in many poor African-American neighborhoods during the mid- to late-1960s, setting off riots that rampaged out of control from block to block. Burning, battering and ransacking property, raging crowds created chaos in which some neighborhood residents and law enforcement operatives endured shockingly random injuries or deaths. Many Americans blamed the riots on outside agitators or young black men, who represented the largest and most visible group of rioters. But, in March 1968, the Kerner Commission turned those assumptions upside-down, declaring white racismnot black angerturned the key that unlocked urban American turmoil.
Bad policing practices, a flawed justice system, unscrupulous consumer credit practices, poor or inadequate housing, high unemployment, voter suppression, and other culturally embedded forms of racial discrimination all converged to propel violent upheaval on the streets of African-American neighborhoods in American cities, north and south, east and west. And as black unrest arose, inadequately trained police officers and National Guard troops entered affected neighborhoods, often worsening the violence.
White society, the presidentially appointed panel reported, is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it. The nation, the Kerner Commission warned, was so divided that the United States was poised to fracture into two radically unequal societiesone black, one white.
____President Lyndon Johnson constituted the Kerner Commission to identify the genesis of the violent 1967 riots that killed 43 in Detroit and 26 in Newark, while causing fewer casualties in 23 other cities. The most recent investigation of rioting had been the McCone Commission, which explored the roots of the 1965 Watts riot and accused riffraff of spurring unrest. Relying on the work of social scientists and in-depth studies of the nations impoverished black urban areas, or ghettoes as they were often called, the Kerner Commission reached a quite different interpretation about the riots cause...
read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1968-kerner-commission-got-it-right-nobody-listened-180968318/
The Kerner commission confirmed that nervous police and National Guardsmen sometimes fired their weapons recklessly after hearing gunshots. Above, police patrol the streets during the 1967 Newark Riots. (© Bud Lee, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)It should probably be an OP but I'm reccing this thread for your post.
Mariana
(14,857 posts)You really never knew this before?
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)SideStep
(93 posts)You know, the one with officers murdering a peaceful civilian? Or how about any of the other tapes of police brutality?
Did you see the tax scam? One of the most oppressive and regressive pieces of legislation I have seen in a long time.
Have you seen the brutality and near insurmountable struggle people are living under as the wage gap continues to grow? And make no mistake, it's fully intentional.
Reparations? Yeah, I support them. Not just for slavery but for current legislation that upholds systemic oppression.
The true looters are wealthy whites.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)And now is stiffing small businesses and the American people into a depression, and they want to call them thieves while trump gets the bulk of relief to the corporations and businesses like his, while leaving us screwed and hungry. Looting is wrong , but he created these disasters , and now wants brutality used against people who now have nothing else to lose. The trumps are looting the treasury now.
tenderfoot
(8,432 posts)eom
bottomofthehill
(8,329 posts)The looting and rioting has nothing to do with the senseless loss of life at the hands of a murderous police officer and his helpers.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)uponit7771
(90,339 posts)budkin
(6,703 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Good answer.
Beringia
(4,316 posts)There is incredible pent up anger and also huge disparities in our society, that are kept in check generally. I remember when the San Francisco earthquake happened in 1989, I was not that afraid of the earthquake. I was afraid society was going to become unhinged while I tried to make my way home, 30 miles south to San Mateo.
tavernier
(12,388 posts)will end up guaranteeing Rump a re-election. This makes me physically ill.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Polling turned out to be accurate for the 2020 primaries which I tracked very closely. Trump has botched the coronavirus response and is pandering to evangelicals in the middle of a crisis. All Biden has to do is limit his mistakes.
One thing that is different there is universal outrage even from cops over the George Floyd killing.
tavernier
(12,388 posts)to a clean sweep, including the added horror of the murder of George Floyd. But in past 24 hours I have seen the anger at trump suddenly being redirected to the looters and burners. Im well aware that a great deal of the rioting is being instigated purposely by gangs who are hoping for that outcome, but thats not what the general public sees, especially when being televised 24/7.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)He is loving this.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)that badly undercut Trump.
Let information come out.
LeftInTX
(25,328 posts)tavernier
(12,388 posts)I also hope they nail the them and they are strung up their heels.
Response to DanieRains (Original post)
jmg257 This message was self-deleted by its author.
Paladin
(28,257 posts)Then I'll worry about what's happening in our urban centers.
chowder66
(9,069 posts)I think some of them are people that are angry about lost opportunities. They can't afford the things they need or would like to have. This is a way to feel like they have a moment of power in their lives by taking from a system that suppresses opportunity. It's not right but I would understand that over opportunists and criminals any day.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)who simply don't respect other people's rights. It has nothing to do with race or even wealth status. There are simply people, that if you show humanity toward them, they will look to rip you off for that. You have to deal firmly with such people, but you don't get into abusing them the way police do to such people from some ethnic groups.
msongs
(67,405 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)They'll rent a U-Haul truck, pull up to a place and clean it out.
I'd say in the end it's a mix. Most of the protesters are peaceful, know better, and are tired of hearing the lectures. A few are idiots. But on top of that, you have the thieves - who seem to have no political motivation, they're just there for the five-finger discount. And then you have the police provocateurs, boogaloo bois and the like that are there to ratfuck.
0rganism
(23,953 posts)one alternative question we could ask is, "why don't people loot normally?" why should people let you leave up a quasi-permanent storefront with valuable merchandise just sitting around inside after you depart for the day? how does that happen? all i have to do is bust your flimsy window and grab the necklace and leave quickly, why don't i just do that?
it hinges on a social contract and the idea of public space being at least nominally safe and accessible to the general public. when that trust is violated, the most obvious symptom is a riot with property damage and theft. in the absence of that, society turns a blind eye and moves on, assuming that the social contract is secure and existing mechanisms are adequate to resolve any aberrations. peaceful protests are largely ignored or openly mocked (cf Colin Kaepernick's peaceful and quiet knee-taking), but the violent ones get coverage, get people talking, make society look for solutions to re-establishing the social contract.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)Dial H For Hero
(2,971 posts)If only 3% of the people in a city the size of the New York Metropolitan Area are the sort who would loot given the opportunity, we're talking about half a million people. That's a lot of looters.