(Post a new comment)

	hangingfire 2005-09-06 05:31 pm UTC (link)
	The self-righteousness (on display by practically all parties involved) burns. That being said, the looter in the original story was pretty damn stupid. Yay for the gallows humor. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	tviokh 2005-09-06 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	It took me a few passes to get through it without having to stop lest my brains explode. Agreed on the original story though; that was "WTF?!" level stupid. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	thehunter 2005-09-06 05:49 pm UTC (link)
	At least there's another "voice of reason" comment now. I was afraid I'd be the only one. I especially love it when revolutionnare criticizes people for being "full of righteous indignation". Mmm, irony. (Reply to this)

	teratologist 2005-09-06 08:37 pm UTC (link)
	Let's chalk it up to the nicotine withdrawal and move on to the more rewarding subjects of cholera, e. coli, and flesh-eating bacteria. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	hangingfire 2005-09-06 10:02 pm UTC (link)
	Which -- to diverge a little -- raises a question I'm puzzling over right now. They're pumping the water out of NOLA and into Lake Ponchartrain, apparently. Are they seriously pumping this filthy, germ-ridden, chemical-filled bilge straight into the lake without treatment, or is there some kind of treatment program that I haven't heard about yet? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	goldberry 2005-09-06 11:42 pm UTC (link)
	You said 'raises the question' instead of misusing 'begs the question'. I love you! ♥ ♥ ♥ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hangingfire 2005-09-07 02:05 am UTC (link)
	Heheheh. The truth is, I got spanked on "begs the question" once on someone's blog comments, and have never abused it since. (In fact, I almost never use it, because the appropriate situation never seems to come up.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	goldberry 2005-09-07 02:10 am UTC (link)
	Ah... Nodnods I used to be unsure of the difference, but then I became a philosophy major. I may not have money, but damn, do I ever know my fallacies. ;p (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	amxjm 2005-09-07 08:26 pm UTC (link)
	What's the difference, so that I might avoid misusing it as well? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

goldberry
2005-09-08 02:48 am UTC (link)

Well, begging the question is a fallacy in which one or more premises of an argument cannot be proven without the truth of the conclusion (for example, "What's said in the Bible is true, therefore God exists" - you'd only accept the premise if you already accepted the conclusion). To raise a question is just that - something someone says or does makes you want to ask them a question. I ♥ people who use them correctly. :D

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	teratologist 2005-09-06 11:48 pm UTC (link)
	That's an excellent question. You win the giant mutant alligator. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hangingfire 2005-09-07 02:26 am UTC (link)
	I think I saw a movie like that once. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	threegoldfish 2005-09-07 01:52 am UTC (link)
	Apparently the answer you get when you ask that of someone from the area is "where exactly did you think that all came from?" Lake Ponchartrain is apparently pretty disgusting in its own right. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hangingfire 2005-09-07 02:07 am UTC (link)
	I've heard from a NOLA native that time was, you could see down in the lake for a good long ways, and that it was dense with wildlife; then, after the levees were built, all the silt and stuff that was going into the coastal wetlands went instead into the lake, and it's never been the same since. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	gal_montag 2005-09-06 08:45 pm UTC (link)
	What grocery stores sell VCRs? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	teratologist 2005-09-06 08:47 pm UTC (link)
	The urban-legendary kind? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tviokh 2005-09-06 08:52 pm UTC (link)
	Well, super targets/walmarts sell both groceries and electronics (and all sorts of other things). Occasionally some of the grocery stores around here that have video/recorder rental departments will sell their used VCRs as well. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	teratologist 2005-09-06 11:47 pm UTC (link)
	True, but ever since I found out that the snipers-at-the-childrens'-hospital thing was bunk, I'm chalking it all up to urban legend until futher notice. Except, as I said, the flesh-eating bacteria - because c'mon, flesh-eating bacteria! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	amand_r 2005-09-07 07:20 am UTC (link)
	My mom works for a large insurance company as a hotline nurse, and she told me last night that she has fgotten her first flesh eating bacteria calls. It's official. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	gal_montag 2005-09-06 08:55 pm UTC (link)
	I wish I could go to one of those grocery stores. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	made_by_kali 2005-09-06 09:27 pm UTC (link)
	Mine does. But it has a video rental place, so it makes sense. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	gal_montag 2005-09-06 09:31 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think any of the stores around here that rent videos have VCRs anymore. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kyuuketsukirui 2005-09-06 10:52 pm UTC (link)
	The ones around here often have some electronics. It might be like one brand of VCR and one brand of TV sort of thing, but they still sell them. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	somnambulicious 2005-09-07 12:26 am UTC (link)
	For that matter, who steals VCRs anymore? And only one carton of cigarettes? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	gal_montag 2005-09-07 06:57 pm UTC (link)
	I know, right? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nekoama 2005-09-06 09:40 pm UTC (link)
	Buuurnssssss. It's, like, a circle of stupid. Where nobody's right. (Reply to this)

	jat_sapphire 2005-09-06 10:14 pm UTC (link)
	I loved how revolutionnare, after wanking on and on, said that he would have tried harder to be clear in his original post, but he just doesn't care about what strangers on the Internet think. Um, yeah, that powerful indifference... (Reply to this)

	plazmah 2005-09-07 02:08 am UTC (link)
	Ah yes, this wank kept my mind occupied today at work! At least MS is good for something ;) (Reply to this)

renata_hpjc
2005-09-07 02:43 pm UTC (link)

Americans are getting way more worked up about the looting than they are about the fact that people are trapped, suffering, dying. They may not say it, but subconsciously they're thinking "those people are idiots for staying behind, they got what was coming to them." They see a disaster and they want to get angry about SOMETHING, but since they have already written off the real tragedy as a "What-did-you-expect?", they focus on the looting as a matter of primary importance and get really worked up about it.

It doesn't change the fact that the looting is petty and insignificant compared to the suffering that people are experiencing, and the fact that they aren't being rescued fast enough.

Call me a wanker if you must, but I agree with this.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

oneiropolos
2005-09-07 04:39 pm UTC (link)

I'm inclined to agree with the idea tha we shouldn't be SO focussed on looting, but I object to the idea that looting "Doesn't hurt anyone." I have no problem at all with people taking food and other things they need to survive. That's what it is- simple survival. But taking a VCR? I don't get how that is essential at all, except if someone wanted to sell it in the future for money. In that case, what about the person who owned the store who the VCR was stolen from? Their store was damaged, they can't make any money off it right now so they have no income, and now people are taking their only source of future income right off the shelves. That people excuse this baffles me. It sounds like a little thing to niggle over, but sometimes the only thing to stop something from devolving into total anarchy is a small act of law. I would also argue that the reason people are so focussed on looting in general is that is small wrong that we are better prepared to fix. The world has gone to hell, people are dying, raping, murdering, and they're doing it in locations we can't get to yet or can't do anything about, but dammit, we can arrest a looter. I think it might be one of those desperate grasps at sanity in an insane situation. Not saying that necessarily justifies it, but just my thoughts.

(Reply to this)(Parent)