I was going to call the looters vultures but decided that the birds deserve better than that. Vultures are useful by providing a natural clean-up service. These people are simply thieves.
One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store."No," the man shouted, "that's EVERYBODY'S store."
Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and insulation as National Guard lumbered by.
Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold.
"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he said.
Sure, if by "society" you mean the people who own or work in the stores and people who will have to pay more for products later as a result of the thefts. Some smaller businesses that can't absorb the loss may close permanently. Other businesses may decide that the looting just adds insult to injury and relocate. Fewer businesses in the area means having to travel farther to shop and work.
Society is you and your neighbors and that's who the looters are hurting.
Update: Right Wing News has a post with comments from the Democratic Underground about the looting.
Posted by marybeth at August 30, 2005 03:19 PM News