Machete-wielding Haitians loot

[Dreamofunity]

These people had the right idea on how to deal with looters

YouTube - LA 1992 riot Korean town

YouTube - Sublime-April 29 1992

 

[Mini-Me]

woohoo! anarchy!
in the absence of government authority- the mobs take to the streets.
better get your defense force together quick!

Don't Be a Treasure Troll in Ron Paul Forums While Drinking Your Samuel Adams Beer in Liberty Forest!

 

[WRellim]

Come come now. In Haiti, a machete is like a pocketknife. And it looks to me like a lot of the "looting" is a lot like scavenging and is a matter of surviving and making use of what is available...

Crisis and chaos also equals "opportunity" in many people's minds.

The country was hit by a major earthquake, yes. But I've seen the videos, and not every building collapsed (far from it) -- it seems mainly the multi-story "fancy" buildings in the downtown areas (ones with government officials, UN people, etc).

Even if the statement that 100,000 or more may be dead -- in a country of 10 MILLION that constitutes about 1% of the population, and even if injuries are tenfold greater than that, it would still leave 90% of the population relatively unharmed.

If, as is very likely, there were certain areas of the capitol city that were harder "hit" by the earthquake -- then that also means that other areas were LESS damaged and suffered fewer casualties.

And it WASN'T flooded like New Orleans, nor a Tsunami like Indonesia suffered -- so majority of their food should still be intact, and likewise with their water supply (it's probably NOT in good condition, but then it wasn't before the quake either).

Long story short -- this isn't some BLACK PLAGUE where 1/2 of the population dies suddenly. Yes its another disaster, but Haiti seems to go through one or another of them every 5 years or so (the place is a frigging mess, but that has been true for centuries).

 

[revolutionary8]

Machetes are what happens after guns are outlawed

I'd rather be shot than Machetteee'd

 

[revolutionisnow]

Food? What food?

YouTube - Dwindling Food Supply Forces Haitians to Eat Mud

 

[Mini-Me]

I'd rather be shot than Machetteee'd

Your preference has been duly noted by the CIA and will be deliberately ignored.

 

[revolutionisnow]

More Haiti
YouTube - Poverty in Haiti spawns child slavery 13 October 2008

YouTube - Kidnap Capital - Haiti

 

[TotalLiberty]

The government will CAUSE more problems than it will solve in this crisis, and with stolen money. Get government out of Haiti and let the free market get to work and provide actual help to those people.

 

[revolutionary8]

Don't F w/ me MM

Your preference has been duly noted by the CIA and will be deliberately ignored.

You know I think everyone is an agent.

 

[TotalLiberty]

woohoo! anarchy!
in the absence of government authority- the mobs take to the streets.
better get your defense force together quick!

This is the farthest thing from anarchy. In fact the government is there causing even more problems.

 

[daviddee]

...

 

[Promontorium]

If some people are looting, then most people aren't. If all people were looting, then it would be war.

Silly racists.

 

[BlackTerrel]

And I could do the same for you:

1. "Statistics lie"
2. "Facts are not facts"
3. "Random apologist for not accepting 1 and 2"

Seriously, every topic that is started stating facts you jump right in (assuming it is difficult for you to accept reality) and start spouting crap instead of looking at the facts.

Do Haitians commit a disproportional amount of crime? Yes.

They could be categorized under the black subset in the FBI crime statistics. Which again would ask, "Do blacks commit a disproportional amount of crime?" The answer is: YES

So before you jump on another thread with your obfuscation just accept that various different races do have a higher propensity for wielding machetes, violent crime, etc.

Which races wield machetes the most? Could you make me a list? What about Samurai swords?

 

[CasualApathy]

Wow, that's awesome.

No it isn't. They are just shooting at random people on the street. They should at least have stayed in their stores and only shot at people breaking in if they didn't drop their loot once they saw the gun, and even then only at the legs...

 

[fj45lvr]

I'm 100% confident that if this magnitude of event happened in some of our metropolitan areas that we would see nearly the same if not worse.

to be expected

 

[prophet]

Which races wield machetes the most? Could you make me a list? What about Samurai swords?

So far as I can find out, the Bruthas in Rwanda hold the record for malicious machete-wielding. According to Wikipedia, "Rwandan government estimated the number of victims of the genocide to 1,174,000 in 100 days (10,000 murdered every day, 400 every hour, 7 every minute)...Militia members typically murdered their victims by hacking them with machetes"

That's probably the record as of today.

Not surprisingly, the butchers wielded another weapon, in addition to the machete: "In 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda made the landmark decisions that war rape in Rwanda was an element of the crime of genocide....Thousands of widows, many of whom were subjected to rape, are now HIV-positive. ...The Trial Chamber held that "sexual assault formed an integral part of the process of destroying the Tutsi ethnic group and that the rape was systematic

The motive? Why, color, of course!"The lighter colored Rwandans were typically Tutsi, the minority group, while the darker skinned Rwandans were typically Hutu, the majority group in Rwanda….the genocide was openly discussed in cabinet meetings and that "one cabinet minister said she was personally in favor of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwanda's problems would be over." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

I am sure you will let us know if you find a group that has broken the record of the Hutu.

 

[Promontorium]

No it isn't. They are just shooting at random people on the street. They should at least have stayed in their stores and only shot at people breaking in if they didn't drop their loot once they saw the gun, and even then only at the legs...

Oh if only the store owners were already highly trained combat specialists!


They were willing, and they used their right to bear arms. Many store owners eventually got their act together, and kept their property from burning.


LiveLeak.com - Koreans showing off their guns in LA riots

 

[nobody's_hero]

No it isn't. They are just shooting at random people on the street. They should at least have stayed in their stores and only shot at people breaking in if they didn't drop their loot once they saw the gun, and even then only at the legs...

I didn't say it was appropriate, just awesome, like watching atomic bomb footage—The fact that it got so chaotic to the point that it boiled over, and what people will do when they have been pushed too far.

 

[angelatc]

I am going to defer to the wisdom of Lady Jade in this instance, since she's the only one who has experienced the culture firsthand.

Also, I know several people who have been to Haiti, and they all relate very somber tales of how desperately poor the living conditions are. I honestly don't think we can relate to it unless we've been there.

The looting in New Orleans happened before the flood. Nobody was hungry, there was fresh water available, there were not corpses rotting in the streets. There's an ethical distinction between realizing that the store isn't going to reopen and deciding to take blankets (which is what's going on in Haiti) and realizing that WalMart is going to reopen soon, so "we best be quick" taking beer, TV sets and Power Wheels (which is what happened in New Orleans.)

It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine a store owner allowing his store to be looted, simply because that means insurance will cover his losses, while he won't be reimbursed at all if he gives his stuff away.

 

[LDA]

If all order broke down, wouldn't you be looting? If people are in the streets and everything is going to get stolen anyway, there's no turning back. Might as well join in and provide for your own survival (or entertainment).