looting

protest

riot

white supremacy

is a public shopping spree generously sponsored by local merchants in the wake of a riot.

A public shopping spree generously sponsored by local merchants in the wake of a riot.

is best not punished more harshly than other crimes for those engaged in it come in three waves, with the professionals in first, next alienated youths and the unemployed, and last the working poor caught up in the hysteria.

For example, according to various accounts of the New York City blackout of 1977, the first wave of looting was conducted by professional criminals who broke into stores within minutes of the blackout and took the more desirable merchandise; the second wave consisted of alienated youths and poor, unemployed young adults, and the final wave, occurring several hours after the blackout began, involved "stable poor and working class members of the community who were caught up in the near hysterica of the streets."

is an act that not only shakes the confidence we feel in our social institutions but, perhaps more generally, it shakes the faith we have in our fellow human beings.

Further, the looter expresses a disregard for the law, an embrace of anarchy. Looting is disturbing because it reminds us of the apparent fragility of our own social contract. Beneath the thin crust of civilization, it is said, "lurks a savage animal that will emerge under stress circumstances." Bad looting is the product of an inversion of moral norms in which what is normally illicit becomes licit. Lawlessness is not only tolerated, but encouraged. Looting shakes the confidence we feel in our social institutions and, perhaps more generally, the faith we have in our fellow human beings. For these reasons, heightened penalties seem appropriate for at least certain acts of looting.

is disturbing because it reminds us of the apparent fragility of our own social contract. It is the product of an inversion of moral norms in which what is normally illicit becomes licit. Lawlessness is not only tolerated, but encouraged. Looting shakes the confidence we feel in our social institutions and, perhaps more generally, the faith we have in our fellow human beings. For these reasons, heightened penalties seem appropriate for at least certain acts of looting.

is an act that gives large numbers of people something to do during a riot; it is an act of defiance against authority, and thus joins the looters into the the moral holiday.

Looting gives large numbers of people something to do; it is an act of defiance against authority, and thus joins them into the the moral holiday. Looting is relatively risk-free, and even free of confrontational tension/fear, since looters (at least the rank-and-file, as opposed to the looting elite) do not generally confront any persons, but only property that has already been violated. It is a banal point, but insufficiently appreciated, that rioters must have something to do, otherwise the riot peters out. If the crowd stops gathering, the emotional atmosphere that sustains the moral holiday evaporates, the police return, normalcy is established, the momentum is lost. Once stopped, the riot cannot be started again.

is largely Durkheimian ritualism done for the sake of the activity itself, and as a symbolic expression of membership; the objects stolen can be nearly worthless in every other respect, but they represent one's partnership in breaking the law.

Looting is largely Durkheimian ritualism done for the sake of the activity itself, and as a symbolic expression of membership; the objects stolen can be nearly worthless in every other respect, but they represent one's partnership in breaking the law. p.250

is viewed as so awful because it causes destruction, fear, and resentment in their neighbors at the moment they are most in need, aggravating the misery and the anxiety that the triggering disaster has already caused.

Looting of this sort causes fear and resentment in those who are exposed to it. The looter strikes at just the moment when his neighbors are most in need. His actions are accompanied by broken glass and bashed-in doors, sometimes even fire. The act is raw and committed without shame, in the open. It aggravates the misery and the anxiety that the triggering disaster has already caused.

is a direct means of wealth redistribution and a practical, immediate way of improving life for the working class-- not to mention a brazen message to the police, the state, and an unjust society.

Looting--a crowd of people publicly, openly, and directly seizing goods--is one of the more extreme actions that take can place in the midst of social unrest. Even self-identified radicals distance themselves from looters, fearing that violent tactics reflect badly on the broader movement. However, in this deftly argued corrective, Vicky Osterweil argues that while looting is often maligned in today's society, it is, and has always been, one of our most powerful tools of dismantling capitalism and white supremacy. Stealing goods and destroying property are a direct means of wealth redistribution and a practical, immediate way of improving life for the working class-- not to mention a brazen message to the police, the state, and an unjust society.

looting, n.Memes

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