Self-Organizing Man

Armchair Moralists

August 31, 2005 – 10:44 am

Why do we feel compelled to judge others living in dire conditions?

Do we honestly believe we would behave differently when faced with the exact same conditions?

And since the majority of images I have seen on CNN of the so-called "looters" appear African-American, I should reword my previous question.

Do we white folks honestly believe we would behave differently if we had spent the last 36 hours on our roofs, only to wade through petrochemically laden flood water to arrive at a Walgreens and say, "gosh, I need water.  I don’t know when I will get fresh water again.  And who knows about food.  But I don’t steal!"

Right.

And what of the  quick and long decisions, regret, guilt?  Drowned in a flood of media hysteria and convenient forgetting and ratings everyone loots with a gleeful heart. But we forget that as long as rampant poverty exists people will meet their needs in whatever manner possible. 

Does anyone really feel better about themselves watching people who have lost everything lose a little more by stealing?  And if we really cared about looting, should not our tax dollars have been  getting EVERYONE out of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who could not get out on their own? Then recovery personnel could spend money on cleaning up the area, instead of saving people and stopping those damp, thieving, pesky, hungry, people.

Yes, I know about the computers and the TVs.  But food will spoil.  Experts claim New Orleans won’t have full electrical capacity until September.  At the earliest.  I won’t even mention the mold growth problem and whatever environmental damage occurs because of the brackish, polluted water from Lake Pontchartrain swallowing up the inventory of corporate convenience. Inventory they can write-off as part of their insurance claim

My short-term solution. Walgreens and Rite-Aid, Target, Walmart.  All of them need to donate everything from their stores.

  "We ask the police to let victims of this terrible tragedy pass through our doors unimpeded.  Walgreens (or Target.  WalMart, etc.)  is officially donating all items in our stores to the victims of this terrible, terrible situation.  We stand with them in their time of need and pray for their health and the recovery of everyone during this horrible time."  Then they provide the addresses of all stores donating items.

My long term solution requires more work on our parts.

If, as Socrates claimed, the mark of a moral society can be found in how it treats its most dispossed members, then we have failed.  We have failed the poor and the elderly and the children left behind to suffer in the wake of Katrina.  We have failed our own children as they watch us get hopped up on hysteria and anger over trivial items like televisions and food and water. 

Ultimately we have failed ourselves.  We choose to fall prey to our baser instincts.  From our armchairs we moralize about situations we thankfully may never have to experience.  In so doing we visit a wrath upon the survivors Katrina could never have accomplished.

We also foster the seeds of hatred in our heart.  We loot from our compassion to feed our fear.  In the end, we are the biggest losers of all.