Self-Organizing Man

(Link)

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.

And the worst quote (from the same link):

At a Walgreen’s drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers.

When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming, "86! 86!" — the radio code for police — and the crowd scattered.

Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stood outside and snapped pictures in amazement.

"It’s downtown Baghdad," the housewife said. "It’s insane. I’ve wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."

I guess Denise would comport herself differently when faced with the prospect of no food, water, electricity, and, well, death.

[Note to self:  As I read the emerging looting reports I feel like the news wants me to think of this situation as though I were in a zoo.  Like "wow, look at the natives in their nattturralll habitat!!!!" Despicable.]