At Eschaton there’s a fascinating post about coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Atrios shows two news photos of people gathering food to survive. In one the caption refers to the participants “finding” food, in the other the caption refers to the participant “looting” food. The only visible difference is the looter is black and the finders are white.
These people are trying to survive in an almost impossible situation, and that the theft of food for self preservation is a moral question which goes back thousands of years. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the current media would find any excuse to exploit people’s suffering to create polarizing images and encourage racial stereotypes.
Yep, I guess you can’t trust those people — they have no moral fiber and are only concerned about their immediate needs; it’s no wonder most Americans don’t trust them — but what do you expect of the media.
