Week 6 - Reading Response

“Who’s a Looter? In Storm’s Aftermath, Pictures Kick up a Different Kind of Tempest” written by Tania Rallion page 640. This essay was based on defining who was considered a looter. It was based on two photos taken by completely unrelated photographers. The first picture, of a black person, was captioned as a looter and the second picture, of a white couple, was captioned as survivors attempting to feed themselves.

The photographers are the caption writers and they basically wrote it as they saw it. The first picture’s photographer saw the black person enter a store and come out with the items pictured. He considered this as looting, because he took these items from the store without paying.

The second picture’s photographer stated that he saw the items, the white couple had in hand, float out of the store and that is when they took them. He felt it was more of a lost and found situation. He was not intending to make any offensive remarks that would insinuate because this was a white couple, they were not looters.

It all comes down to the viewer and their own definition of looting. Some may feel that someone who is stealing for food is not considered a looter and others could be against it no matter the circumstances. Stealing electronics during a disaster could be considered a way of survival for the intended purpose of selling the item for money later. It could also seem like looting to others, because, obviously electronics can’t immediately help someone unless it’s a battery operated radio. Who is the judge? Even if the photographer is biased, as individuals, let’s come to our own conclusions.