One Man's Loot is Another Man's...

Today, a reader forwarded me two links to news photos that seem to sum up society's views toward found objects and how different people find them.

Granted, both photos and captions came from different sources. However, Yahoo News culled their content from both sources and combined them into a collection. That being said, you would think someone in quality control would have an eye out for these 'errors.'

Judge for yourself.

From Associated Press:

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)






From AFP/Getty Images:

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)














I can only imagine the things that I could 'find' in a store with the windows broken out. Interesting to ponder the idea that what is stealing for one group, is actually foraging for another.

However, it is possible that the author of the latter caption could be more generous in their ideas about what people who are starving can do to survive. I have had many conversations in the last few days about what is considered looting. Is it looting when someone takes a loaf of bread from an abondoned store? Or is this survival? Some would say that this is a gray area. In my own opnion, people should use what they can to survive. That does not, however, include 32 inch flat screen tv's. Besides, where would you plug it in?