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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (249476)	9/5/2005 4:09:33 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572612

Next comes a picture of a white couple carrying food supplies through the flood waters. According to AFP/Ghetty Images, these fine young people are on their way home after "finding bread and soda from a local grocery store." So the white people don't "loot", they "find". A curious insight into prevalent racism in the US media; just as one man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter," it seems one man's "looter", is another man's "finder". You decide. I don't necessarily disagree with Der Spiegel's interpretation of the two scenes but then I don't think the Germans have any room to throw stones. After all, I suspect a few interviews with some Turks or Greeks living in Germany would reveal more than a few comments about how intolerant the Germans can be..........and the Greeks, if not the Turks, are not black but rather of the same race as the Germans albeit not as blond and blue eyed.

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (249476)	9/5/2005 4:30:33 AM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 1572612

It didn't take long for reports of looting to filter through. No sooner had Hurricane Katrina's winds died down, than people emerged onto the streets and began helping themselves to whatever New Orleans' shopping paradise had to offer. Now, dear reader, you might say their actions are understandable, if not condonable. If your home had just been washed away, and you hadn't eaten a proper meal for 48 hours, the urge to help yourself to a few candy bars or cartons of milk from the local convenience store might be a strong one. But a number of amazing reports have described how local residents also loaded up their vehicles with DVD players and televisions, with the National Guard and police almost powerless to stop them. New Orleans is rapidly turning into a lawless city, with those unable to leave resorting to plunder and mayhem. But the really interesting angle on all of this comes from those smart folks at Metafilter. They cleverly link to three pictures of apparent "looters" featured on Yahoo news. Two men are pictured wading through flood waters with bags of groceries and beer in their arms. They are described as "looters." And, coincidentally they are African-American. Next comes a picture of a white couple carrying food supplies through the flood waters. According to AFP/Ghetty Images, these fine young people are on their way home after "finding bread and soda from a local grocery store." So the white people don't "loot", they "find". A curious insight into prevalent racism in the US media; just as one man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter," it seems one man's "looter", is another man's "finder". You decide. The writer should have just put the you decide recommendation at the beginning of the article, and left the rest out......

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (249476)	9/5/2005 7:20:46 AM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572612

"Anyway, as the German article below puts it, the whole mess in Louisiana was a disaster waiting to happen --" Sigh. Nobody disputes that. There has been talk about the possibility of disaster in New Orleans for decades. The topic under discussion is why it took the better part of a week to render aid when it was clear that the hurricane was going to come very close to New Orleans for days. Look, I am perfectly aware that Europeans like to think Americans, particularly Southern Americans, are racist in their every word and deed. My wife, a German who regularly voted Green, was of such an opinion until she moved here. Her opinions has changed. If anything, she thinks we try to hard to avoid even the appearance of racism and over-correct. And she might have a point. Apparently Der Speigel neglected to note that the two different photographs were captioned by two different photographers working for two different agencies. In addition, one photographer saw the subject in question go in a store and come out with a bag of stuff. The other saw two people making their way through the flood waters with stuff from a flooded out store floating all around them. So they were captioned differently because the circumstances were different. This is not to say that racism doesn't exist in the US, it does. But these days it isn't anywhere nearly as prevalant as it used to be. These days it is usually structural. Blacks, on the average, tend to be poorer and less educated. Those two things weigh more heavily against them than their skin color. If the US were as racist as many Europeans believe, then explain Oprah(please) and all of the black sports stars, entertainers, Colin Powell and other powerful blacks.