O-Trap wrote:
I think the sheer volume of people who loot in such times are a perfect study into how a person will act if he or she is feeling invincible from any ramifications of the actions.
Typically in disaster, law enforcement has its hands full ... and then some. In addition, because of the chaos, not too many people notice the identities of individuals looting because of all the mayhem.
So, someone gets to believe the following:
1. The police aren't even going to find out it was them (negating legal ramifications)
2. There is too much chaos for others to notice, and thus, the public won't find out it was them (negating social ramifications)
At that point, what is there to stop them from looting?
To answer the question why EVERYONE doesn't loot, then, there would still be some that would be too afraid that by some odd chance they WOULD get discovered, and there would be others who wouldn't do it for other reasons (probably mostly religious, honestly).
I'd suggest that this is a perfect example of why it cannot be said that people, at their core, are "good." Take away all feeling of vulnerability, and they will do whatever they can get away with unless there is some other outside force preventing them from doing so.
I see it a little different. I think people generally realize that we live in a world that tells us to desire material things and then inflates the prices and sells our labor back to us for a higher price. I think people are generally fed up with the rat race, always being subject to societal (???) pressures to consume, consume, consume when we really can't afford to, but we do it anyway and accumulate debt (many of us).
Then when that chance comes along to walk into a store and grab all that high priced shit for free, well that's just what we'll do. And i say why not?!?!?! We spend most of our waking lives at work, enduring pain and stress, we're away from our families most of the day, when we get home we'ree too tired to do anything enjoyable, and many people are treated like shit at work. Then we spend what little money we earn on the cost of living in the modern world, while those above us get rich off our labor. So, you can work for two-weeks to buy that TV or you can walk into the store and steal it nd not get caught, what's the incentive not to????
