Don't use the word 'looting', experts in US media warn

[+OverSword]

Quote

 

The latest string of smash-and-grab attacks on high-end stores in California should not be called looting as that would be racist, two criminal justice experts told the media and police.

The lecture on linguistics came after the San Francisco Bay area police departments had described a series of brazen thefts at luxury retail outlets over the weekend as looting. Lorenzo Boyd, a professor of criminal justice and community policing at the University of New Haven, told ABC7 news channel on Tuesday that the term has strong racial connotations and is typically used when "people of color or urban dwellers are doing something." Boyd, a former deputy sheriff in Boston, went on to claim that when people of different ethnicity "do the exact same thing," such criminal acts are rarely called looting.

Martin Reynolds, co-executive director of the Robert C. Maynard Institute of Journalism Education, concurred, saying that it "seems like it's an organized smash-and-grab robbery. This doesn't seem like looting."

Both experts concluded that the media ought to be careful in their choice of words. Reynolds opined:

"people draw their own conclusions, if the terminologies that you use are tethered to people's understanding of how they have been used in the past."

The two experts surmised that some outlets had chosen the word 'looting' intentionally, in a bid to link the crime spree to the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.

 

Link

I don't agree that this encourages racial stereotypes by calling it looting but this does seem more like strong arm robbery than traditional looting.  That said, the democrat run cities tendency to make make crime legal by not pursuing prosecution on so many crimes that this is an opportunistic crime which does fit within the definition of looting.  Thoughts?

[spartan max2]

Dumb. What is the politically correcting thing to call it? 

[+OverSword]

1 minute ago, spartan max2 said:

Dumb. What is the politically correcting thing to call it? 

Mostly peaceful shopping.

Edited November 29, 2021 by OverSword

[spartan max2]

2 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Mostly peaceful shopping.

The sad thing is I can't even tell if that's a joke or not 

[+OverSword]

1 minute ago, spartan max2 said:

The sad thing is I can't even tell if that's a joke or not 

Extrapolating from existing patterns from left leaning PC weirdos.  So I guess it's both. 

[tortugabob]

Call it organized looting if you want but looting is looting.  It's being done by black gangs.  Facts are facts. Telling the truth is not racist but if the woke media wants to call me a racist I can live with it.

Edited November 29, 2021 by tortugabob

[acidhead]

LOOTERS!!!!!

[Silver]

51 minutes ago, tortugabob said:

Call it organized looting if you want but looting is looting.  It's being done by black gangs.  Facts are facts. Telling the truth is not racist but if the woke media wants to call me a racist I can live with it.

'Looting' refers to opportunist theft during or following acts of war or rioting. If that is what is happening, it should be called looting. If the thefts are carried out by gangs or crowds who attack stores specifically to commit robbery, it is robbery, not looting.

What the criminal justice experts said in the article is quite correct.

Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters, or rioting.

Edited November 29, 2021 by The Silver Shroud

[+OverSword]

18 minutes ago, The Silver Shroud said:

Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters, or rioting.

Since this is happening where democratic policies which are softer on crime to the point of not prosecuting or even policing certain things, then I say it's a political crisis, therefor the definition of looting seems appropriate:

Quote

Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looting

Amazingly the local politicians here are blind to the fact that it is their policies which have enabled these outlaw behaviors and blame systemic racism and similar fantasy bull ****.

Edited November 29, 2021 by OverSword

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

Word!

It's more like pillaging.....

that we Swedish Vikings used to be experts on but THE word pillaging is mostly used during wartime but you could actually use it....

Edited November 29, 2021 by 'Walt' E. Kurtz

[+OverSword]

Just now, 'Walt' E. Kurtz said:

Word!

It's more like pillaging.....

that we Swedish Vikings used to be experts on but pillaging is mostly used during wartime but you could actually use it....

Pillaging!!!! That's perfect! 

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

2 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Pillaging!!!! That's perfect! 

But using that Word would be racist to us Swedes. :-P

[Autochthon1990]

1 hour ago, spartan max2 said:

Dumb. What is the politically correcting thing to call it? 

Robbing the **** out of someone. This isn't looting, this is a straight up, old fashioned Robbery. 

[+OverSword]

11 minutes ago, 'Walt' E. Kurtz said:

But using that Word would be racist to us Swedes. :-P

I'm 1/4 Swedish (that I know of) so I'll own it.

[spartan max2]

17 minutes ago, Autochthon1990 said:

Robbing the **** out of someone. This isn't looting, this is a straight up, old fashioned Robbery. 

I got curious so I googled define looting to see what the first thing to pop up would be and got this 

 

Quote

steal goods from (a place), typically during a war or riot.

"desperate residents looted shops for food and water"

Edit: ah I see what you're saying. You're saying since there was not a riot going on that they don't think it should be called looting .

 

I assumed OP was referring to the 2020 riots/protest.

Edited November 29, 2021 by spartan max2

[+OverSword]

4 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

I got curious so I googled define looting to see what the first thing to pop up would be and got this 

The first thing I got was:

Quote

Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis

 

[spartan max2]

Thinking about my personal definition of looting I think I upgrade the term robbery to looting just based on the size. Like one guy who Rob's one house is a robbery. A dozen people who rob a dozen places at once would be looting.

 

[Buzz_Light_Year]

It's obviously just "Feral Foraging"

[+OverSword]

46 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

Thinking about my personal definition of looting I think I upgrade the term robbery to looting just based on the size. Like one guy who Rob's one house is a robbery. A dozen people who rob a dozen places at once would be looting.

 

By definition it is organized crime.  I wonder if it could be looked into by the feds based on that?  Penalties would automatically go up as a federal offense too.  

[Silver]

53 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

Thinking about my personal definition of looting I think I upgrade the term robbery to looting just based on the size. Like one guy who Rob's one house is a robbery. A dozen people who rob a dozen places at once would be looting.

 

 

1 minute ago, OverSword said:

By definition it is organized crime.  I wonder if it could be looked into by the feds based on that?  Penalties would automatically go up as a federal offense too.  

It is okay to have a personal definition but it can lead to misunderstanding if it isn't the same as the accepted definition.

In the UK we have a crime called "steaming", maybe you also have it in the US? Steaming is an armed robbery carried out on public transport when a group relieve the passengers of their valuables. It has the advantage from the robbers point of view that the venue of the robbery is also the getaway vehicle. 

[+OverSword]

Probably called hijacking here.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

2 hours ago, Autochthon1990 said:

Robbing the **** out of someone. This isn't looting, this is a straight up, old fashioned Robbery. 

I agree with this, looting usually occurs as a subsidiary action to a wider unrelated event, ie looting occurs during a riot robbery occurs late at night. It could be the same process, but the label is different depending on context. 

[+OverSword]

16 minutes ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

I agree with this, looting usually occurs as a subsidiary action to a wider unrelated event, ie looting occurs during a riot robbery occurs late at night. It could be the same process, but the label is different depending on context. 

How about this occurring because of local governments unwillingness to protect society from criminals?  Even to the point that store employees could be charged with a crime for intervening if they do so before the perps have left the building?  Shouldn't weak government and laws/policies that favor criminals be the thing that this phenomena is subsidiary to?

Edited November 29, 2021 by OverSword

[+DieChecker]

I think robbery is the better term. But I disagree that "looting" is racist. The implication of such would be racist in itself.

Those saying looting mean black are the racists.

[acute]

4 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

What is the politically correct thing to call it?

Permanent borrowing.