What Is The Matter With People?

[youngmafbog]

This seems to happen every time. Just what sort of people are these looters? When people are puling together to help each other they now have to cope with these low lifes shooting at them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4831938/Cajun-Navy-says-looters-fired-shots-Harvey-rescue-boats.html

[jim360]

It's not really relevant to the threat but... Eddie, do you have some monthly quota of exclamation marks you need to hit?

[EDDIE51]

I'm trying to give them up!

[EDDIE51]

^ But I admit to being a bit of an addict !

[albaqwerty]

some of you are more mature than I, what was the name of the 'comedian' who sounded out punctuation marks?
(again, not relevant to this thread, but he made me laugh)

[ladybirder]

EDDIE you've some way to go to catch up with Anneasquith and her commas.

[david small]

Alba...Victor Borge.

[EDDIE51]

I asked about this on the US site Quora. The reply was that there was just one instance of a looter trying to avoid capture by firing a shot at a police rescue boat. Still one too many in my opinion.

[Peter Pedant]

alba mwah mwah
// some of you are more mature than I// etc
either flanders and swann or Hoffnung at the Oxford Union

naah or yeah - the little bistards were shooting at the firemen in Manchester ten years ago
and now in Notting Hill the firemen were being covered in kisses by boozummy scantily clad young ladies
( enough - or wearing so little that it might give AOG apoplexy)

[andy-hughes]

Ludwig - // // These people lack that capacity because they are unintelligent //

...sounds a bit like an excuse to me andy. //

Then I suggest you are confusing the different concepts of explanation and excuse.

As I have pointed out, I have explained the behaviour, from my point of view, but that comes nowhere near to excusing it.

To do that, I would have to say something along the lines of "These people can't help it because they are of low intelligence ..." - that would be excusing them, which I didn't, and don't.

I can explain why the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews - would you think I was finding excuses for them as well?

Explaining is not excusing.

I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.

[Peter Pedant]

// Alba...Victor Borge.//

yeah him - I was kinda - -- wide of the mark
( to use the idiom of the thread)

[Peter Pedant]

Oh my god I am on the wrong thread - I thought this was LOOT

(( I plead blindness and a mis spent youth)

[DTCwordfan]

Houston is like any other city under crisis; it would happen over here too....others trying to profit from the oft desperate situations.

At least my daughters are out there, on voluntary evacuation, to Austin. Mind you, it took them four hours just to clear the Houston area and my elder one admitted on FB to being 'stressed out.'

[ludwig]

// I have explained the behaviour, from my point of view, but that comes nowhere near to excusing it.

To do that, I would have to say something along the lines of "These people can't help it because they are of low intelligence //

..but you did say something along those lines. You said this ...

// These people lack that capacity because they are unintelligent //

..which is pretty much just paraphrasing it. The words are there for all to see, and can't really be spun any differently.

[-Talbot-]

Hands up ludwig ... you have been confusing the different concepts of explanation and excuse haven't you?

[mikey4444]

I haven't time this morning to read all the replies, but it seems to me that these people are just badly educated, badly brought up low lifes, without any ability to emphasise with other people. They are also just the usual criminals, that see an opportunity to enrich themselves at somebody else expense.

Hopefully only in a small minority.