People are shocked to learn in New Orleans gunshots are being fired at helicopter rescuers, cellular tower technicians and levee engineers. Why the shock? It all makes perfect human sense: There is profit in chaos. In a crisis, a grab for power can bring new life and tempt an old death. Right now those in power are those who best know the backwater streets and flooded alleyways.

Those who control the ground are required, as willful instruments of human impulse, to finally enforce their minority will on the majority with muscle and bullets. Those creating the chaos must perpetuate it with fear against those who wish for a quick return to law and order because there are riches buried in the Katrina rubble and restoring access and electricity and good people defeats the mission of those who seek to reap profit from death.

Remember there are millions of dollars sunk under the water and floating under the bridges. Banks, stores, homes and restaurants are all empty and vulnerable and untraceable cash and other valuables were left open and alone in the till and in the bedroom and all are waiting to be collected by any means possible.

Mississippi’s destroyed Casino Coast is bursting with tens of millions of dollars in cash and casino chips blowing around the neighborhood and sinking into the sand. The price of grabbing that golden opportunity for a better life out of catastrophe is firing a few stray bullets. Few are able to resist that opening.

All the hard work of the thief has already been done by Katrina: Doors are broken open, walls have been vanquished, safes are cracked and yawning, and if you want to build a new life you need only barely keep the chain of chaos alive and that means shooting at anyone — including hospital staff, cops, and relief workers — if they plan to impede your one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enrich your family’s future from the rubble of unearned riches.

5 Comments

  1. I have never read anything so close to the truth in all my life. This was an excellent post and message. Good ole america……we wont stand for nothing and yet we wont stand up for nothing either. Kudos! on this message

  3. I did hear also that some people were shooting at helicopters because they wanted them to rescue people in other areas of New Orleans.

  4. Very true and very under reported.
    Just as giving someone a gun and a badge can make the person power hungry and eager to assert his or her authority, the same is true for the criminal elements.
    It makes perfect sense that to some, chaos is a time to take advantage. In the days when police command, control, and communications were disrupted, a few dangerous elements took full advantage by raping, killing, and terrorizing people.
    There is a difference between looting a store for water or food in a time of crisis, and wandering the streets as a gang of gunmen threatening people. One is a survival instinct, while the other is a base power grab. As much as we don’t want to admit it, there are certain people in our society who are predators that will take advantage of weakness.
    It shows how fragile our society is without communities working for the common good.
    Unless good people band together to form communities, even in emergency shelters, we are at the mercy of the predators. In future disasters, it will be important to empower regular people so that they can keep the peace when the police and National Guard are unable to do so. I saw a report about British citizens who were stranded in New Orleans. They gathered together with other displaced Britons to provide common security for their group in the Superdome and to figure out a plan for escape. It shows that people working together can make a difference. It also deters the predator who is looking for the weakest victim.
    Another thought: I wonder how many people will “disappear” after Katrina. It would be tempting to walk away from a bad situation (debt, a spouse, criminal background, etc.) and restart one’s life as someone else. People tried it after the WTC attacks on 9/11. With a ton of people losing everything, including their social security cards and birth certificates, it wouldn’t be hard to imaging people taking advantage of the situation.
    Chris
    http://d-chaos.blogspot.com
    BA~~32

  5. Hi Carla — I’ve been following the reports of shootings and you really have to look hard in ever places to piece it all together. From everything I’ve been able to divine most of the shots being fired are done with a targeted intent to push away those who are trying to clamp down the law. The shootings appear to be gang related to shoo people away from areas they are pillaging. Since these gangs are always roaming for profit it is hard to pin them down and kill them.
    Chris — I like the logic of your argument and I certainly concur! There will be lots of “missing” people and those who also claim the names of the dead to get the short term profit a $2,000 FEMA debit card. If I were in that mess and had to get out, the first thing I would do is find my own like-minded gang and then get as far away as possible from the big group of people as soon as the weather cleared. I think the people who separated from the mass-of-humanity-chaos fared much better in the end than those who sat and were preyed upon while they waited to be rescued.

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