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I’m watching coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while cleaning my living room. The cable news networks are running story after story about looting in the affected areas, complete with footage of people in the act. The anchors are narrating in proper tones of horrified outrage. And justifiably so: anyone who would take advantage of this terrible situation deserves to be lined up against the proverbial wall and shot. The fear of looters is what drives many people to ignore evacuation orders, hoping to protect their homes or livelihoods from unnecessary destruction at the hands of despicable morons with no conscience or morals.

But.

A great deal of the footage that I’ve seen (though not, by any means, all of it) shows people carting away armloads of food and other similar items. One man was pushing a cartful of PUR water filtering pitchers. Call me crazy, but given the extreme level of destruction and the inability of the authorities to reach everyone right away, combined with the fact that there’s no way for people to get out of some of the areas, I’m thinking that’s not really looting. I’m not sure that I would be inclined to prosecute or even condemn people who break into a store under these circumstances to provide their families or neighbors with the things that are necessary for life.

The governor of one state (Mississippi?) held a press conference in which he warned that looters would be dealt with “ruthlessly”. Good. They should be. I hope that the law enforcement officials and district attorneys of those areas understand the difference between looting and breaking a window to steal a loaf of bread.