Natalie Escobar for National Public Radio (NPR), reports on “One author’s argument in defense of looting.”

Hmmm…, someone who feels they can defend looting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYpS_Ro13U

I’m not sure why anyone would want to defend that, but be that as it may…

“In the past months of demonstrations for Black lives, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about looting. And just this week, rioters have burned buildings and looted stores in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, to which Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has said: ‘Peaceful protesting is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. Rioting is not.’”

I would say the rioting and the looting have been downplayed and, even ignored, to a great extent by the complicit, liberal propaganda, news media, who have followed the lead of their democrat friends and democrat co-conspirators.

I you recall, the democrats made no mention of the civil unrest happening across our country at their convention.

Propaganda by omission.

If we (the democrats) don’t acknowledge it, or talk about it, it didn’t happen.

“Writer Vicky Osterweil’s book, ‘In Defense of Looting,’ came out on Tuesday. When she finished it, back in April, she wrote (rather presciently [with foresight]) that ‘a new energy of resistance is building across the country.’”

Please note that Vicky Osterweil used to be Willie Osterweil, just in case Vicky looked familiar.

“Now, as protests and riots continue to grip cities, she argues that looting is a powerful tool to bring about real, lasting change in society.”

Oh…, it’s going to bring about change alright…, but not the kind of change that any of the looters are going to like.

They are not doing themselves or any associated “movement” they may have any favors.

“The rioters who smash windows and take items from stores, she says, are engaging in a powerful tactic that questions the justice of ‘law and order,’ and the distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society.”

Otherwise known as “stealing.”

Vicky apparently doesn’t know it, or doesn’t care, but these are the same principles that were promoted by the Nazi’s prior to World War II.

Natalie Escobar continues, “I spoke with Osterweil about this summer’s riots, the common narratives surrounding looting, and why ‘nonviolence’ can be a misleading term.”

No…, I would say that “nonviolence” is a pretty understandable word that means something not involving violence.

“For people who haven’t read your book [and that would be 99.999999% of America], how do you define looting?”

“’When I use the word looting, I mean the mass expropriation of property, mass shoplifting during a moment of upheaval or riot.’”

Ha!

“Mass shoplifting!”

That would be “stealing,” in other words.

‘“That’s the thing I’m defending. I’m not defending any situation in which property is stolen by force. It’s not a home invasion, either. It’s about a certain kind of action that’s taken during protests and riots.”

So, breaking windows and breaking down doors isn’t considered “stolen by force” in Osterweil’s opinion?

Escobar continued by asking, “Is Looting a Loaded Word?”

Vicky Osterweil responded, ‘“Looting is a highly racialized word from its very inception in the English language. It’s taken from Hindi, lút, which means ‘goods’ or ‘spoils,’ and it appears in an English colonial officer’s handbook [on ‘Indian Vocabulary’] in the 19th century.”

Excuse me, Vicky…, but, so what?

What does the word being taken from a Hindi word have to do with your claim that the word is highly racialized?

I don’t view the word “looting,” or “looter” to be racial at all, and I don’t think most people do either.

I view the word “looter” negatively…, but that’s about it.

“Can you talk about rioting as a tactic? What are the reasons people deploy it as a strategy?”

‘“It does a number of important things. It gets people what they need for free immediately, which means that they are capable of living and reproducing their lives without having to rely on jobs or a wage—which, during COVID times, is widely unreliable or, particularly in these communities is often not available, or it comes at great risk. That’s looting’s most basic tactical power as a political mode of action.’”

Ha, ya!

How are these people supposed to live without 15 pairs of Air Jordan’s?

How are these people supposed to live without 25 Rolexes?

How are these people supposed to survive without a couple big screen TVs?

I mean, c’mon…, let’s be reasonable!

‘“It also attacks the very way in which food and things are distributed. It attacks the idea of property, and it attacks the idea that in order for someone to have a roof over their head or have a meal ticket, they have to work for a boss, in order to buy things that people just like them somewhere else in the world had to make under the same conditions. It points to the way in which that’s unjust.’”

Excuse me, Vicky…, but it’s called MAKING A LIVING!

It’s what most people have to do, unless you spend all of your time “protesting,” rioting, looting, or playing video games during your downtime, while living with mommy, mommy and daddy, grandma, grandpa, or grandma and grandpa.

‘“And the reason that the world is organized that way, obviously, is for the profit of the people who own the stores and the factories. So, you get to the heart of that property relation, and demonstrate that without police and without state oppression, we can have things for free.’”

Huh!  Ya…, we could all have these things for free.  If it wasn’t for the evil people who own the stores and factories, we could all just pick the big screen TVs off of the big screen TV trees!

‘“Importantly, I think especially when it’s in the context of a Black uprising like the one we’re living through now, it also attacks the history of whiteness and white supremacy. The very basis of property in the U.S. is derived through whiteness and through Black oppression, through the history of slavery and settler domination of the country.”’

Ya…, I don’t know of ANY black people who actually own anything, or ANY black people who aren’t oppressed!

Please, give us all a break from your idiotic, racial, stupidness.

‘“Looting strikes at the heart of property, of whiteness and of the police. It gets to the very root of the way those three things are interconnected. And, also it provides people with an imaginative sense of freedom and pleasure and helps them imagine a world that could be. And I think that’s a part of it that doesn’t really get talked about—that riots and looting are experienced as sort of joyous and liberatory.’”

Wow…, where do I begin here?

First, YOU, Vicky, racialize the situation by negatively stereotyping both Blacks and Whites.

Secondly, when you say, “And, also it [looting] provides people with an imaginative sense of freedom and pleasure,” I honestly want to throw-up.

And then you go on to say, “And I think that’s a part of it that doesn’t really get talked about—that riots and looting are experienced as sort of joyous and liberatory.’”

I can tell you, Vicky, that riots and looting are not a “joyous” occasion for those who get assaulted, or even killed, while attempting to protect their livelihood and their property.

I can tell you, Vicky, that riots and looting are not a “joyous” occasion for people to see their community burn to the ground, taking jobs and places to shop and do business with it.

“What are some of the most common myths and tropes that you hear about looting?”

‘“One of the ones that’s been very powerful, that’s both been used by Donald Trump and Democrats, has been the outside agitator myth, that the people doing the riots are coming from the outside.’”

This is not a myth, and it has been demonstrated and documented to be absolutely true on numerous occasions during many of these riots.

‘“Another one is that looters are just acting as consumers. Why are they taking flat screen TVs instead of rice and beans? Like, if they were just surviving, it’d be one thing, but they’re taking liquor. All these tropes [a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression] come down to claiming that the rioters and the looters don’t know what they’re doing. They’re acting, you know, in a disorganized way, maybe an ‘animalistic’ way [definitely in an “animalistic” way]. But the history of the movement for liberation in America is full of looters and rioters. They’ve always been a part of our movement.’”

And “The history of the movement for liberation in America” IS NOT “full of looters and rioters, and they [rioting and looting] have NOT “always been a part of our movement.”

I would challenge you, Vicky, to actually document these fraudulent and libelous claims against our American heritage.

‘“There’s also another factor, which is anti-Blackness and contempt for poor people who want to live a better life…’”

What in thee hell are you talking about?!

I don’t know anyone who has “contempt for poor people who want to live a better life.”

In fact, most people admire people who want to make a better life for themselves, as long as it’s legal and through being resourceful and/or through hard work.

‘“One thing about looting is it freaks people out.’”

Uh…, ya…, and pisses them off in most cases as well.

‘“But in terms of potential crimes that people can commit against the state, it’s basically nonviolent. You’re mass shoplifting. Most stores are insured; it’s just hurting insurance companies on some level. It’s just money. It’s just property. It’s not actually hurting any people.’”

Well, Miss Vicky, I must say your level of confusion is quite impressive!

I guess if you have never created something through hard work and sacrifice, you can’t appreciate its value.

And, “It’s not actually hurting any people,” except the owners, like I just mentioned, the people who worked at these places who are now out of jobs, and the people who may have liked patronizing these businesses, which may or may not ever reopen.

No…, it’s not actually “hurting” any people.

Idiot.

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