"CNN appears to be pushing the ‘widespread looting in Egypt’ story pretty aggressively. I would caution people not to accept that narrative quite so readily. While there is definitely looting, it’s unclear how common it is. Democracy Now‘s senior producer Sharif Kouddous is tweeting from Egypt, and reports that Egyptians are actually cleaning the streets of trash and forming neighborhood watch committees to protect innocent Egyptians from the looters. Furthermore, Al-Jazeera is reporting that apprehended looters were in possession of central security services IDs and government issued weapons.
My point is, revolutions are chaotic beasts. The media should definitely cover the looting stories, but by overemphasizing such events (without bothering to fill in the details of who is looting and why?) the media ends up discrediting a largely peaceful, democratic movement.
When societies break down, looting almost always happen happens. Some people steal to steal, some steal for survival, and others commit anticipatory stealing (Who knows how much longer bread is going to be around? Better stock up now). It’s best to let the dust settle before we start calling for the government to shoot everyone, especially if some of Mubarak’s secret police are doing the stealing."
Eyewitnesses say state sponsoring vandalism
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