Looting Case

Cole Canedy

English 100

Professor Crouch

5/18/12

Looting

1. Interpretive framing is a rhetorical device in which a complex issue is explained in simpler terms chosen to emphasize certain aspects of the issue and downplay others. “Loot or Find? Fact or Frame” strives to unmask the colorblind discourse surrounding race in the American media. This article argues that the media frames utilized in the first month after Hurricane Katrina legitimated punishment as disaster policy through lurid reports of individual crime. The interpretational structures that unconsciously shaped how events were being seen during this period explain the stereotypical state in which blacks are placed. The two images depict the same act yet the captions that accompanied these images gave them a vastly different meanins. Apparently the black man in the first photo was "looting", while the white couple in the other photo were “bravely struggling against the odds to survive”. Looting I believe is broken up into two parts: there is looting necessary items to live and then there is looting unnecessary items. Necessary items include food, water, and other materials for survival. This type of looting I see as far less concerning, especially in a natural disaster. Looting items like flat screen televisions is basically someone taking advantage of the situation for personal gain. In these photos both appear to be getting items that are necessary to survive. I do not see any wrong in what they were doing, for they were surviving. This was a news reporter using interpretive framing in order to warp the situation in order for it to appear much worse.