New Orleans Needs More Japanese
Sent this link — about the lack of looting in Japan following the earthquake — to a friend back home in New Orleans. His response:
I’m not sure the question [Why Is There No Looting in Japan?] was answered, but it certainly is a different world. We could learn a lot [from the Japanese], but the people who would learn are not the ones who would loot.
My rejoinder:
You’ve got a point there. “All right, looters, listen up: Perhaps you didn’t realize this, but looting is against the law . . .”
I’m always amused by public service campaigns that are meant to discourage littering, shoplifting, etc., but can only register with the law-abiding. Print campaigns to promote literacy are pretty stupid, too.
His response:
After picking up litter for two years every morning in City Park after Katrina (the park wouldn’t even put out garbage cans cuz they said they had no one to empty them), I got angry. Imagine that. I wrote a strongly worded jingle to be sung by a brash black kid with the stanza kicker repeated: “You’re just trash.” Took pics of fat families picnicking and came back later to take pics of the garbage they let behind. I was pissed. Told by many no one in their right mind would agree to produce or air. Wish I’d won Powerball cuz that sucka woulda gotten aired. Things got better. The park got a grant to hire Latinos for apple-picking wages to pick litter instead. They even put out some garbage cans and dog-poo dispenser bags. We big time now.
