Gangs Plan Hurricane Looting Spree Via Twitter

OK so this picture was actually taken in Texas which is apparently why they don't have any problems with looting there. I was trolling through the news headlines this morning and came across this rather depressing story. Apparently scores of Twitter users have flooded the social networking site announcing their plans to go on looting sprees once Hurricane Sandy makes landfall. The New York National Guard announced it would put troops on duty in Long Island to prevent such activity. I once read an interesting interview with a reporter who covered the Nuremberg War Crimes. At the end of the trial he was asked what he thought evil was? His answer was that evil is nothing more than a complete lack of empathy for your fellow human beings. Looking at these comments on Twitter I am inclined to agree.

1,175 New York National Guard troops have been mobilized to “provide command and control and logistical support” in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier. According to NBC New York, the troops will also be on hand to “protect against looting.”

They might well be needed given the fact that a deluge of Twitter users are using the website to appeal to others to join the min exploiting the chaos generated by the super storm to ransack stores.

Given the recent phenomenon of “flash mob robberies,” where groups of people arrange to burgle a store en masse in order to overwhelm security and staff, the tweets should be taken seriously. Last year police warned that flash mob robberies, organized mainly through Twitter, were on the rise.

“Of 129 retailers surveyed by the National Retail Federation, nearly 95 percent said they were victimized by organized criminals in the past year and 85 percent said the problem has worsened over the past three years,”reports Fox News. In addition, much of the rioting and looting which rocked England last year was also incited, organized and coordinated via Twitter. At one point, Prime Minister David Cameron considered slapping a ban on the social network.

Claims by some that the tweets by people threatening to loot are all “jokes” will probably fail to impress the innumerable victims of looting in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Irene, Isaac, and numerous other extreme weather events in recent years.

Examples of tweets from individuals planning to go on looting sprees include the following;

“Bout to do some looting when this hurricane finally hits….gonna get a new laptop and tv…this hurricane might be the best thing to happen.” (SOURCE)

“If this hurricane gets real bad I’m looting stores ! i always wanted to do that.” (SOURCE)

“I’m gonna go looting once this hurricane hits Utica.” (SOURCE)

“Has #HurricaneSandy made landfall yet? My bitch ass is ready to go looting!” (SOURCE)

“helllll yeah I’m gonna go looting after the storm hits.” (SOURCE)

“Who wants to go looting with me when Sandy hits?! I need some new shit! (SOURCE)

My personal opinion is that the above mentioned people are plonkers of the worst kind. Let us hope they are never allowed to breed.