What's A Looter?

Think words are innocuous little scratches on paper or so much ephemeral vapor on the air? Then clearly you've not stumbled across the Comments section following a blog post or article talking about the increase of looting in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake there. People are vigorously engaged in an emotional, sometimes heated, debate about the appropriateness and propriety of using the words looters and looting in the context of this disaster.

People's takes on whether these are the "right" or "wrong" terms to use get into issues of race, equality, and socioeconomic status. As vocabulary is the focus of this blog, I will leave the exploration of those topics for other venues. Those interested in delving into the social issues should peruse this useful collection of commentaries my husband compiled regarding earlier debates of the use of looters in coverage and discussions of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath five years ago:

• NPR: A Perspective on Looters and Race
• N.Y. Times: Who's a Looter? In Storm's Aftermath, Pictures Kick Up a Different Kind of Tempest
• Washington Post: Natural Disasters in Black and White
• Poynter Institute: American Behemoth

Turning to a purely logocentric perspective, what do the origins and definitions of the words looter and loot tell us?

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the foremost definition of loot as a noun is "goods, esp. private property, taken from an enemy in war." The dictionary continues:

• stolen money or valuables: two men wearing stocking masks, each swinging a bag of loot.
• informal money; wealth: the thief made off with $5 million in loot.

verb [ trans. ]
steal goods from (a place), typically during a war or riot: police confronted the rioters who were looting shops.
• steal (goods) in such circumstances: tons of food aid awaiting distribution had been looted.

The granddaddy of dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary, says of loot:

1. Goods (esp. articles of considerable value) taken from an enemy, a captured city, etc. in time of war; also, in wider sense, something taken by force or with violence; booty, plunder, spoil; now sometimes transf., illicit gains, 'pillage' (e.g. by a public servant). Also, the act or process of looting.

2. slang. Money.

A quick tour through the options on Dictionary.com shows references to spoils, plunder, pillaging, burglary and theft.

The word loot's origins are Sanskrit, either lotra or luptra meaning "booty" or "spoil," the root lup meaning "to break;" or lunt meaning "to rob."

So is what's happening in Haiti looting by definition? You could say yes, whether it's a bag of rice or a bicycle or a TV, something taken without payment is theft and at its origins and within its principal definitions, loot means robbery.

On the other hand, is a desperately hungry individual stealing food or water committing thievery in the same way that someone walking off with a TV is? When the theft is for the purpose of survival, I think it may be more apt to call that person a scavenger. Of course, how does a witness know whether the person taking something out of store or a truck is doing so as a matter or survival or as an opportunist who plans to turn the goods over for profit?

Delving further into the nuances of the term, loot in the sense of "booty" and "valuable goods" conveys the idea that looters are people with the upper hand, conquerors seizing the spoils of their victory. Hard to look at Haiti and see much in the way of victory; rather, it's a scene of utter desperation.

At the same time, loot in the sense of "pillage" conveys disorganization and randomness as well as opportunism. Those seem to be hallmarks of the aftermath of major upheavals such as natural disasters.

I think your sense of whether loot is an appropriate term for discussions about the Haitian earthquake rests on which nuance of the term is embedded in your mind. And if it means theft pure and simple to you, then your sense of appropriateness is likely further shaped by where you come down on the philosophical question of whether taking necessities such as food or clothing without payment as a matter of survival is scavenging or thievery. May we who've never been in a situation to have to weigh that moral distinction as a reality rather than a hypothetical continue to be so fortunate. And may all the help possible come to those in need right now in Haiti.