Today is a rant. I haven't really let loose with one in a little while. I have put up a couple of posts on my other site Becs Beauty Buzz about the flooding that has been happening in and around my hometown of Brisbane and the aftermath of it all. I mentioned how proud I was to be an Australian when I see everyone pulling together to support each other, even though we are all complete strangers.
This is just the opposite. Today I want to talk about the people who are using the flood for their own profit. It started with smaller shops charging extortionate prices for everyday items to people who had no alternate but to buy them as they had been cut off from other options by the flooding. There have been reports of some stores charging up to $10 for a single loaf of bread, and by that point it wasn't even fresh!
Then there were whispers of "volunteers" showing up to help clean out the damaged property and mud from the houses that went under who were taking out unaffected items like flat screen TVs and the like and walking out with them pretending that they were damaged and they were hauling rubbish away when in reality they were taking one of the few things that people had left.
There were stories of people who were taking boats off the river which had come loose from where they had been anchored due to the force of the river and loading them up on trailers and claiming them as their own under maritime law.
Most recently, there were reports of "tradies" coming along and taking a deposit for repair work on flood damaged houses "so that the owner could beat the rush" and then never returning. I highly doubt most of these people were tradies to start with to tell you the truth.
This kind of thing makes me so incredibly mad. This has really detracted from all the genuinely good work that people have done in providing shelter, food, water and help in general. All it takes is one idiot like those jerks who are stealing items by saying they are damaged to make the already fragile people who have lost almost everything distrustful, and I can totally understand that.
That's today's rant. Come back tomorrow for another, much angrier one about how the insurance companies are now not paying up. My blood is boiling just thinking about it all.
Be awesome to each other.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Who Could Do That?
Posted by Bec at 3:49 PM
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7 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear that. :/ It really puts a dark spot on everything it has been happening there, even though we hear alot about people helping eachother even here in Europe. I still think and hope the good deeds will outnumber the bad. And for those that do all this, taking advantage of people in need, what goes around comes around.They'll get their share of knives in the back further in life.
Ugh! That's horrible! It makes ME mad too! In disasters people are supposed to come together as a community and help each other out, who would be so selfish as to hurt people who have already been ravaged by a horrible flood! Maybe they will become so wracked with guilt that they devote their lives to charitable causes in order to help clear their consciences...
OMG! what has the world become ~~
i totally understand what you are feeling right now..i felt the same way a while back when there was flood back home for me.. how can ppl be so cruel - im never going to understand ! what sucks more is that people that work hard in these disasters remain unknown and those who are out there for their own benefits can all the credit WTH !! >_<
all i can say is: hang in there and stay strong.. it sucks that you can only trust yourself in this selfish world (with some exceptions). There are still some honest people left in the world.
Unfortunately, disaster brings out not only the best in people, but also the very worst.
I trust that those people will get what's coming to them though...folks can't do such wicked things without it catching up to them eventually.
Thats disgusting. I really dont understand how people could be so cruel. It seems like natural disasters bring out these lemming. Unfortunately the news usually focuses on these people and forgets about all of the kind hearted people who go out of their way to help out.
xx
The same thing happened with Hurricane Katrina here in the US. At least the part about charging incredible rates for goods people really need. In some cases these businesses got fined for doing this, so that was good at least. I still think that for every bad person who took advantage, there were hundreds who were good and only wanted to help, maybe it's only what I want to believe.
That's terrible to hear, Bec... in here some things similar have been noticed on the tv: do you remember those donations I told you about? Well, while there are legitimately concerned people really helping everyone sort out the donations (so everyone in need will be able to get something), there are also people who pretend to help just so they'll be able to steal some donations, and then sell them at horrendous prices. It's just terrible to see that this kind of situations happen.
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