(no subject)

It's interesting to me to hear both West, TX and Boston, MA described as looking like war zones. In Boston, because no one but police are out and about, and in West because an area of some blocks in diameter has been more or less leveled.

So, it got me thinking, what do we mean when we say "like a war zone"?

Are the children not in school?
Is there no school?
Abandoned buildings? Repurposed buildings?
Is there a great deal of sexual violence?
Are children being recruited for militias?
Are people scalping food? (I know there's another word for this...)
Is there a dearth of luxury goods?
Have people become innured to the sounds of gunfire or bombings?
Propaganda? Jingoism?

...help me out here, folks...

Part of me wonders if we should put cities in lock down if they have factories that have not recently been inspected and house dangerous chemicals...

(This message brought to you by my firmly turning off the radio now. And I'm something of a news junkie, but right now I could so do with a friendly episode of "Wait, wait, don't tell me...!")