Image description: a two panel meme with a bearded man speaking.
Panel 1: "You wanna know what I do when I see people stealing food or baby formula?"
Panel 2: "Fucking nothing because I'm not a fucking asshole."
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Shoplifting
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Baby formula is a common item for people to steal so they can resell it. So yeah, I'm going to say something. Stop supporting making baby formula harder for mothers to get and afford. It also helps drive these stores out of neighborhoods which makes it even harder for them.
These issues don't have to be so dumbed down and black and white on social media. That's a choice people are making.
I don't see the moral difference between stealing baby formula to feed your baby and stealing baby formula to sell for rent. Capitalism fucking sucks and people do what they have to do.
And for all y'all saying "they're probably just stealing for drug money or to buy designer clothes or (insert bad reason here) - that's your bias speaking. You think the worst of shoplifters because you want to think the worst of shoplifters. You don't know why someone is stealing. You don't know what their life is like or what they need.
Do you know for a fact someone isn't stealing to feed themselves or their kids? No? Then give your fellow man the benefit of the fucking doubt. Keep your mouth shut and your hands off.
And frankly, if someone develops an addiction because they use illegal drugs to mitigate the symptoms of their untreated mental illness or to numb the pain of being homeless in a capitalist society, and they steal to feed that addiction, who the hell are you to judge them? Everyone has a right to medical care, which means addicts have a right to medical care to treat their addiction, which is a hell of a lot more valuable than a few hundred dollars in baby formula, and society has stolen that right from them, so why shouldn't they steal a little of their own back?
Even the least excusable shoplifting has a reason for it. And it is, quite frankly, a victimless crime, because corporations aren't people. And I don't give a shit if somebody in upper management loses his Christmas bonus over shrinkage. Wage theft by corporate employers steals three times as much as all other forms of larceny and theft in the US combined. So think about who the real thieves are before you go judging people.
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Very good points explaining of why folks should not snitch.
Another one: Who are you snitching to?
The shop manager? Why do you prioritise his wellbeing over the shoplifters?
The police? What does that solve except get the shoplifter into deeper shit and more likely to murder down the line?
Or perhaps you think "but people shouldn't steal", in which case you should go after bankers, the police, politicians and big corporations. Don't have what it takes to do that? Then again, sit down your righteous ass and face your own helplessness.
Reporting some poor sod shoplifting won't make you more powerful. It'll make you one of those cowardly white European schmucks who sent their neighbours into concentration camps.