> "The stores are insured bro, why do you care if people steal from them? It's not your problem maaan."
This is why I care. Criminals degrade society and we all suffer for their greed.
This is why I care. Criminals degrade society and we all suffer for their greed.
Pretending that crime is some kind of quirk that you can get rid of if only [fill in reasons here], and that the grey and black markets wouldn't exist if only we didn't have crime, implies a lack of understanding when it comes to socioeconomics.
Unless you know how to get us to a post-scarcity world of course, in which case: please make that happen. We're all tired.
That economics has a just-so story to explain why this is exactly what I should expect doesn't change the fact that I didn't used to have to do this, and now I do have to do this.
One of the basic functions of the state is to make it difficult for people to steal things.
There are maybe a handful of countries with their shit together enough for this kind of thing to not happen anymore. The overwhelmingly vast majority of countries on the planet are not those.
Here on planet earth however, some people are just anti-social and understand nothing except force. No amount of education or counselling or whatever else will change that.
You think fencing happens because of anti-social behavior? Fencing _is_ work!
The simplest explanation for why people steal and resell stuff is money. You do a thing, and at the end you have money in your pocket that you didn't do before. Not complicated!
Of course it's ... not good! Stealing is generally pretty bad, all things considered! But this idea that there are some deep psychological flaws that cause this behavior does not, I believe, represent a primary motivator for a significant portion of these acts.
Plenty of other countries have done the same, actually. The knee-jerk response of adding more cops actually makes society worse for all of us.
Also the subway stories are probably more about general fear of whatever criminals are apparently lurking down there. It can get kind of scary in the subway when it's deserted. especially Upper Manhattan where it's so deep down. Meanwhile when I travel in developed Asian cities, it's not scary at all. Just really really crowded.
You only see police occasionally doing their patrols, so it can be argued there is less of a police presence than say NY. There is no need, there are cameras everywhere and its a small Island, you can't run anywhere.
With respect to the parent's comment on subway deaths: > Singapore has entirely solved the root problem in a non-carceral way by investing in infrastructure.
There are barriers that only open when the train has arrived, so there quite literally cannot be deaths from people pushing others onto the tracks. I presume that is what he means by infrastructure.
They don't...first offense you basically get off with a warning. Recent headlines was a case of Australian school girls shoplifting [1]. Although they're foreigners, same goes for locals.
[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/6-austra...
That said, incarcerating people is liable to immerse them into the hardened criminal culture, which is not productive and calls for some alternatives.
We consider them basic necessities, because we're used to them, but all these new inventions had to be made by somebody. The profit motive seems to be quite good at incentivizing people to do just that. If we discourage that then the basic necessities of tomorrow might not get invented.
Society doesn't conspire to cause poverty, nature already inflicted that upon us.
Your argument would be more sound if the people stealing were stealing for themselves instead of selling them on a marketplace at slightly below retail with a 100% margin. Their theft hurts the jobs and customers (some shops have outright closed) and it also still has the end customer paying basically the same amount.
These people could get a job, they just don’t want to be a “sucker” and work 9 to 5 like some chump.
They can go to a soup kitchen, or a church, or a food panty and ask for basic necessities.
Americans are very generous, especially conservative ones, who lead the world in charity and generosity. There is no excuse to steal when you can just ask.
Opposing social welfare is along standing political plank for conservative voters, because they don't want welfare for people not in their club.
Did you reply to the wrong person?
> because they don't want welfare for people not in their club.
Hu? If you meant to reply to me, I have no idea what you are talking about.
Churches (I assume that what you mean - what is a "Sunday social club"?) don't require a subscription fee to be given charity.
Are you just trying to be annoying or something?
Petty shoplifters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Yet the form of theft I hear the most about, by far, is shoplifting. Why do you think that is?
Did anyone in particular construct this society, or was it just given?
You can't judge society at large by the same ethical standard that you judge an individual
#BlackLivesMatter came about because the police have been--somewhat unwillingly--waging open warfare against gangbangers for decades in the inner city. The gangbangers all have guns and the cops have heavy weaponry that sometimes protects them and oftentimes blows away a few low-ranked gangbangers who might've just completed initiation, or weren't even affiliated but just hanging out at a party.
So what #BLM and #DefundthePolice people are saying is, enough is enough with this open warfare, you're killing children and innocent people, the cops are too powerful.
But gangs offer societal structure: they offer belonging, they offer community, they offer encouragement and brotherhood. They offer economic opportunity. They offer lifelong careerism. That flavor of opportunity can't be had in a public school or a legitimate job.
So gangs aren't going away; gangs are part of the fabric of society because they're providing tangible benefits for many members and non-members alike.
But how will they disarm themselves? How will they offer truces to the cops and reconcile, swords into plowshares? If gangs don't go away then they need to be pacified or the open gang warfare will continue to get cops involved, and the gangs will continue to shoplift and fence and operate all sorts of low-level criminal enterprise with impunity. So what to fix?
Save the family - save the world.
People have been complaining about this since the advent of cities.