Help me understand shoplifting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It amazes how people try to excuse and normalize stealing. No wonder our society is in a free fall. Truly sad.

I'm sorry, all I saw, aside from the posts like yours, people explaining some of the root causes of stealing. Can you point me to the posts excusing and normalizing stealing?

The closest anyone has come is saying that they don't feel guilty for stealing food for their children when they were poor and in an abusive relationship. I wouldn't feel guilty about that either! That's not normalizing or excusing stealing, it's understanding context. It's far more upsetting that a mother would have to shoplift food for her child than that she stole. These people have no perspective.

This is what Les Miserables was about and why Jean Valjean went to prison for stealing a loaf of bread for a hungry child. The entire question was about whether it should really be a crime and what justice is.

New poster. Yes, it is a crime that you steal organic blueberries and cute leggings for your baby. Give me a break.No one here was starving, just merely entitled. A thief is a thief. Plenty of people cope just fine in difficult circumstances without being an entitled thief.

+1 there is no excuse, and I grew up in a lower income household, immigrant parents.

I did steal an eraser from my friend (I know.. terrible friend I was), but never at a store. Still, it was and is inexcusable here.

Now, if we lived in 1780s France where there was no food or social welfare, I would not blame the poor for stealing.

I will say that if I saw a poor person stealing food because they were hungry, I would still pay for it. Stealing is still wrong, though, but so is letting people starve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It amazes how people try to excuse and normalize stealing. No wonder our society is in a free fall. Truly sad.

I'm sorry, all I saw, aside from the posts like yours, people explaining some of the root causes of stealing. Can you point me to the posts excusing and normalizing stealing?

The closest anyone has come is saying that they don't feel guilty for stealing food for their children when they were poor and in an abusive relationship. I wouldn't feel guilty about that either! That's not normalizing or excusing stealing, it's understanding context. It's far more upsetting that a mother would have to shoplift food for her child than that she stole. These people have no perspective.

This is what Les Miserables was about and why Jean Valjean went to prison for stealing a loaf of bread for a hungry child. The entire question was about whether it should really be a crime and what justice is.

New poster. Yes, it is a crime that you steal organic blueberries and cute leggings for your baby. Give me a break.No one here was starving, just merely entitled. A thief is a thief. Plenty of people cope just fine in difficult circumstances without being an entitled thief.

I’m the person you are referring to and I never said what I did isn’t stealing. I was merely answering OP’s question about understanding why someone might shoplift. I explained why (that I felt so guilty spending money it superseded my guilt over buying things I couldn’t afford). I never said it was ok, just how I thought about it at the time, because I thought it might be useful to her in getting through this challenge with her DC.

Now, I will say this: I don’t think my shoplifting was okay but I also don’t think it was that bad. I probably stole a grand total of $50 worth of merchandise over the course of a year. What’s the worst thing YOU have ever done? Who did you hurt? Did you stop or are still doing it? Did you talk it through with a therapist to figure out why you were doing it do you could stop?

I doubt it. Go ahead and judge me— I know who I am and I’ve made my peace.