Something Is Happening to America’s Moral Code

Imagine two young people laughing as they explain why stealing from supermarkets like Whole Foods is an act of resistance, and that “every big chain steals from workers and customers.” We're not talking about kids at the park; we're talking about guests on a New York Times podcast, including writer Jia Tolentino and streamer Hasan Piker, who go so far as to say, “I'd even steal cars if I could get away with it.” Today, in America, stealing is no longer just a sin or a crime: for a certain segment of the new left, it has become a kind of anarchist calisthenics, a moral exercise to be practiced in order to remain prepared against tyranny. This is the argument put forward by James C. Scott, who encouraged citizens—especially Germans, because of their grandparents' history—to break small rules from time to time, because the ability to rebel atrophies if you don't exercise it. But there is a twist: for many guests on these podcasts, stealing is not training for freedom, but a way to justify small, everyday acts of selfishness. The difference between those who truly fought—for example, the old Marxists who dressed like workers—and those who now strut around the studio in Ralph Lauren clothes is that the former were risking something. Today, though, people laugh about stealing organic avocados, and they talk about “micro-shoplifting” instead of shoplifting to make it less embarrassing. Yet Hasan Piker himself confesses that as a child, his father severely punished him for stealing from a friend, and that he would never be able to walk out of a restaurant without paying the bill; in fact, he would pay the bill himself if he saw someone try to do so. So, when it comes to real people, the moral code changes: you can only steal when the victim is a faceless “corporation.” Here comes the crucial point: the new trend is to hit only those targets that don't look us in the eye, while true civil disobedience—like that of Martin Luther King Jr., who called for breaking the law “openly, lovingly, and accepting the penalty”—has disappeared. No one wants to pay the price anymore; no one wants to take the risk. Courage has turned into cunning, and true collective action has been lost. One detail is particularly striking: in the very same America where theft is praised as an act of justice, communist China is cited as an example, forgetting that there, even a small act of disobedience is enough to land someone in jail. Yet those who espouse these ideas do not seem to realize the contradiction. One element missing from this discussion is historical memory: for two centuries, the left has worked to give dignity and power to workers, not to justify an individual shortcut. Yet today, petty transgression is confused with the fight for justice. Ultimately, the real question is: If stealing becomes just a way to feel alive without risking anything, what happens to our ability to confront true injustices? If morality is reduced to justifying petty theft, perhaps we are simply getting used to losing the moral fortitude we need in difficult times. If you think the difference between courage and cunning is relevant to you, you can indicate this on Lara Notes with I'm In: it's not a like; it's a way of saying that this idea is now part of your way of thinking. And when you tell this story to someone at dinner or at work, you can tag that person with Shared Offline: it's your way of saying that a real conversation took place between you. This was from The Atlantic, and it saved you 2 minutes of reading.