• LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    23 days ago

    Criminals have rights too. One could say, that as by law in every civilized country, committing a crime does not mean random rich fucks can do whatever they please with you and your life.

    And I for one do not particularly find some desperate single mom stealing to give something to her kid in a trailer park being exploited for views to be entertaining or in good taste, even if she is a thief.

    I’m not a thief, and I’m not a criminal, but I have far more in common with her than with out of touch rich fucks like that Mark guy.

    • ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social
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      22 days ago

      You’re giving package thieves too much credit. It’s straight up unethical to steal from your neighbour. I can defend stealing from a Walmart, but not another member of your community.

      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        22 days ago

        I’m not commenting on their ethics one way or the other, not because I think stealing from your fellow man is okay (it’s not), but because it’s not relevant.

        A criminal is still human and deserves to be treated as such, including certain rights and dignity. Theft is risky and it is hard and nobody’s stealing from porches because their life is good, think about it - why would you if you could just buy the thing?

        There’s no fundamental difference like some evil chemical that makes them do bad things, it’s just the reality they find themselves in at the time.

        There’s no reason that someone who does so out of whatever makes sense to them at the time should have their lives ruined forever for the revenue of some obnoxious online fuck. We all make mistakes.

        In Canada AFAIK, it is illegal to post online footage of porch pirates because despite however bad it may be, they’re still human beings with all the messy complexity that comes with it and thus a certain right to a degree of privacy. I believe this is a good thing.

        On a more personal note, I feel strongly about this, I am from Russia. I dodged the draft and escaped. One way authoritarians gain power is by depriving the prisoners of rights, because anyone can be made prisoner with enough vague laws on the books.

        It is important that we do not dehumanise criminals for at the very least this reason.

    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      It’s not “desperate single moms” that are stealing these things. These are often fairly organized groups that actually make their money by stealing people’s packages off of their porches and then reselling the items. And a few of them are just assholes looking to ruin somebody else’s day while making themselves a bit richer.

      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        22 days ago

        That may very well be, but the videos speak for themselves - there are no “organised groups” on display, mostly just clearly poor folks and maybe some opportunists.