• MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      37 minutes ago

      I think that’s a positive. Americans, in the absence of law enforcement, will fight to defend themselves and their property (and vicariously, the property of others).

      Stopping thievery, is, unto itself, a just cause.

    • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      105
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      19 hours ago

      It’s a bit like learning that Russian cargo ships don’t get boarded by pirates because they’ll just start fucking shooting.

      Say what you want about Russians, but that kind of rules.

    • Windex007@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      59
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      19 hours ago

      I feel like these stories provide second-hand catharsis, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily a positive light.

        • hobovision@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          ·
          13 hours ago

          Humans work off of incentives and risk. If there’s essentially no consequences for pickpocketting and the incentive is quite high with expensive phones and cash potential, the balance is way out of proportion. A good chance of getting your shit rocked brings it a bit more in line.

          The possibility of getting shot or stabbed is way out of proportion the other way. That’s the problem with America. You can’t even give someone the bird when they nearly crash into you without fear of getting shot.

        • stray@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          13 hours ago

          I don’t agree with characterizing being robbed from as not a big deal, especially when it’s as physically intimate as pickpocketing.

          Maybe it’s no big deal to lose a bit of money if you’re rich, but I would be truly fucked to lose my phone or wallet, and more than inconvenienced to lose money or objects which would need to be replaced with money.

          But more than that is the sense of violation. What gives someone the right to come into my home or put hands on my body and take my personal things? It’s dehumanizing. It feels disgusting to be treated that way. Of course I’m going to defend myself.

          • Saleh@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            13
            ·
            13 hours ago

            Pickpocketing is non violent. It is theft.

            Robbery involves the use or threat of violence. It is a violent crime.

            The two should not be conflated in either direction. Also pickpocketing does not happen at peoples homes, but in public spaces. This is different from break-ins which are a more serious crime as they violate the private living spaces of people on top of violating their property rights.

            • isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 hour ago

              So they make the internet worse for poor people? I could get through 20k in a second, but someone with just an old laptop would take a few minutes, no?

              Couldn’t give less of a fuck, if someone steals from me they’re gonna face the consequences

            • 5in1k@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              14
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              10 hours ago

              My reponse would be extremely violent if I were to be pick pocketed that’s for sure. I would not even feel bad at their injuries.

              • AreaSIX @lemmy.zip
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                9
                ·
                8 hours ago

                And no one would feel bad when the police in a country with reasonable laws takes you to jail for assaulting someone because of petty theft.

                What is this Judge Dredd garbage people from the US often seem so proud of? That stand your ground thinking is only accepted in the violent bubble you guys seem to live in and accept as normal. It’s not normal anywhere else. This is why your police can kill unarmed people on video every week with zero consequences, and with no one batting an eye. Even in the most repressive societies, the security forces have the good sense of killing people in secret, not on video every week. This level of violence is not normal, and you as a regular person don’t benefit by internalizing it as your personal life philosophy.

                • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 hour ago

                  Your attempt at the high road is hilariously pathetic and ignorant to the world.

                  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    36 minutes ago

                    Your attempt to act like a big man who will always win in a fight and not end up dead yourself trying to protect your pittance of property is hilariously pathetic and ignorant to the world.

                • 5in1k@lemmy.zip
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  7
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  5 hours ago

                  You weren’t raised by wolves. You wouldn’t get it.

                  Edit* Found and read the article, it never said the Americans beating up the pickpockets got charged with anything. Shit one had fake elctric wallets to shock the shit out of thieves and only got em confiscated. Seems to me more beat downs would be welcome by the French police of pick pockets. Unless they’re on the take.

            • Velypso@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              10
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              edit-2
              12 hours ago

              Pickpocketing is robbery, my guy.

              Just because it is done stealthily doesn’t mean i wasn’t robbed of my goods

              • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                3 hours ago

                I think you’re mixing up the words “theft” and “robbery”. Robbery always specifically indicates violence.

              • Saleh@feddit.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                9
                arrow-down
                5
                ·
                12 hours ago

                Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim’s pocket without them noticing the theft at the time.

                Robbery[a] is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear; that is, it is a larceny or theft accomplished by an assault.[2] Precise definitions of the offence may vary between jurisdictions. Robbery is differentiated from other forms of theft (such as burglary, shoplifting, pickpocketing, or car theft) by its inherently violent nature (a violent crime); whereas many lesser forms of theft are punished as misdemeanors, robbery is always a felony in jurisdictions that distinguish between the two.

                • Velypso@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  13
                  arrow-down
                  5
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  12 hours ago

                  Yeah let’s get dragged into semantics.

                  Does violence only happen in physical form? Because the time I was pickpocketed left me paranoid for years. The violence inflicted upon me didn’t leave me physically hurting, you’re definitely correct there.

                  It left me emotionally fucked for years.

                  • Saleh@feddit.org
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    6
                    arrow-down
                    5
                    ·
                    8 hours ago

                    Precise definitions are important in law. Someone threatening or using physical violence is a more severe crime. Conflating the two is detrimental to everyone.

        • AlexLost@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          36
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          18 hours ago

          Yes, but in America it is acceptable to shoot an unarmed teenager running away for stealing a candy bar, so not exactly preaching to the choir here

          • Soup@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            6 hours ago

            Hell, there’s at least one story of a black teenager being shot because he rang someone’s doorbell to ask for help.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      19 hours ago

      I interpreted it as a negative, like “Americans are violent,” heh.

      Is it?

      I sympathize with the complex though.

      • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        17 hours ago

        There’s a significant percentage of Americans that wouldn’t take that as a negative. As in, aren’t just violent, but are proud of being violent and consider it to be a positive quality. Not all of us, but a fair few. Hence you get things like some gun people fantasizing about having someone break in to their house so that they have a justification to shoot someone and feel righteous about it.

      • mocheeze@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        28
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        19 hours ago

        We have a hyper sense of justice instilled in us from a young age. It’s like the basis of our country (or so we’re taught).

        • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          9 hours ago

          So like … where is that righteous violence right now? What’s currently happening in the US is way worse than pickpocketing.

        • xkbx@startrek.website
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          66
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          19 hours ago

          I’d say it’s more about retribution. There’s a craving for punishment against perceived wrongs.

          • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            26
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            19 hours ago

            There’s nothing perceived about someone snatching my wallet. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

            • Windex007@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              22
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              18 hours ago

              I get it, but it has to be obvious how quickly this logic can spiral, though.

              If I come around a corner and find you putting the boots to someone begging you to stop, you’re getting smoked by the biggest thing I can find. I don’t know the context. Violence to stop violence is measured.

              Being wronged isn’t a carte blanche. As soon as you introduce violence, suddenly violence actually becomes the measured response against YOU.

              • isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 hour ago

                Being wronged isn’t a carte blanche. As soon as you introduce violence, suddenly violence actually becomes the measured response against YOU.

                am i supposed to ask the robber nicely to give me my stuff back?

                • Windex007@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  13 minutes ago

                  I mean, it’s a reasonable place to start at the very least?

                  We’re talking about pickpockets, right?

                  Someone tried to pickpocket me in Europe on the train. I blocked the door and, despite having no common language, I left them know I was aware they had taken my stuff. I’m pretty sure they understood it was my intention to get it back and that was going to be a hassle for everyone.

                  They just handed it back and left.

                  Should I have just started swinging?

            • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              17
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              19 hours ago

              So committing a crime yourself, assault (and/or assault with a deadly weapon), in response to the first crime, pickpocketing, is suddenly totes okay then? I don’t get it. Seems like retributive extrajudicial punishment to me. Just because it’s a real thing that happened and not just perceived doesn’t suddenly absolve you of committing violent crime in return. If you hospitalize the pickpocket and give them a lifelong limp, you’ve given them far more severe and retributive punishment than just taking their wallet in return.

              I mean, who knew, maybe this is why we have laws and shit.

              • burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                5
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                7 hours ago

                It’s not a crime. You can use force to reclaim stolen property. Legally, it gets ‘interesting’ when you involve a weapon in your use of force, because some areas allow the threat of deadly force far before it can actually be used and you’re probably going to expose yourself to legal avenues if the police don’t like you when they show up. But simply kicking someone’s ass after they stole from you? Perfectly permissible.

                If you want to talk about the morality of it, that’s a different conversation.

              • cole@lemdro.id
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                12
                arrow-down
                5
                ·
                edit-2
                14 hours ago

                If the idea is that I can’t defend my own property then I understand why pickpocketing is so rampant elsewhere.

                I don’t want to kill anybody, but I’m not gonna just hand it over with a smile on my face.

                • 5in1k@lemmy.zip
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  13
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  10 hours ago

                  Yeah I feel like I am in crazy town. If you don’t want your ass kicked keep your hands out of my pocket. There will be consequences and they will be lopsided.

                  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    50 minutes ago

                    I think it’s hilarious that Americans think they will always win every fight. Everyone the hero of their own stupid Judge Dredd story right up until they get stabbed and left to die in an alley by the thief.

                    And I wonder how many of the people promoting this kind of thought say they’re against people like Trump, yet this kind of thinking exactly like that of Trump and his ilk.

                    Grow the fuck up, dude. You can still join the civilized world anytime you want because they believe people can grow and change and should have the opportunity to do so instead of being crippled by some fuckwit who is angry about their wallet.

                • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  13 hours ago

                  You don’t have to want to kill anybody, but it’s still a crime to violently assault someone. Further, you can still kill someone without trying, say you punch him once and he goes lights out and his head hits the concrete so hard it kills him. Doesn’t matter that you didn’t want to, you just killed someone.

                  Now if you used something defensive like pepper spray so you can escape with your wallet? That’s a different story. There’s a wide gap between protecting your property and assaulting someone.

                  • cole@lemdro.id
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    7
                    ·
                    13 hours ago

                    I didn’t say I want to assault anybody. But if someone tries to take my wallet, would I push them off and move away swiftly? Yes absolutely.

                    I guess to me, that seems rather defensive. I don’t want to engage any more than I have to to extricate myself from the situation