Generally Being Bad

Week Three of "Being Bad" (Ooh it's all getting exciting now).

OK, we watched Family Guy. Jealous? I would be. But that's beside the point. There was meaning behind this ten minute extract. In this episode Lois resorts to shop-lifting. Not simply because she can't afford the item she wants but for some reason it seems to get her almost sexually aroused.

"I feel so alive!" she exclaims at one point.

Anyway, several questions were put to us after watching the clip:

Is shoplifting different to any other kind of theft?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No, it isn't.

Yeah...I probably should elaborate.

Theft in general is never a good thing. The idea that someone steals some sort of possession that does not belong to them is bound to put a downer on people. I mean, imagine if it was your George Foreman Grill or your Spongebob DVD.

But with shoplifting you are essentially taking things that don't belong to any one person. In short: it's a victimless crime. Much like money laundering or midget porn. So people can rest easy knowing that the item they have stolen doesn't effect any one person directly.

Fuckin' A I'm awesome!

Some basic stats about shoplifting

According to this BBC article in 2005 about 700,000 people in Britain admitted to shoplifting. Of those though, 2% said it was accidental and promptly returned the goods, 6% claimed it was also an accident but didn't return the stolen items (Hmmmm "accidental" you say...?) and only 1% admitted to pre-meditated shoplifting (HIGH FIVE!)

Why do people who can afford things shoplift anyway?

Well for some people, it gives them a fucking huge stiffy.

The PG version of that above sentence reads: It excites people and makes them feel alive.

Why people do it is subjective. But the obvious answer to this question is that if the opportunity arises for one to steal something chances are most people will take that chance. With on-the-spot fines / punishments being carried out it seems that shoplifting has a more lenient attitude. So have at that George summer blouse and those bottles of Irish Knights!

Another reason people do it is they could see it as a form of anarchy. To be honest I have yet to come across any scenario whereby a young juvenile has dashed out of a local Tesco supermarket with a bottle of gin cradled under their bomber jacket screaming at the top of their lungs "Down with the establishment!"

I think the whole anarchy side of shop-lifting is a ploy. Face it, you wanna get wasted on cider and copydex that you just couldn't be arsed to pay for...