Attempting to Justify Stealing by Calling it Social Justice

Recently, I read an article at Business Insider that was troubling. The article is about people justifying theft in the name of social justice.

The article was titled, “It’s not just setting Teslas on fire. Now irate Americans are shoplifting from Whole Foods.” What struck me was how this article opened.

“Lee insists he’s “famously” a very good Catholic. He’s a moral person – his mother raised him right.”
The article then continues. “And by his internal calculation, it’s OK to shoplift from Whole Foods. Why? Because of Jeff Bezos.”

From the start of the article, the people interviewed by the writer are trying to justify theft as acceptable. However, there is another obvious problem. The author writes, “by his internal calculation” Lee believes it is okay steel from Jeff Bezos because he wants to believe it is okay. No prayer or input from God on this one.

Ironically, the person named Lee likely does, deep down, know that what he is doing is wrong. The article further states, “Lee has weighed the ethics of what he’s doing. At one point, the guilt got to be so much that he confessed his misdeeds to his mother.”

The article continues explaining that, “Once he explained his reasoning – Amazon’s market power, Bezos’ wealth, what the billionaire has done at The Washington Post – she [his mother] came around.”

This sounds like a sinner trying to cloak his misdeeds in a mantle of virtue as a way to justify his sins. And his mother bought into the fallacy. But Confessing to one’s mother does not absolve one’s sin. Perhaps Lee should have sought out the Sacrament of Confession and sought reconciliation with a priest instead of false affirmation.

Rationalizing Sin

When reading the 10 Commandments in either Exodus 20 or Leviticus 19, the seventh commandment is very clear. “You shall not steal.” There are no footnotes giving exceptions to stealing from billionaires.

Be that as it may, many in today’s society are coming to believe that stealing is a form of protest and activism. Mind you, this is not stealing out of a need to avoid starvation. This is stealing to settle some perceived grievance.

So today it seems stealing is done in the name of social justice. However, if you have to put an adjective in front of justice, are you really interested in justice?

In this case, the grievance appears to be the owner’s wealth.

More than one commandment comes to mind here. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” How often are bitter people trying to conceal envy in righteousness?
One must remember that those with wealth also have problems. “For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25).

This goes for us as well as the owner of Amazon.com. We may not be anywhere near as rich. However, when comparing our wealth to most of those who lived during Christ’s time on earth, we have wealth unimagined.

A Catholic Alternative

Lee, from the Business Insider article, stated that he felt justified stealing from Whole Foods. His reason was because of Amazon’s market power, Bezos’ wealth, and what the billionaire has done at The Washington Post.

With a just a little thought, one should realize that Jeff Bezos became wealthy by selling things to other people. Other people actually made him wealthy.

He started packing books on his knees for shipment to his customers. After he built up some profit, he purchased packing tables to save wear and tear on his knees and those of his fellow employees. Fast forward 30 years to today, Amazon.com has grown to be one of the largest companies in the world through billions of freely willed transactions. No one forced customers, people like you and me, to buy from Amazon.

If one does not like the idea of others accumulating wealth by selling merchandise, the alternative is simple. Don’t buy from them. If you are buying from them, stop.

No one is required or forced to buy from a Bezos-owned company. There are merchants other than Amazon.com. There are also grocery stores other than Whole Foods. And there are also newspapers other than The Washington Post.

Of course, buying from other merchants may cost more and be less convenient. But you won’t be committing the sin of stealing.

Then again, maybe Lee actually does want to steal stuff; he just doesn’t want to feel guilty about it.