not specific to shoplifting (traffic violations are much worse) but the general “fuck you, what are you going to do about it?” behavior that you see everywhere on a regular basis seems like a problem
It's less that he's nicked something - I've almost certainly seen someone desperate or a kid grab something & run and forgotten about it, because we all know that goes on - but the outright brazen nature of it, 'yeah I can do it, what're _you_ gonna fucking do about it'.
I think social media lets us see bad examples of it regularly, but I also think a lot of people learned from covid that rules are fake and some day you will die so YOLO.
My thesis is that Trump+George Floyd+COVID finally ended many people’s belief in the myths of American society. They were cracked by 9/11 & Iraq and the 2007 fin crisis, but 2016-2020 was a last straw for many.
i can meet you halfway, but i think a lot of people have deliberately made a decision not to give a fuck about anyone else under the cover of larger claims about principle
