Would you steal from Whole Foods to make a statement?
Some Democrats answer that question with a resounding yes, but it leads one to wonder what happens to a society when the most basic forms of morality are at stake.
In a recent episode of The New York Times podcast “The Opinions,” leftist streamer Hasan Piker and New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino joined Times opinion editor Nadja Spiegelman to discuss a new kind of public expression — “Why petty theft might be the new political protest.”
The conversation began with a quick exercise on their moral code, in which Spiegelman asked questions such as “Would you dine and dash from your local diner?” and “Would you steal a book from the library?”
To these, Piker and Tolentino both responded “No.”
When asked, “Would you steal from the Louvre?” Piker said he thinks it’s “cool,” and that “we’ve got to get back to cool crimes like that: bank robberies, stealing priceless artifacts, things of that nature.”
From there, the conversation pivoted to the kind of growing socialist rhetoric where actions that used to be widely considered wrong are now justifiable: “Because the rich don’t play by the rules, so why should I?”
When Spiegelman asked, “Would you steal from Whole Foods?” the duo was almost gleeful in declaring that they had no reservations about doing so.
Tolentino proudly said she would, and admitted she regularly had, “I think that stealing from a big-box store — I’ll just state my platform — it’s neither very significant as a moral wrong, … But I didn’t feel bad about it at all,” she added. This is the same Tolentino who owns a $2 million house in Brooklyn.
Piker agreed, declaring he is “pro stealing from big corporations, because they steal quite a bit more from their own workers.” His defense is that stores already inflate prices with inevitable robbery in mind and still “end up having increased profit margins.”
The anti-capitalist who praises Hamas and believes America deserved 9/11 is also a millionaire who owns a nearly $3 million house in Los Angeles.
Though Piker admitted he himself does not steal, he added, “if someone needs the food, they should absolutely steal it.”
But when pressed whether the same mindset would apply to a Zohran Mamdani-run, city-owned grocery store with lower prices, apparently, the sentiment is markedly different.
“No, I would not, because I feel like that’s taxpayer-funded, it’s union labor, and the prices are also adjusted regardless,” Piker admitted.
Spiegelman further questioned the root of the new protest — anger at the rich. “What I’m seeing on TikTok and social media is people saying that they’re stealing from Whole Foods not just for the thrill of it, but out of a feeling of anger and moral justification.”
“I feel part of what I’m seeing around me is that people feel like the laws are immoral. The rich don’t play by the rules. We live in a society where there are billionaires; where the top 1% holds 32% of the net worth and the bottom 50% holds 2.5%.”
“So, at some point, if the laws don’t feel moral, do you start to question your own sense of having to abide by them?” Spiegelman asked.
To which Tolentino responded, “Of course.”
