Stealing fruit won’t fix the system

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Jia Tolentino is a prominent Toronto-born writer and thinker, a staff writer with The New Yorker who has published a bestselling book – but is now perhaps best known as a woman who steals lemons from Whole Foods.

The revelation came in a New York Times podcast about “microlooting” – a term proposed by host Nadja Spiegelman to describe the theft of small things from big corporations that people feel justified in doing.

The podcast – titled “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” – features two guests, Ms. Tolentino and controversial streamer/thinker Hasan Piker.

The problematic conversation begins with a casual question-and-answer session exploring the morals of the guests, including: would you steal from Whole Foods?

This is when Ms. Tolentino admits to – no, more like brags about – stealing from the store “on several occasions,” including five-finger-discounting lemons when she was shopping for a woman in need.

“I didn’t feel bad about it at all,” Ms. Tolentino asserts. She adds, “this is not a big deal.”

To be clear, her theft was not necessitated by financial constraints, nor was it an overtly political act, but rather one of convenience. If she has already gone through the checkout and – damn! – realizes she has forgotten the lemons, then she can’t be bothered to line up and check out all over again. She does not explain how this has occurred more than once, specifically with lemons.

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Mr. Piker, while he does not personally shoplift, certainly cheers it on. “I’m pro stealing from big corporations because they steal quite a bit more from workers.” That’s what Whole Foods gets, he essentially argues, for introducing automated checkouts and robbing cashiers of their jobs. He also assures Ms. Tolentino “the lemons that you stole are factored into the bottom line.”

If that’s so, does that make it right? And if so (it is not so, not right), wouldn’t it be more appropriate for the lemons to be stolen by someone who actually can’t afford them? Someone unlike Ms. Tolentino, who no doubt makes a fairly good salary writing for the influential Condé Nast publication that employs her?

Also, try being a Black man stealing fruit from Whole Foods. Just see where that lands you. (Please do not try this.)

The conversation progresses to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024, and questions around whether it’s okay to murder someone whose company has taken part in what both guests call “social murder.”

While the two deem actual murder a step too far, Mr. Piker does call the fallout from Mr. Thompson’s killing “fascinating” and declares it an “egregious” missed opportunity to effect some actual change to the system.

“If the laws don’t feel moral, do you start to question your own sense of having to abide by them?” the interviewer asks at one point.

“Of course,” Ms. Tolentino says. A right-thinking person would add one word to that: not. Of course not.

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Okay, if you’re in Nazi Germany and the law says turn in your neighbour who is part of the resistance – yes, fair. Do not obey that law.

But stealing citrus fruit?

The irritation of this giggle-fest aside, this embarrassment of a conversation, subtitled “why petty theft might be the new political protest,” aims to tap into the anger thrumming through society at this moment. This frustration is real for so many of us 99-per-centers. We are diligent at life – we work hard, pay our taxes, play by the rules – and yet we are struggling to afford the basics, like a tank of gas, a phone plan, fresh fruit and vegetables. It is enough to make you scream. So, scream. But steal?

If you are furious with the billionaire Jeff Bezos – whose ickiness includes cozying up to Donald Trump and overseeing the downfall of the once-great Washington Post – and want to protest Whole Foods, which was acquired by Mr. Bezos’s Amazon, don’t shoplift from the store. Just don’t shop at the store.

Or cancel your Washington Post subscription. Or, especially, refuse to buy stuff on Amazon.

And sure, be loud about it. Go on a podcast to suggest ways to fight The Man. Offer an alternative to this broken system. Because the system is broken. The U.S. healthcare system, in particular.

But ignoring the basic moral code of the system as it stands won’t fix it. Mr. Piker advocates for “full chaos.” Civil disobedience – stopping ICE from arresting your neighbours at your kid’s school – is laudable and necessary. But this kind of petty anarchy is ineffective, silly and wrong. And it won’t make your lemons any cheaper.