Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/20/chelsea-bombers-other-bombs.html
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Why are they thieves if they were looking into abandoned bags? Dumpster-divers maybe, but thieves?
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So the lesson is to put your bomb into a garbage bag. with some stinky garbage on top. I am reminded of the story from a garbage strike of the guy who gift-wrapped his garbage and put it out on the street in the knowledge that somebody would steal a gift-wrapped package.
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Actually, Cory is commenting on the regime of so-called “property ownership,” whereby people fall into two categories: homeowners, also known as Thieves of the Commons or just “thieves” for short, and homeless people.
ETA: /s
Because they were not looking out of idle curiosity. They were not looking for bombs, to keep the public safe. If you see a bag on the street and assume it’s abandoned and start checking it for benjamins, I would call you a thief too.
@HMSGoose, what? Do you know if any of these people were homeowners? If you did, would it be relevant? Or are you just raring for a nice debate on anarchism?
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In this case, I’d call them mere opportunists who inadvertently became agents of serendipity.
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I found a wallet and immediately opened it up so I could find the ID of the woman who owned it. I’m not sure why you’d think I was a thief, especially when I drove across town to return it to her. The thieves where the ones who pickpocketted it from her on the bus.
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Does it matter, what I think?
that’s a low blow.
Homeless dudes find backpacks in the garbage and suddenly they get labelled as thieves?
That’s shady. You put it in the garbage and it’s not something you want to keep. Don’t label desperate guys who do the right thing as “thieves.”
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Did they take the bomb home and keep it? If not, then they didn’t take anything that wasn’t theirs.
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If You See Something, Say Nothing.
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There are two sets of people - the first were thieves who took a suitcase sitting out. They were labeled as thieves.
The other set was some homeless guys who found a bag on a trash bin. They weren’t labeled as thieves.
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New election talking point: homeless people keep America safe, ergo it is good that there are homeless people and the problem need not be addressed unless you want the terrorists to win. Or something.
'Cause after all, people enjoy floods too!
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If you find a penny on the ground and pick it up are you a thief? If you find an abandoned bag you’re not a Thief for picking it up. Maybe they were looking for ID to help return it? Please don’t presume facts not in evidence!
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Just some goodweird-natured pseudo-anarchy strawman trolling on Cory’s phrasing, probably not really worth it. But I did think it was funny when @Dave_McCaig pointed it out…
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As a tender youth of 12 in a smallish town in Maine, my friend and I picked up a T-Square that had been left behind after the construction of a snack shack at the local middle school ball field (this was the middle of winter, about 6 months after construction had wrapped). On our walk home, 2 police cars swooped down and penned us in at an intersection. We were patted down and tossed in a cruiser, all the while other cops rolling by asking if the officers needed backup. We were booked, fingerprinted and told to return for sentencing.
When we came back to meeting the case worker, he apologized about the overzealous police, told us about the state’s new “finders keepers” law that basically said that if you pick up a quarter and don’t bring it to a police station, you can be charged. Then he sent us home.
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If you see something, steal something!
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Honestly?
No.
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If you found a wallet, dumped things in it you found useless then left with the wallet and didn’t turn it in, while it’s not the crime of the century, you’re still taking a wallet that doesn’t belong to you. These mystery gents found a bag, dumped the contents they apparently weren’t interested in and then took off with the bag.
