Will of steal
The assumption is always that almost everyone believes sincerely that she is doing the right thing, however circumvent the process of rationalization might be. So, of course, I've spent some time since last night pondering the reasoning behind the thefts I've encountered of late. Why do people steal from one another in first world countries? Are they just dicks?
The most obvious reason that comes to mind would be hunger or any other physical need that required theft for survival. But the people who've tried to fraudulently charge my credit cards in the past(and it's happened on multiple occasions) didn't exactly do it at the supermarket. You can't eat a smartphone, and hacking someone else's Apple ID can't really provide basic necessities of any kind.
A thief might believe that he is stealing back something that is rightfully his or to which the victim has no legitimate claim(think Robin Hood), but that would not seem to justify targeting random tourists. We generally have little to no direct involvement in the political or economic woes of the countries we visit on holiday. Some tourists are total jerks, of course, but a stealthy cutpurse doesn't usually interact with his marks enough to select for the assholes.
Picking pockets might appear to be easy money compared to holding down a steady job, but there's always the threat of getting caught, and avoiding that takes more skill than a lot of perfectly legal occupations. It also requires a time investment with completely uncertain returns.
How many people are actually afflicted with kleptomania? It has a lifetime prevalence of about 0.6% or so. That's a lot, but not enough to explain away most of the robberies that occur. Maybe some of these folks are in despair, thinking that they'll never earn the life they want by working inside the system, but what standard of living do most professional thieves ever achieve, really?
So is it just a "that person has what I want right now, and I don't want to bother with earning it myself so..." kind of mentality that motivates pickpockets? Given that most of us find a way to think we're the "good guys" no matter what we're mixed up in, that seems like an oversimplification at best, and as unlikely as any of the other rationales. It's just not a thought process that I can relate to(as far as I know). If someone explained it from an insider's point of view, it might make sense to me; but, with my limited perspective, I can't seem to figure it out.
