Gilbert B Norman wrote:
This phenomenon simply seems like one more offshoot of the pervasive lawlessness our society has faced during the COVID era. We've all certainly observed "70 in a 45", verbal abuse of public contact employees, and have learned of (hopefully not observed) the brazen burglaries confronting retail merchants.
One of these days, COVID will end (even if I fear Omicron will not be the last of the variants) and hopefully with it this societal lawlessness.
This has NOTHING to do with COVID. It was against the law to break into railcars before the illness, it's still just as illegal today. And if COVID ended this afternoon, it would still be prohibited the same.
What HAS changed is our society is attempting to deny or evade REALITY. Which can't be done - not by changing the names of things, not by ignoring events, not by trying to be more "caring" or whatever. The result is we have removed consequences for improper behavior. And thus there is no reason for people to obey the law.
Look, I think I'm a pretty good driver. I believe on a sunny day, with light traffic, I can safely go 80 mph on the Interstate. However, I know if I do, I'll get a ticket, pay a fine, pay higher insurance, and maybe lose my license. The consequences deter me from doing it. Let's say the only thing an officer could do was shake his finger at me and say "no-no". In THAT case, I might be quite willing to put up with it and drive 80.
There needs to be consequences for all crimes, including theft from trains, and those consequences need to be unhappy. We need to make the crooks wish they had never done the crime. And we need to make them want to avoid a future repeat. As long as crooks are given more sympathy and rights than their victims, they will just keep doing it over and over and over.
Does anybody truly believe that if COVID goes away, the thugs will magically stop looting containers?