Thoughtreview on Shopping Mall Hold Up

Reading the account of the shopping mall held up at gunpoint, it brings one thought to mind.

What the…

What went through these criminals minds as they planned this heist? How do they justify their actions? Do they have any thought for the traumatized people in the shop?

We can easily create the picture of this group of men gathering in some abandoned warehouse to plan their heist. Thirty-five men with different personalities meet up to plan a heist of singular mind. This in itself is a feat considering that they are all criminals with their own illusion of importance. Who would be the kingpin? Theirs is not a democracy. The strongest or the smartest is the ruler. The picture brings to mind the movie “Oceans Eleven.” These criminals however, are human beings, not fictitious characters. They are part of the human race even if their moral codes are vastly different from the laws of the world.

Because of their own morality, criminals can justify their actions. They do not believe they are doing anything wrong.  According to a professional shoplifter, there is nothing wrong with taking what you want, as long as nobody catches you. From this interview, we gathered that the thief thinks he or she can do as they please because the law does not have the power to stop them. The average person on the other hand will not steal because there is a morality linked to the law of the land that says it is wrong to steal. For the criminal there is no link between morality and law. The law is only a pain in the back. Anyone that breaks the law feels guilt. Think about it, it you hurt someone when they did nothing wrong, you feel guilt. The criminal does not have this guilt. Rather, this achievement increases their infamy.

When the heist was over, we can again see the picture of the group getting together with their loot. They open beers and cheer each other on a job well done. They laugh about the fear in the people’s faces. They joke about the man that wet his pants as they shoved a gun in his face. They feel no guilt. Where they should feel guilt, they boast and laugh. What they see as accomplishment will cause most people to drop their head in shame. The criminal mind broke away from guilt. What we experience as shame is the criminal’s joy. The best way to understand the breakaway from law without guilt is driving over the speed limit. We break the law but feel no guilt. In fact, it is just a pain in the back, especially when in a hurry. The criminal feels this way about the laws that stop him from doing what he wants to. We also laugh at the police officer that could not catch us as we drove past him. Are we that different from these criminals?

What makes the criminal an enemy to humanity is the disregard for the harm they do to their fellow human beings. Men like Ruben in the story of the hold up at the shopping center, will be scarred for life. Criminals steal our power and replace it with fear. They take our freedom and cause us to look over our shoulders. They destroy our trust and cause our world to turn in on itself. Crime destroys the power of humanities joint thought shield. It causes us to become individuals living alone on a planet full of brothers and sisters.