Opalmarie, I concede your point that retail theft hurts commissioned employees along with the company as a whole; perhaps rather than jail, Kevahn's punishment ought to be paying back those employees for their losses. But expressing a certain sympathy for the guy, and a certain antipathy for upscale retailers, hardly constitutes a blanket "fuck you" to their employees, or an elevation of Kevahn to hero status, as you seem to be claiming.

And do you all really read my comment as some kind of bitching that we all deserve to own Gucci or something? I mean, seriously? At the risk of belaboring the point, I'm bitching about the fact that the way things are currently set up, a lot of people will never be able to afford "the good things in life." There's a lot of disagreement about what those are, of course - in Kevahn's case they happen to literally include Gucci. That may be materialistic, it may be pathetic, but it's where he finds beauty in the world, and I'm not gonna try to take it away from him. If it's actually "criminal" or "insane" on my part to consider his desires human and worthy of empathy, and to hope he can eventually find some way to fulfill them more legitimately, then I guess I'm off to hang out with the rest of the sociopaths. No worries, though - I'm sure it's nothing that a nice long stint in therapy couldn't cure.

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Lying = dishonesty and concealment. Sure, he admitted it later, but he only came clean because he was CAUGHT. That doesn't negate his prior actions, as you seem to think. And yes, lying by omission is STILL lying... I'm pretty sure he didn't announce to the sales staff that he was going to jack their stuff.

Cheating = taking a reward that you neither worked for nor deserve to have. I actually have bought one thing from Gucci - I got my boyfriend a wallet for his birthday/Christmas present, and I worked my fucking ASS off to save up that money. Taking it without paying never crossed my mind, not even for a second. Knowing that Kevahn did does upset me very much, but definitely not because of your "class rage."

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All right, then: I think you're very much misreading the substance of what I've said. I haven't argued that Kevahn shouldn't be punished, or praised him as a wholly admirable person, or said that he should be permitted to continue stealing, or advocated the mass donation of Chanel products to poor people as a means of redressing class inequality. I only said that in the grand scheme of socioeconomic evils that people commit against one another, his offense isn't one of the greater ones, and that there is a certain poetic justice in a poor kid stealing things meant for rich people. Opalmarie rightly pointed out an important way in which Kevahn's thefts did harm others, which I acknowledged.

My original comment was inspired by irritation at the number of previous commenters who seemed comfortable writing Kevahn off as merely some "sick" kid with a mental disorder or "addictive personality" (which of course they could accurately diagnose from afar), or alternatively as some soulless victim of materialism who therefore has no values. Both those views seemed simplistic and patronizing to me, especially when divorced from all socioeconomic context, and what I wrote was intended as a counterpoint to those earlier comments.

Likewise, if you stole a bunch of Harleys to forward your aspiring cycling career and got caught, I wouldn't stand in the way of your being punished. But if motorcycle gear was the only thing you stole, and if other evidence suggested you were indeed obsessed with all things motorcycling-related, then yeah, I might well consider that an indication of a deep interest that, given a more appropriate outlet, ought to be encouraged once you'd paid off your debt to society. And part of me would probably admire your determination and sheer gall, as well. You'd probably have lots of detractors, given the fact that motorcycle racing is dangerous, destroys expensive property, and just generally is something that many sensible middle-class people wouldn't want to do; I wouldn't want to do it myself. But I also would try not to assume that these factors meant your interest in it was bullshit or that you and your values were thereby worthless; as with Kevahn, I would not try to take that interest away from you. You didn't really think I meant that no one should try to confiscate Kevahn's stolen Gucci goods from him, did you?

You are awfully stringent about what constitutes lying - if lies of omission were punishable offenses, most of us would be doomed. However, I don't think you're stringent enough about language. Lying, cheating and stealing may have a common element of dishonesty, but they're hardly interchangeable, either as acts or as concepts.

Finally, you're welcome to put "class rage" in dismissive quotes if you think mine is unjustified or ridiculous - though how can you know for sure? - but that shit is real, and ought to be acknowledged as such.

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He was diagnosed with a conduct disorder. I did Gang deterrence for 2 years and was a counselor for 5 years after that. Conduct Disorder is what shrinks will label kids with when they don't have the time to

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His status and the way he's view are obsessive and compulsive. Look at how he wraps up the interview. He knows when the urge hits for him to look good it means he's going to end back up in jail. There's no choice there, it's a fatalist mind set. He's saying he has no control over it and that it's predetermined.

I don't care if he's in jail, I'm not excusing it, he's one of those quirky little guys that will always be in jail because of the mental health system like the guy in NY that's been lock up for posing as a train engineer and taking a train passengers and all.Or the other guy in FL posing as a bus driver and stealing a bus. You (don't) care because he's stealing expensive items and not soup and hoodies from Walmart. That to me is probably his IQ presenting itself since he already sees that he has to steal and will end up in jail anyway.

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Not that stealing's ok. But it irks me that the rich shits I know are so much better off just because they happened to get born in the rich-ass suburbs to white parents who taught them how to be neurotic in a socially acceptable/productive way.

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And how to steal in a way that doesn't land them in jail: Cheating on your taxes, lying about your income, etc. Why shoplift if you can buy something and deduct something as a "business expense" at the end of the year? Or a charity expense?

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I find myself wondering if it is a status thing in terms of having a way of proclaiming that you fit in sort of silently.

But then again I know it is an issue in poorer areas, too. People prefer to wear known labels/brands to wearing no label stuff which can be expensive but also can be cheap junk.

For me the income threshhold for buying labels is much higher than it has been with some of my black friends especially when I worked in the corporate world. One of my black friends, in fact, was instrumental in my own upgrading my wardrobe in the corporate environment. In that context is was an issue of self-respect.

Maybe it's an issue of self-respect in each context.

Nowdays, though, the little things that everyone used to consider as niceties are becoming necessities with a larger segment of young people of any race or ethnicity. Things that used to largely be status symbols such as cell phones, manicures, expensive hair processes and of course designer label clothing and accessories now seem more to be harder to live without.

So...this is a clumsy statement. I do see what you mean about forgoing status items to save money for future goals. But so many people are failing to do so. Maybe with the economy in the tank this will change, but I'm not sure.

If you read this and my point is completely muddled, forgive me and maybe PM me if you are past wanting to respond here. 'Cause I'm trying to get somewhere with what you have said I just can't quite find the words.

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You don't sound screwed, you sound remorseful. And you are intelligent and self aware enough to know what the root of your insecurity was. Good luck in court!

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But he needed the lavender patent-leather Pradas to feed his starving family!

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Also Tobias was the security guard.

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