Internet Helps nicking Knickers and Nicknacks

Remember the good old days??

There's a certain girl ("What's her name?" "Can't tell ya!") who used to nick knickers. This could be a little disconcerting to those shopping with her. As in: "If you get caught they'll think I'm an accomplice!"

But back then, it was a phase. Childish rebellion? A bit of anti-social vengeance on adults? MAYBE it had to do with not having enough money for the items (or wanting to spend that money on something else)?

Fast-forward a decade or more, and there's mp3 files on the Internet. BLOGFATHERS and Swedish meatballs and Zinfarts happily do a variation on Robin Hood, with some giving away the stolen merchandise, and others demanding Paypal tips, getting free Rapidshare points, or cash "royalties" for each 100 downloads.

They say "it's sharing," and we say, "Yeah? Go into a store and do that."

And now?

The two worlds collide: we have Internet thieves coaching each other on stealing in the real world. They upload photos of what they've stolen and share the images (like others share porn images on Tumblr).

Go over to eBay, "the world's biggest fence," and there are grrrrrrls making a couple of hundred extra a week selling off their extra lipsticks and panties. And how about boosting some ink cartridges while you're at it? If you know how to remove the sensor tags you can sell that stuff at only a few dollars below Amazon price. That's a MIGHTY good return. The days of a pawnbroker or a record store owner offering you 10 cents on the dollar are OVER.

The Internet. Ebay. Tumblr. Wheee!

As usual, the parents and teachers would be the last to know.

They don't know students buy "cheat watches" on eBay, or what the latest drug is. And if Dad wasn't buying boner pills and Mom wasn't cheating on him on swinger websites, they wouldn't have known how the Internet can offer illegal drugs, and most anything else.

Oh, there's another Internet entirely for black market items? Even guns and prostitution? Wheee!

It takes a movie or two, or a TV sitcom maybe, to put a finger on the latest epidemic. Mom and Dad, maybe you got around to reading this story on the Internet a few days ago:

A few more excerpts:

And so it goes. No wonder Kurt Vonnegut was a depressed guy. He not only saw the brutality of World War 2 first hand, he saw that it didn't change with Korea or Vietnam and all the other skirmishes. He could see that technology would only make things worse.

What was the first thing that made the Internet popular? Free porn. Then free music. "Say, I gotta get on line and get in on this..." Never mind the irony of paying thousands of dollars for a computer to save $10 or $20 a month on record albums you don't really even want.

Now the Internet is loaded with lawlessness, bullying and appalling and soul-destroying pictures of inhumanity and violence. Here are teenage girls who will giggle and show you how to steal a computer out of a store and steal wi-fi and download free and...if you want, they'll even soil their stolen panties for you. But THOSE you have to PAY FOR on EBAY!"