Heroes or zeros: you decide!

I'd like to introduce you to a character we call the outlaw hero.

Some popular culture in my day prominently featured outlaw heroes. Some of the things they did might have been slightly outside what the law would permit, but they at least had a strong sense of what was ethically right or wrong. They often fought against a corrupt official regime. In that universe, the outlaw heroes were the good guys, and the public officials they fought were the bad guys.

People sometimes do things that at first appear to be bad, but some say we just don't know the whole story. On April 7, 2020 – when we were deep in the throes of pandemic martial law – I saw a woman and teenage girl shoplift orange juice from Circle K. I wrote a little vignette about the event for The Last Word, and I put out a short text blast making light of this episode. But I received several replies on Facebook saying the shoplifters may have actually been not villains, but heroes. What if this was a family down on their luck – with their livelihoods destroyed - and they needed nourishment for themselves or a very ill family member? I know losses from shoplifting add up, but what if the teenager – who would have died without proper nutrition - someday becomes a great doctor who finds a cure for cancer?

I know there's a lot of "what ifs" about a lot of events. What if I grew up just a few miles away from where I did, placing me in a better school district? What if I never accidentally discovered WCLU? What if Ronald Reagan never got elected?

On the other hand, even if the shoplifters were suffering hard financial times, was Circle K really the right target? That's like if your boss doesn't pay you, so you go out and rob a bank. The wrong party is being punished.

Or is it? Are we thinking of Circle K as a person or a large corporation? Since it's the latter, is it part of the same system that has subjected the public to economic ruin? Is Circle K powerful enough that it could have helped prevent the collapse of our economy? In 2020, I was unaware that Circle K had been the defendant in at least 2 wage theft suits over the previous few years, but corporations in general commandeer much of our political and economic system.

Many Americans admired the gangsters of the 1930s, thinking they were just fighting the forces that caused the Great Depression. Actually, most of these gangsters were dangerous criminals who would gun down anyone who got in their way. But real outlaw heroes are not violent gangsters. They have standards that reflect solid ethical values.

Do small-time shoplifters and their ilk possess a sly, mischievous charm that makes them true freedom fighters who challenge the system's impenetrable corruption? Or are they just plain old criminals who are worthy of being shunned? You be the judge!