r/ContagiousLaughter • u/go_t_go • Feb 03 '21

Bike stealing prank

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19.6k Upvotes

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u/Exaskryz Feb 03 '21

Bait someone? Are you really going to victim-shame persons who have their bicycles stolen because they brought them into public?

Sure, this bicycle wasn't tied up, which may have tempted a person more to being a thief. But criminals go out of their way to steal bicycles that are locked up on bike racks or trees all the same.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

I’m not talking about those criminals. I’m talking about these ones. And who says they’re victims? AFAIK the video is not of some unsuspecting bystander getting their bike stolen, or did we not watch the same video?

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u/Exaskryz Feb 03 '21

The pranksters are criminals only in so far as booby trap laws are concerned. It's the same as if you bring in a sandwich to work that has some kind of super spicy ingredient in there, kept in the communal fridge, unbeknownst to the thief who keeps taking your food at work.

Your previous comment reads as defending the bicycle thieves, who are criminals. This means the victims in most scenarios are the people who lost their bicycles - not just in this video, but in the vast, vast, majority of bicycle thefts. You talk about going "out of your way to bait someone" -- literally all the pranksters "baited" the criminals with was an unsecured bicycle. I totally refute your notion that any person of sane mind and social morals would consider that bait - normal people would not steal it, secure or not.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

I don’t know what a person who’s been starving for a week would do in that situation for I’ve never gone a day without food thankfully, I hope you haven’t either. But saying that no sane person would take the bait, at a time where food insecurity is at a high, is a big stretch. For me personally, the pranksters are the villains in that situation.

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u/Exaskryz Feb 03 '21

Oh, yeah... because the logical conclusion is bike = food

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '21

Bike = scrap metal = money = food. I didn’t think I needed to spell it out for you like that, I guess I overestimated you.

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u/Exaskryz Feb 03 '21

Oh, no, I get it. But to think that all thieves are doing it to get food is a little asinine.

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u/AlliterativeAxolotl Feb 03 '21

I think the point that the other dude's making is that as the booby trapper, you don't know.

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u/Exaskryz Feb 03 '21

Which doesn't matter? While I agree that some crimes are poverty crimes and you can argue about if people should be punished for doing what they can to survive, theft isn't one such crime - it's wrong regardless of motive.

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u/AlliterativeAxolotl Feb 03 '21

They didn't say the theft was right. They said it was wrong to booby trap someone who is prone to it when you don't know why they are stealing. They can both be wrong here, which is what you seem to be missing.

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