Don't Steal This Book On "In Defense of Looting”

taibbi.substack.com ^ | 9-5-20 | Matt Taibbi

[dynachrome]

On Thursday, August 27th, the same day Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination, National Public Radio aired an interview with Vicky Osterweil, author of a book called In Defense of Looting.

The white trans daughter of a science professor, Osterweil told a credulous NPR interviewer that looting was justified because it “strikes at the heart of property, of whiteness and of the police,” and also “provides people with an imaginative sense of freedom and pleasure.” She added riots reveal how “without police and without state oppression, we can have things for free.”

I was so sure the Osterweil book was satire — a clever comic doing a Marxist Andy Kaufman routine — that I bought it. It’s not a joke! In Defense of Looting is supposed to be the woke generation’s answer to Steal This Book, another anarchist instructional published in an epic period of unrest. But the differences between the books are profound.

[dynachrome]

I say steal his book if you see it. After all, the bookstore has insurance, right? ("vickie" is a tranny)

[dynachrome]

ps. some bad language at the site.

[C210N]

Steal This Book....

Ah, brings back memories. Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Alan Ginsburg. LOL.

Back in the day, though, I admit I did steal it.

[b4me]

agreed - If he thinks it’s ok to steal, everyone should steal from Vicky boy.

[kaehurowing]

This is how we got Krystalnacht.

[dynachrome]

I wouldn’t bother to steal it unless I was out of toilet paper.

[Drew68]

In contrast, there’s little evidence the author of In Defense of Looting has ever been outside. Talking about her research methods, Osterweil writes, “I am not, myself, a trained historian with institutional access. As such, my methods have largely been to rely on secondary sources, online archives and videos, and the work of other historians…” In a strange passage buried in chapter seven, she confesses to a “personal aversion to violence,” lamenting a “refusal to attack property” that “does not lessen the degree to which I benefit from systems of domination.”

So this is a 288-page book written by a Very Online Person in support of the idea that other people should loot, riot, and burn things in the real world.

Style-wise, In Defense of Looting continues the impressive streak of the woke movement having yet to produce a single readable piece of literature.

LOL! Classic Taibbi, one of the few lefties that I'll give the time of day to.

[P-Marlowe]

If you steal the book, the author gets paid. Maybe you should just loot any store that sells it.

Capitalist pigs.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I was tempted, but chickened out.

[kaehurowing]

“If You Don’t Buy This Magazine We’ll Kill This Dog” (National Lampoon)

[Hulka]

Property is a White man thing? Better tell that to the Africans that sold their “brothers” into slavery and still practice slavery today.

[dynachrome]

Blm and pantifa may burn a bookstore, but they won’t steal books. Work boot stores are safe from looting, if not burning, also.

[Beowulf9]

California is due to have some blackouts they say. Good luck, liberal California business owners.

[Persevero]

Why should anyone pay for it?

[Beowulf9]

You know, this. Is the liberal philosophy and they apply the same idea to elections.

[C210N]

It was a kiosk-like book seller in Penn Station. Wintertime, so it just slipped inside my coat. Oooops.

[Truthoverpower]

Bible is very clear on theft

Bible is also very clear on coveting

Karma is very clear on attachment to material things being a trap

[sauropod]

Oh goody. I’ll buy two. /massive eyeroll

[unlearner]

In Defense of Hanging Marxists

[cyberstoic]

Steal?
How about “misplace”? Take the book and browse. Place it sideways behind some large books on history. Make sure it is not visible.