In the Absence of Money

In the absence of money, resources must be acquired regardless of the means. You find yourself doing things that all decent people untested by true misfortune would never do: steal, hustle and/or beg. Over time I comfortably learned to do all three, but the one discipline that burdens a person with ambivalence is theft. After months and months of arduous turmoil that ranged from living on the streets to hospitalizations, I find myself wild and hardened, but living “in doors” like other people in conventional society.
In these more leisurely (non-criminal) days, I took the time to scour the internet for various views on theft, and that is when I discovered The Art of Shoplifting. It is an interesting document because it provides a clearly partisan, yet passionately honest consideration regarding the act of shoplifting. It claimed that shoplifting is a simple act of self empowerment for the ordinarily powerless individual struggling through capitalist society.
I was shocked to discover that the authors of this publication had been prosecuted under Australian Law for its very publication! I was even more shocked to discover that not only was the online document censorable and subject to Beijing-style oversight, because its content was said to be subversive and dangerous for the society, but even accessing the document and consuming its information was a serious offence in some parts of Western Australia. The case itself was thrown out under the jurisdiction of Sydneys laws.
As a formerly homeless man in body, and still one in spirit, I can say that the information reminded me of the darker things one’s circumstances necessitate. After all, threatening a man with arrest and jail (where its warm and meals, healthcare, and a bed are available) is not punishment to the truly wretched. It’s a holiday promise.
Discussing internet censorship and its possible implications across the globe is an important undertaking. Through my art, design and fashion studio, The Dopamine Clinic, I have endeavored to raise the question to light in our own special way.
We have created a signature style, handmade photomontage “artbook” to celebrate this clever and brilliantly written manifesto in style. It invites anyone who is civic minded and curious about a very obvious aspect of moral philosophy to question the ethics of theft (not the methodology) espoused upon in the Art of Shoplifting. The book is also a gesture of solidarity with the persons prosecuted for posting their opinions, as well as those prosecuted for reading them.