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Saturday, February 14, 2026

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OpinionLetters to the EditorLet them eat handbags

Let them eat handbags

Can someone please explain to me why the stealing of mere symbols of social goodness (i.e., social status) is somehow worse than the stealing of actual goodness.

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I find it highly ironic that the stealing of designer handbags and other luxury items is met with such intense public outrage and official indignation, when the stealing of actually physically essential and justly earned resources, like the wages of service workers, is met with all but indifference and near silence in the media.

Louis Vitton handbag. Wikimedia Commons image.

Can someone please explain to me why the stealing of mere symbols of social goodness (i.e., social status) is somehow worse than the stealing of actual goodness (wages earned in exchange for service)? It seems to me the stealing of actual goodness from those who sacrifice their own well-being on our behalf during such difficult times is far more reprehensible than running off with pretty little things, little symbols of a sort of “goodness” that are actually rather questionable in value.

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