NY Times columnist Farhad Manjoo has written a column about the rising rates of car thefts in cities across the country. In particular, the thefts involve two brands Kia and Hyundai. Why those brands? Because you don’t need a key to steal those cars, you can do it with a standard charging cable. As a result, there has been a wave of thefts which has prompted a number of cities including Baltimore, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Chicago to sue those manufacturers saying the cars are too easy to steal.

As Manjoo sees it, the thefts and related problems (car crashes, armed robbery sprees, etc.) are entirely the fault of the manufacturers for making these cars so easy to steal. But he notes, ruefully, that another culprit is getting some of the blame. If you’re guessing he’s talking about the thieves, you guessed wrong.

There’s a chance that Kia and Hyundai will escape some of the blame for these thefts because there’s a juicier target for politicians to go after: social media platforms, where the how-to videos have circulated.

Media accounts of the thefts often highlight TikTok’s role; one Insider story was headlined “Grand Theft TikTok.” In March, Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, held a news conference to discuss the city’s response to the rise in stolen cars. After pointing out the steps Hyundai and Kia have taken to prevent the thefts, he went after tech companies. “We don’t need social media to contribute to social disorder,” he said. The same month, Representative Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, told reporters, “We don’t need companies like TikTok playing an active role in facilitating these crimes and putting information on how-to videos for people who would misuse them.”

This strikes me as bizarre blame shifting. It’s Kia and Hyundai, not TikTok, that sold theft-prone cars. I’m not against tech companies moderating their platforms to curb the spread of potentially dangerous information. But you know what would be better? Making cars that can’t be stolen with a USB cable.

Not mentioned at all in these paragraphs or anywhere else in his column are the car thieves. All of the fault is placed on inanimate objects, i.e. the “theft-prone cars.” No responsibility is placed on the people driving this trend. This strikes me as pretty perfect encapsulation of everything that is wrong with progressive thinking on crime.

I think there’s a pretty clear reason why he’s leaving out the people responsible. Because the “Kia Boys,” as they’ve been described, are young teens, often black, who are stealing cars for fun and for social media cred. Contrary to what Manjoo claims, TikTok isn’t just providing dry information on how to steal the cars, it’s the platform where the “Kia Challenge” went viral. It’s where thieves post highlights of their joyrides in stolen cars to impress other kids.

I wrote about this back in May and from what I could discover, the trend really got going in Milwaukee where the thieves were first describe as Kia Boys because they were literally boys stealing Kias. They became the subject of local media reports and in May of 2022 a YouTuber made a viral video about them, talking to some of the Kia Boys and watching as they stole cars and drove dangerously around the neighborhood.

In this clip, they admit they started stealing the cars because it was trending on TikTok. Watch and then tell me the responsibility should primarily fall on the car manufacturers. What about the kids doing this? What about their parents who seem to be completely absent? What about TikTok for making this into a social media game and a competition? Even the older men in the neighborhood point out that there is no accountability for these kids even when they are caught. So what about the courts and judges who give them a pass? If the car companies deserve blame that should come after a long line of other people invovled.

I don’t think it’s an accident that Farhad Manjoo wrote an entire article about the “Kia Boys” without ever once mentioning the Kia Boys. He’d rather not mention that because it opens a can of worms that is much easier to ignore.

A surprising number of readers at the Times get it:

Laughable premise: the thing being stolen was too easily stolen therefore stealing it is somehow foreseeable and ok. Only on a weird society where laws are selectively enforced if at all would such a premise be affirmatively asserted as a cause of action in a court.

Another one:

This may be crazy, but why don’t we blame the people who stole the cars?

This guy is being sardonic but he’s basically right.

And while we’re at it, let’s sue Nordstrom, Neiman-Marcus, 7-11, CVS and all those othe merchants who make shoplifting so easy. What right do they have to tempt our innocent young men (and women) who would otherwise be in Sunday School? Time for the USG to step in with Delta force and take action against these evil merchants!

Manjoo will actually talk on the phone with his readers. I’m tempted to sign up for a call about this topic and see what he says.