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Teen Vogue’s recent article on abolishing private property is utterly wrongheaded. The columnist has no concept of basic economic principles.

Envy used to be one of the deadly sins. But it is no longer a sin, it’s a virtue. And it’s no longer called envy. It’s now called “social justice”.

Teen Vogue featured an article entitled: “Abolish Landlords. Housing is a Human Right” by which the editorial team really mean, “Give Us Your Place to Live Rent-Free”.

Communist, er, columnist Kandist Mallet wrote:

“While we’re working to abolish the police, we must also work to dismantle what the police were put here to protect: property. What is more evident of the legacy of settler colonialism and its violence than the idea of the ownership of land?”

Ignoring the fact that it’s disingenuous to argue against the abuse of indigenous people’s property rights while simultaneously arguing for the abolition of property rights in general — reading this, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking: “Wow, there’s free stuff up at the offices of Teen Vogue! Ignore security and the hipsters pedalling at their cycle desks, they want you to have that iMac Retina 5K.”

I’m not sure how Teen Vogue’s advertisers feel about the magazine encouraging its readers to eschew possessions, but if Kandist Mallet feels so strongly about abolishing the idea of private property, why doesn’t she lead by example and reassign her property to the collective?

Oh wait — Kandist doesn’t own any property!

Suddenly “abolish the police” makes sense.

Property Wrongs

Kandist wants to abolish police who, by her own admission, are the only ones standing between her greedy hands and your hard-earned property.

She writes:

“We need a housing movement based on a rejection of the construct that any one person should own this earth’s land.”

Her use of the phrase “housing movement” is revealing. She is arguing for a world in which your house moves to her. “Give me your stuff” was always the goal of Marxism.

I’m not sure when Teen Vogue — which is supposed to be a fashion magazine for young people with a cervix — became the Romper Room edition of Pravda, but Kandist Mallet is a typical collectivist, by which I mean, lazy, envious and entitled.

Unwilling to work and save so as to own a property, she demands that others who have worked and saved have their properties taken from them and given to her. Because “fairness”.

Wait until Kandist finds out that state-provided housing for all doesn’t mean luxury condos with pools and gymnasiums, but three families per unit with bedsheets to divide among them and elevators that don’t work.

Cancel Everything

Warming to her theme, the Teen Rogue writer continues:

“We should cancel rent outright as this pandemic rages. And we should work toward a world where landlords no longer hold this sort of power over people’s lives.”

Good idea. We should also cancel rental car fees and work toward a world where Hertz no longer holds that sort of power over people’s lives.

We should cancel grocery prices so we can work toward a world where Woolworths no longer hold that sort of power over people’s lives.

And let’s cancel room rates at the Hilton because five-star hotels shouldn’t hold that sort of power over people’s lives.

When Kandist argues that one group of people shouldn’t have power over another group, what she really means is that no one should be able to deny her anything she wants.

Illogical Equation

Kandist promoted her article on Twitter by asking:

“If my rent money is paying for my landlord’s mortgage, shouldn’t I be part owner?”

No, Comrade Kandist.

Your landlord owns the property because your landlord took the risk to build the house and your landlord lives with the responsibility to maintain the house. As a reward, your landlord gets to make a profit.

For paying rent, you get to live in a nice place without any risk that property prices might fall and without any responsibility for rates or maintenance.

And if you don’t like that, you could always try owning something.

But using Kandist’s logic, if for some crazy reason I used my money to buy a copy of Teen Vogue, shouldn’t I be her editor?

She ought be careful what she wishes for.

An article in Teen Vogue calling for the abolition of private property just goes to show that communism is a fashion accessory for the young woke. Hopefully, it goes out of style soon — like before we get to the millions of state executions part.

The good news for Teen Vogue and its journalists is that jellyfish have survived for millions of years without a brain.

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Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.
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Photo by RODNAE Productions.