From the title, I thought this thread was about the other kind of hackers and would have some cool ideas about multisignatures, or verifying receipt of coins without having to have the private key online, or hackerspaces, or other great ideas. Oh well. I'll address this:
I think OP was referring to the mindset of certain Bitcoin users, not criticizing btc itself. Apparently many think that it's perfectly ok to steal, and to let thieves operate without any consequences.
It's not OK to steal, and it's wrong for the thief to do so. It's also wrong to harm innocents or destroy bitcoin entirely in the quest to punish thieves.
Bitcoin provides Internet cash, which does have the weakness of being stealable. While no one wants to encourage theft, it's a difficult problem, because the initial proposed solution to stop thieves just makes things worse. Tainting coins makes it too easy for thieves to cause trouble for innocent recipients of stolen coins and adds very little to stop the thief, so it's been rejected as unacceptable by most. What else can be done? Convincing merchants and service providers to demand their customers prove the origin of all their coins? The blockchain can't offer proof, as it's easy to trade private keys outside the blockchain. Verifying identity? Adds very little protection (thieves also routinely steal identities) while defeating one of the main reasons to use bitcoin, pseudonymity. And any intentional collaboration of major mining pools to reverse selected transactions would strike fear into the heart of every Bitcoin user. Even if improved versions of all of those solutions were adopted by honest merchants, you still have plenty of unscrupulous sellers willing to accept known stolen bitcoins; after all they are "cold", "hard", verifiable bitcoins.
It's easy to pass blame, but everything has tradeoffs. Yes, bitcoin holders can increase wallet security, at a cost. Yes, MtGox can make withdrawals more difficult, which they have been doing, but customers have been complaining. Governments can collaborate internationally to allow stronger investigation and enforcement of computer crime across borders, but this reduces everyone's freedom. As Internet cash, bitcoin enforces the idea of "trust no one, but yourself" and the wallet holder is ultimately responsible for his or her own security. And anyone who trusts someone else with their coins is also indirectly responsible for that security. I knew Bitcoinica had a large hot wallet based on how fast withdrawals were occurring, so I withdrew all my funds. I have no coins or funds in MtGox or GLBSE because they're huge targets. I could be making more money if I took these risks but it's up to me. Security is a trade-off and has a cost. With Bitcoin, everyone has the freedom to decide who to trust and how much to invest in security.
OP, I understand your disappointment at the state of things. It's best not to complain about the state of Bitcoin but instead treat the weakness as opportunity. Go ahead, come up with an amazing new way to stop thefts. And yes, demand more security from those who hold your coins. I expect it will be needed, as stealing bitcoins need not be the only incentive for the thieves; they're also paid in fiat, created out of nothing by those who stand to profit from Bitcoin's demise. Increasing amounts of resources will be spent on attacking bitcoin sites as Bitcoin grows, so at each price jump, spend some bitcoins on as much security as the value of those coins demand, and it will likely pay off.
