this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
45 points (83.6% liked)

Asklemmy

43945 readers
638 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 60 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Big companie/rich people - absolutely

Small businesses/regular folks - nah

[–] Spliffman1@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Exactly, I steal already from big faceless corporations but not from the everyday man... I would continue the same modus operandi... Probably just do it more or to a higher level lol

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Didros@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago

Oh interesting!

I immediately read that as:
Big companies - "hell yeah we will steal from people"
Normal people/sm business owners - "no thank you, we don't want to steal, or be stolen from"

That matches current statistics already since something like 75% of theft is wage theft in America.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 year ago

Nah, I would keep the treasures for myself 😁

[–] fratermus@lemmy.sdf.org 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. My behavior is derived from ethics, not from law.

[–] Helix@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if the company you're stealing from is ethically bankrupt?

[–] curiousgoo@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Like Adobe / Microsoft / Google / Meta / ... maybe most large enterprises ? No question about it.

[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

downloading software isnt theft, soooo unless you are breaking into their offices its not really stealin from them.

[–] curiousgoo@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Warez piracy is anyway not "stealing" since you're not taking the digital item away, tis something which can be infinitely copied.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CarsAndComrades@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago

I would download so many cars

[–] Decoy321@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would steal your heart, OP.

β™₯️

[–] WtfEvenIsExistence@reddthat.com 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Um... I feel... so... um... 😊

Wait... not literally right? 😧

[–] Decoy321@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

No. Mostly because places where the rule of law has broken down, the response to theft is often pretty brutal. It stops being "off to jail for a short bit" and starts being "here's a tire with gasoline in it, placed around you and lit on fire". When all we have ever known are a society dominated by the rule of law, it's easy to forget that part of the reason written law exists, is to keep punishment proportionate with crimes. And also how disproportionate that response could be, without the law.

[–] vd1n@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 year ago

Not from people that earned what they have. Corporations mmmm idk.

[–] quinnly@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

No, I wouldn't want anyone to steal from me so why would I want to steal from anyone else?

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If theft was not a crime, it wouldn’t be stealing.

[–] Unbeelievable@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago (8 children)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] bigmonkey@hexbear.net 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would never spend a single dollar at Walmart again if stealing was consequenceless

[–] WtfEvenIsExistence@reddthat.com 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, no legal consequence doesn't mean no consequence. Walmart could definitely hire gangs to murder you (even if murder is still illegal in this hypothetical, they could just bribe the police to not investigate your murder).

[–] bigmonkey@hexbear.net 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll hire my own gang to murder Walmart's gang think-about-it

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  • The prevailing morality is to follow an arbitrary set of rules, mostly made by and for a class of people who have dominated the political sphere for most of human history. E.g. "If this will violate Ownershipβ„’ of a thing as defined by law, you shouldn't do it."

  • Another kind of morality is to consider the effects of an action. E.g. "If this makes someone's life noticeably harder or more miserable, you shouldn't do it."

  • Another kind is to look at the social relations. E.g. "If this enriches yourself at the cost of someone who is already worse off than you, you shouldn't do it."

What source of moral code do you subscribe to?

Kant's categorical imperative: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

[–] OptimusPhillip@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

No. Theft goes against my personal ethics and religious values.

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Probably too busy stealing back what is mine.

[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

My boss squeezes 3 person's worth of labor out of me and doesn't even pay me for 1 with no qualms at all.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't feel bad about stealing groceries since my local grocer admitted to price fixing and has jacked the prices to an inhumane degree. But like from a person or a small business or something, no.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. When I do something I'm not wondering if it's against the law, I'm wondering how this affects someone else.

[–] Newwit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does it affect Tim Cook if you steal from Apple? There’s obviously a difference from situation to situation here

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I'm aware of the obvious

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] the_frumious_bandersnatch@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would collect taxes if I held the power of physical violence over a community. All taxation is theft, amiright?

But seriously, stealing is a crime because prevailing thought within the community is that taking something that someone else has a claim on is wrong. If the prevailing thought was that it was not wrong, it wouldn't be against the law, but we also would call it something else... Like taxation.

[–] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That is such a stupid take. Tax money is spend on things you use

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well tbf if someone stole my wallet at gunpoint but used a small portion of the money stolen to buy me lunch I'd still be pretty mad about him spending the rest of my money paying off his Haliburton credit card.

[–] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes, good thing this metaphor does not apply to tax

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] the_frumious_bandersnatch@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I agree. Guess I should have put a /s on the slogan. But it's still taking a portion of something that is technically owned by one person or group for the betterment of the community.

Some people see that as theft and so would call it stealing even though there isn't a law against it. My point is that this question is asked from a particular vantage point and what constitutes theft and the law may be different from one person to another.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

If you count software piracy, then yes. In fact, I'll admit to having done it within the past year (without giving specific dates for obvious reasons).

[–] Oha@lemmy.ohaa.xyz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would only steal stuff from greedy corporations, not small companies that need money

load more comments
view more: next β€Ί