C
corban
New member
First, nobody here is talking about laws overriding morality. Obviously there are times when one's morality will supercede the law, such as in Nazi Germany, or even with the drinking age. (In Canada it's 18 or 19, which makes so much more sense) However, overriding the law is a heavy thing to do, and can be dangerous if you just go around using that for everything. A serial murderer could justify his actions using that logic. So before using situational ethics to override the low, you obviously have to apply to a strong universal morality, and you have to check that carefully in each situation.
In this situation the strong universal morality says that stealing is wrong. There is the ONE exception to that rule, which is that when your very existence is at stake, when your life is in danger and your basic physical needs for survival are not being met, then it is OK to steal the items that will meet those needs. However, this is very rarely actually the case. Even a homeless person can really not subscribe to this, because there are always food banks and shelters to go to. Hell, when people try to bum money off me I always offer to buy them some food instead.
So the only real cases we might actually see of such a situation of genuine need for survival in the first world is like in New Orleans, where the stores aren't open and people can literally not get any food. If the store owners were there, they would most likely give it away. This is one of those very rare cases where the people genuinely need the items for their survival. Of course, the tvs and vcrs and everything, it's not OK to steal that. They don't need it for their survival. They're actually taking advantage of a horrible situation, using the truly needy as an excuse to steal. Do they need those things? No. Maybe they can't afford it, and that's why they're stealing it, but does that make it OK to steal it? Nope. They're just stealing because the opportunity to get away with it exists. Obviously you can see that this is horribly and morally wrong, correct?
Well sir, that is the answer to your whole post. People steal software because the opportunity to get away with it exists. It is exactly the same. It's wrong for people to steal electronics in New Orleans, just like it's wrong for people to steal software. Nobody needs that stuff for their survival. Don't give me this "I'm a musician I need it for my survival" crap, go get a second job. Nobody NEEDS software.
In this situation the strong universal morality says that stealing is wrong. There is the ONE exception to that rule, which is that when your very existence is at stake, when your life is in danger and your basic physical needs for survival are not being met, then it is OK to steal the items that will meet those needs. However, this is very rarely actually the case. Even a homeless person can really not subscribe to this, because there are always food banks and shelters to go to. Hell, when people try to bum money off me I always offer to buy them some food instead.
So the only real cases we might actually see of such a situation of genuine need for survival in the first world is like in New Orleans, where the stores aren't open and people can literally not get any food. If the store owners were there, they would most likely give it away. This is one of those very rare cases where the people genuinely need the items for their survival. Of course, the tvs and vcrs and everything, it's not OK to steal that. They don't need it for their survival. They're actually taking advantage of a horrible situation, using the truly needy as an excuse to steal. Do they need those things? No. Maybe they can't afford it, and that's why they're stealing it, but does that make it OK to steal it? Nope. They're just stealing because the opportunity to get away with it exists. Obviously you can see that this is horribly and morally wrong, correct?
Well sir, that is the answer to your whole post. People steal software because the opportunity to get away with it exists. It is exactly the same. It's wrong for people to steal electronics in New Orleans, just like it's wrong for people to steal software. Nobody needs that stuff for their survival. Don't give me this "I'm a musician I need it for my survival" crap, go get a second job. Nobody NEEDS software.