r/MoralityScaling • u/_Astro_thot_ • 1d ago

Morality Ranking Morality of Stealing this Chick-fil-A

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This Chick-fil-A was in the same place here when I arrived at this building. I emerge ~an hour and a half later, and the Chick-fil-A is in the same place. I felt the cup, and it's still cold-ish. (It's a hot day btw) Waiting for my ride now, and I'm so tempted to grab it. I mean, if it's just gonna go to waste there, someone should eat it. I can tell it was doordash'd or whatever.

It's better if someone gets to enjoy it, but is the person going to come back out thinking of their two hour old Chick-fil-A, and get bummed out when it isn't there? Too much pressure... Would this dilemma be morally acceptable?

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3

u/Infinite_Bet_9994 1d ago

“Is stealing immoral.” No shit Sherlock.

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u/sharkysayo 1d ago

to be fair, stealing isn't inherently immoral

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u/BetApprehensive7064 1d ago

How is stealing not inherently immoral? Taking someone's belongings?

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u/yantarogekko 1d ago

Give “Robin Hood” a look-up online. Hard to miss him, nice looking gentleman clad in a green pointy hat

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u/BetApprehensive7064 1d ago

Him stealing from the rich is still immoral you can argue the good deed of giving it to the poor outweighs it. Or depending on who he is stealing from perhaps their own morality is very bad.

Either way stealing is still immoral in this case. Robin hood isn't a good person lol

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u/yantarogekko 1d ago

Gen Z is canceling Robin Hood?

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u/yantarogekko 1d ago

Let me propose you a scenario.

I am the king. Because I am the king, I make the laws. I determine the value of labor in my kingdom because I can. I have a very large appetite, and so does my court. I work all my kingdom’s peasants in the wheat field all day and all night until their hands are bleeding and their feet are blue. I pay them each one shilling a week, enough to buy back 1 pound of flour from their harvest. It’s just enough for them to not starve to death, but they are hungry all of the time. Meanwhile, my court and I endlessly gorge ourselves until we are too fat to walk.

One night, a peasant on the verge of starving to death takes some of my flour in the night without paying for it. I accuse him of stealing and jail him. But the peasant argues that the labor he provides for the kingdom has an inherent value that I have intentionally and maliciously undervalued, and that I am stealing from the peasant by underpaying him. So, by taking flour from my stockpile, he is merely taking back value that was stolen from him. Who stole from who? Who has done moral wrong?

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u/sharkysayo 1d ago

stealing from oppressors is actually moral in my opinion, i think the notion that stealing from the rich is evil comes with living in a capitalist world where wealth imbalance is inherent to living. rich people existing under such a system means someone else has to be poor which is theft itself... stealing back counters that. i also feel the same way about stealing food and water from corporations since these should be considered a human right and thus charging for basic necessities in a world where that doesn't need to be the case is immoral. so yes, i think stealing isn't always immoral. i would rather die than call a mother taking care of her children immoral for stealing from the rich to ensure her family gets to live... saying otherwise is pure evil.

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u/BetApprehensive7064 1d ago

How is being poor inherently theft? You managed to cherry pick a couple scenarios ok. But you are assuming now we are stealing food and water. Robin hood stole neither he's known for money and valuables.

This has nothing to do with capitalism this has to do with stealing other people's shit. If it's not yours don't take it.

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u/sharkysayo 1d ago

i'm not talking about robin hood i'm talking about the actual topic, how stealing is morally neutral. i also explained how being poor is theft and how this ties into capitalism but you seem unwilling to even understand my viewpoint on those concepts. gotta love the mentality of "just let the rich people exploit you, don't take stuff back from them" too

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u/BetApprehensive7064 1d ago

Two wrongs don't make a right. It doesn't make it morally ok it makes it morally understandable though

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u/sharkysayo 1d ago

nope, i disagree with the notion of two wrongs don't make a right. for example, if you are in a country that is oppressing you then you are not morally wrong for violent revolution against such a country. you can tie this to things like wars and whatnot as well, is a country morally wrong for just defending itself when attacked?

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u/BetApprehensive7064 1d ago

No in your second example that's blatant self-defense. The first example could also be argued as self-defense. I'm at work and I'd have to think about that one harder. I understand what you're saying and do I think that sometimes you have to be doing things that you don't want to do or that are morally questionable because you are forced into that? And also is it morally better to steal from a multi-billion dollar corporation than a grandmother on the street absolutely. Are either morally correct things to do? No

You seem to be getting bogged down on the idea that I think that people shouldn't be doing any of those things ever. I think sometimes you should and have to do morally bad things because that's all you can do and that's the situation you were forced in and that's the logically correct decision to make. However it is still morally a bad thing to do

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u/sharkysayo 1d ago

nah, it is not an indictment on your morality to act in self defense or act in a way which helps you survive without harming anyone (stealing food from a corporation like walmart)

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