Stealing - Common Job or a No-No?

Blackhawk11

Blackhawk11

one on one
This is a subject that was just brought to my attention today when I got my sports bag stolen while running at the track. (It was my stupid fault that I left the bag out in the open, but where it would be hard for me to keep an eye on it, but hey, hindsight is 20/20) I lost my car keys (have a spare set), cell phone (no biggie, I can borrow someone's if I need to make a call) but most importantly my wallet with my driver's license and social security card. So pretty much, I'm dead unless I get this stuff straightened out.​

So my question to Smogon is this: If the situation was presented to you, would you steal something like that? Have you in the past? I'm not talking stealing a car or robbing a bank. I'm talking you see a bag filled with whatever, and you decide to pick it up and walk off with it. Explain your decision. Why would/wouldn't/did/didn't you? Also, don't base your decision on hurting my feelings or whatever. I want a discussion about taking stuff you know doesn't belong to you.​

Also, along the lines of petty theft: Would you take something cheap from a small store (gas station, grocery store, pharmacy) like a candy bar or a pair of sunglasses without paying? Would you do it if you had peers telling you to?​

Note: I am not looking for advice about my stolen property. I've got quite enough advice from the police, parents, and other people, and I'm sick of hearing it. That isn't the purpose of this thread. ​

I'll give my full feelings on the questions after a few people have already posted. Not like it would be to hard to figure them out.​

combining posts:​
Oct 13th, 2009, 6:06:05 PM
It's good to know the people of Smogon are trustworthy. My views on stealing (like I said I would post) are similar to what everyone else is saying. In my eyes, stealing is wrong, especially when it directly affects an individual. After being scared to death that all of my things were gone, I couldn't ever put someone through that. Piracy has never really been presented to me. I'm not 'ambitious' enough to find out how to work LimeWire, so I get all my songs/movies off of iTunes or I buy them in a store. It just seems right in my eyes.

An update to my situation: My bag was found in a nearby locker room with everything still in it (even the $2 in my wallet). I assume that someone thought they were being a good samaritan by moving a bag that must have been left behind by a football player into their locker room. Turns out they weren't paying attention to the person running on the track. I got lucky that it was just a false alarm.

@Deschain: I had my SS card in my wallet because it was convenient with getting my driver's license and passport recently. After two sleepless nights of beating myself up for being so stupid, I'm gonna memorize that thing so well I'll be reciting it in my sleep. I'm never gonna keep something like that in my wallet again. Ever.
 
Blackhawk11 said:
Also, along the lines of petty theft: Would you take something cheap from a small store (gas station, grocery store, pharmacy) like a candy bar or a pair of sunglasses without paying? Would you do it if you had peers telling you to?
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When I get hungry and I'm broke, I'd take oreos or a snicker bar.
ONLY when i'm hungry.

And i would never take someones bag. sorry for you loss
 
Once, when I was a young child, I accidentally pocketed a pack of candy. When I pulled it out of my pocket on the ride home and realized I didn't pay for it, my dad and I promptly returned to the gas station to pay for it.

As far as larger items, I wouldn't do it. In the break room at work there are several lockers that employees can use for purses, etc. and on several occasions I've seen items completely unattended with no cameras, no witnesses, and no hidden tricks. I have never stolen anything, but I have written a note for someone on the back of a receipt and stuck it back in their purse in a subtle effort to encourage them to secure their belongings.

Good luck with your own situation.
 
from a morally neutral standpoint, the risk of getting caught stealing is way too high compared to what you get. i don't steal because of this
 
Agreeing with Thorns here - the risk far outweighs the reward. I've never stolen anything from a store (except by accident - I was at the grocery store with my mom once, and forgot that I had a gallon of milk in my hand until we got out of the store, at which point we promptly went back and paid for it) or another person's property.

I'm sorry about your own situation, man. There's really nothing I can do to help except to wish you the best of luck.
 
I find stealing to be both morally wrong and not worth the risk, I would only steal if I or my family members were starving and I had no other way to get food

EDIT: 777 posts
 
I somewhat agree with latios315's statement. I would only steal if i actually gained something from it, not money or that sort, but like medicine to save someones life.
I've never stolen anything except from my sister when i was younger (she always got the stuff back though).I've learned it is wrong, and the risk far outweighs the gain xD (CopyCat, i am. i am)
 
When I was in some grade in late elementary school/ early middle school I used to steal a lot of petty stuff, almost never anything over the cost of 5 dollars. Did I feel bad about it? No, not really. I didn't steal it because I couldn't afford it, not even because I didn't want to use my money, but because I loved planning out how to steal the item, and the feeling with the successful execution of that plan. Eventually I became to confident, and overlooked a one way glass office, and that became my downfall. After going through all the shit of getting caught stealing, I no longer stole.

At that age even though I still kinda wanted to continue, I developed a paranoia in which I believed everyone was watching me when I was thinking about stealing something, this paranoia was fairly bad, it almost made me afraid for no reason, when around things I used to steal. The paranoia would keep going even after taking the item, and so I decided nothing was worth it to steal, if I had to feel that paranoid.

It's been a long while since I stole something, but that paranoia sticks with me, whenever I do something morally wrong, I get extremely paranoid, even if the act is justifiable to myself, if there is the potential to get in trouble for it, my paranoia is there.

To address the Op's question in a way, no I would not steal a bag, no reason to, one because on my paranoia would drive me crazy for maybe weeks, and two because stealing some ones wallet is a dick move, I never took something that would affect a single person very negatively, but taking a wallet, when if your going to steal you could at least just take the money and leave the wallet, its just gay.
 
I've stolen from chain stores before; the thing I stole that cost the most was a £300 silver cigarette case. I wish I knew what I'd done with it. Mostly when I was in a bit of a mental state in late 06 I'd nick my lunch from the local garage. Once or twice me and a friend went on a competition in town to see how much pointless shit we could steal, usually from hardware stores..

Having said that, I'm an honest person with some skewed morality on this. Despite people stealing literally thousands of pounds worth of stuff off me, if I find a purse, money or a phone I always make sure it gets back to the owner (or try to).
 
I've always been a goody two shoes, I could never willingly steal.I've also had several hundred dollars worth of stuff (mostly yugioh/pokemon cards back in the day) taken from me so I know how it feels, and would hate to inflict that on someone else.

With that said I would not take anything small or large from a store and I would not be bullied into stealing by peers. If someone were to even suggest that I would not be found in their company again.

In an unreal world where I have no friends or family to borrow money from and someone's life is on the line, I wouldn't hesitate to do anything in my power to save their life, including stealing if necessary.
 
Holy shit, that's some value right there! Yeah that really sucks, it could be seeing some good use. =(

I don't see why we shouldn't consider your feelings, Blackhawk. But if I see you neutrally just as anyone else, nah. I wouldn't let something like that bother me though if I truly felt they deserved it.
 
Piracy is stealing too, so I imagine people who are against stealing would also be against software/music/movie piracy and the like.
 
Faltzer said:
Piracy is stealing too, so I imagine people who are against stealing would also be against software/music/movie piracy and the like.
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No, when you "piracy" you are getting a copy of some data (softwares/musics/movies) from someone else.

It's illegal, but stealing and piracy are two different things.
 
Stealing without need is folly. I know that there is a thrill that comes from getting away with it, of course, and I considered stealing a few times at university, but ignored the urge because reason dictates that would be fucking stupid.

As far as stealing in a way that can heavily damage someone's life, like taking a laptop or credit cards, that is utterly unforgivable.
 
Pirika said:
No, when you "piracy" you are getting a copy of some data (softwares/musics/movies) from someone else.

It's illegal, but stealing and piracy are two different things.
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You are stealing data. It doesn't matter if the person you're stealing from still has a reserve; in the end you are still taking something of value without proper payment and looting the distributor of his deserved profit.
 
I can comfortably say that although I'd want to steal on some daredevil-like or desperate level, I never have nor will I due to simple honesty and morals/ethics.

I've lived most my life without luxury, so stealing would be second nature to alot of people in my situation. I've just never stooped.

I even buy all my own dvd's lol! Things that are copied, I usually just watch over friends places since they copy everything! XD

I'm kinda way too straight. I'm also a hopeless liar and cheat XD
 
Blackhawk11 said:
This is a subject that was just brought to my attention today when I got my sports bag stolen while running at the track. (It was my stupid fault that I left the bag out in the open, but where it would be hard for me to keep an eye on it, but hey, hindsight is 20/20) I lost my car keys (have a spare set), cell phone (no biggie, I can borrow someone's if I need to make a call) but most importantly my wallet with my driver's license and social security card. So pretty much, I'm dead unless I get this stuff straightened out.​
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i hope you realize how fucking dangerous (and idiotic) this is.

you've basically given someone everything they need to become you.

never, ever, carry your SS card around with you. ^.^
 
Faltzer said:
You are stealing data. It doesn't matter if the person you're stealing from still has a reserve; in the end you are still taking something of value without proper payment and looting the distributor of his deserved profit.
Click to expand...

Imagine if there was a machine that could make a perfect copy of any object without any cost. If I copy a car or a computer from you would you care? You would still have a car and a computer, but I would them have too without taking anything from you.

Anyway I just want to say that stealing and piracy are two different things.
 
Pirika said:
Imagine if there was a machine that could make a perfect copy of any object without any cost. If I copy a car or a computer from you would you care? You would still have a car and a computer, but I would them have too without taking anything from you.

Anyway I just want to say that stealing and piracy are two different things.
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That's a horrible analogy. Not only is it impossible but if such an object existed then there would be either strict laws governing it's use or it would be limited to either governments or industries only and in any case due to theft of the device and the like the market would still be in chaos.
 
Faltzer said:
That's a horrible analogy. Not only is it impossible but if such an object existed then there would be either strict laws governing it's use or it would be limited to either governments or industries only and in any case due to theft of the device and the like the market would still be in chaos.
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So you are saying that people only should have things if they pay for it? No matter if this cause no harm and don't prejudice anyone? When you pirate something you aren't taking anything from anyone, you are making a copy from something. Of course, it's a illegal copy, but it's not stealing.
 
The only thing I've ever stolen is a mood ring that cost 45 cents, and it was by accident

If I were to steal something, I would probably get caught against all odds just because of my bad luck. Sort of like how fire blast misses
 
Pirika said:
So you are saying that people only should have things if they pay for it? No matter if this cause no harm and don't prejudice anyone? When you pirate something you aren't taking anything from anyone, you are making a copy from something. Of course, it's a illegal copy, but it's not stealing.
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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal

1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
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The entire basis of your point is that you're not 'taking', you're 'copying'. Both have the same effect in the end. Internet and regular marketing are similar: buying, selling, profit, loss. The only difference is that there is no manufacturing process, but the code itself in distributed with a license that you have to purchase to use. It's similar to television licenses or even copyright laws. You are still taking and using the software of which you have not acquired the right to own. You are stealing.

They are actually more similar than you are giving them credit for.
 
Faltzer said:
Piracy is stealing too, so I imagine people who are against stealing would also be against software/music/movie piracy and the like.
Click to expand...

Relevant comic


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In other news...

When I was much younger I stole a Reese's candy thing from a Target. When my mother found out, she was furious. We went right back to Target and she made me personally repay the cashier.

I was crying, I felt so bad.

That experience has turned me off theft in general. I would never take someone's wallet. I'd turn it in to a lost and found or something instead.
 
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