Originally posted by SMSBear716I agree - up to a point. In my stealing software, songs and movies mode, I absolutely know that I can get away with it. And do. So fear of retribution is factored out. But I don't do it because I feel I am "owed" anything by the makers of software, songs and movies. Nothing like that. I would have thought that people "who think 'they are owed' by society so its ok to steal" would be in a small minority out of the general thieving population out there. Surely? What you are describing seems like a specific syndrome of some sort. What, may I ask, does your brother steal? Go on - people have been in a kind of confessional mood on this thread so far!
Because they think they can get away with it? Perhaps they are like my brother who think 'they are owed' by society so its ok to steal.
Oh and please don't tell me that he benefits in some way from 'government programmes' and therefore is stealing money from tax payers!
Originally posted by VanquishI never saw "It Takes a Thief." I do remember a show called "Sword of Justice" (1978) where a falsely imprisoned guy learns the burglar trade to become a kind of vigilante. At the end, he always leaves an ace of spades to show he was there.
I stole and shop lifted all my life and never got caught.I first learned to steal from getting lessons off of an old US TV series called "It Takes a Thief"starring Robert Wagner.Everyone loved him in the episoes,especially the women,so i did it for attention,and the thrill.Never needed anything I stole and always had great paying jobs all my life to pay for ...[text shortened]... ust swith roles,and you friend eats for free this time!
Ahhhhh..crime,i love it!
And of course there is the series of "Burglar" books featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr as a semi-reformed cat burglar which are great airport reading.
But the notion of a "good" burglar I guess holds no appeal for you?
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Originally posted by VanquishI can't believe you're bragging about this and show absolutely no regret. This is the only reason I'm picking on you. Not getting caught does not mean it's moral to take something you did not earn and does not belong to you. It's even more despicable when you do it without serious need (like food, water or shelter). I wonder how you would feel if I permanently borrowed your car or laptop. The fact that these are of higher value does not change the fundamental nature of the action. I know that no one likes to be criticized by some self-righteous bigot and I'm not one of those people. It's just that this really got to me.
I stole and shop lifted all my life and never got caught.I first learned to steal from getting lessons off of an old US TV series called "It Takes a Thief"starring Robert Wagner.Everyone loved him in the episoes,especially the women,so i did it for attention,and the thrill.Never needed anything I stole and always had great paying jobs all my life to pay for ust swith roles,and you friend eats for free this time!
Ahhhhh..crime,i love it!
Anyway, to confess, I once stole a small plastic car from a friend with many toys when I was around five or six. My parents found out and pretended to call the police and take me to jail. I said sorry to my friend and gave back the toy. I'm not sure why I took it except that I wanted it and no one saw me take it. I knew stealing was wrong somehow but I didn't fully understand why - beyond the basic punishments. I didn't appreciate the moral basis and logic. So basically, stealing was bad because my parents would be mad if they caught me. Some people today might take this shallow view and say stealing is bad because you may go to jail. Since then, I've clearly understood that getting caught is only a very small part of why one shouldn't steal. Unless we're counting some things I downloaded from the internet, I've never stolen since then.
BTW: FMW. downloading stuff without paying for it isn't quite like stealing physical objects. You're simply making a copy. If I steal your chair, you have nothing to sit on. If I steal your song, you will never know the difference. I'm not saying it's perfectly fine. The employees of companies that produce software, books, music, etc. should be rewarded for their work. However, as long as you never could have or would have purchased the work, it's as if you didn't take anything at all. For example, let's say I download a copy of MS Office and I'm extremely poor. The price of Office is more than I make in a year and so MS hasn't even lost a dime (don't send me any money, this is only hypothetical :p). I would have never been able to afford it anyway (although Office is a ripoff). However, now they have gained mindshare and I'm more likely to use their products in the future. Some companies value this so much that they spend billions just to get mindshare. Take Java from SUN for example. It is open source, free and SUN invests a lot of resources and money in it without making profit on it. The benefit is mindshare - higher adoption. On the other hand, if you are rich, really wanted (would have paid if downloading wasn't an option) and do the same thing, that's very different.
