this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Because you can only afford tofu doesn't make it ok to steal a steak.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If we could produce infinite free steaks, then yes, it is ok.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So in that scenario we can produce infinite steaks, right?

Now, people start stealing those steaks because we can produce an infinite amount of them, infinite supply = cost should be zero.

Now, tell me... What's the incentive for the steak producer to continue producing those steaks if people aren't paying for them?

See where I'm going with that?

In the end of doesn't matter if an infinite quantity can be produced "for free", there's people behind the product that pay the price and no matter how you want to justify it, if you don't respect the way the creator wants to give access to their product to people, you have no moral ground to stand on.

I'm not saying people don't do it, I'm saying that trying to justify it to make you feel better about it is pure hypocrisy and just wrong.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's objectively untrue due to the case study of what's actually happening in real life though. You CAN steal as many steaks as you want, and people ARE paying, at least for the good ones. Enough to fund giant companies that produce more steaks.

if you don’t respect the way the creator wants to give access to their product to people, you have no moral ground to stand on.

Sometimes the creator is wrong. Monopolies are wrong. Slave labor is wrong. Massive environmental externalities are wrong. In many cases, these things are not illegal, but they should be. Same goes for restrictions on purchases of digital media. It's wrong, and we shouldn't respect it. That's the moral high ground.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"Slave labor is wrong" says the guy who doesn't want to pay for the labor of the people providing him with content.

If you don't agree with the way it's distributed then skip it entirely, that's the only way you've got the moral high ground.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

“Slave labor is wrong” says the guy who doesn’t want to pay for the labor of the people providing him with content.

Are they providing me with content though? When that media inevitably becomes unusable due to their policies, do I get a refund? Historically, no.

Which is, by the way, not legal, so producers have neither the moral nor the legal high ground if you think about it. They do have better lawyers though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Are they providing me with content though?

I don't know what you're pirating if it's not content created by other people

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And hence, you discover the point of the meme. Full circle. I love it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don't think you understand what I meant...

People create what you're pirating, the games, music, movies that you're illegally downloading have been created by people who need to make a living.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But are they providing that to me in exchange for payment. Arguably, no. That's the point of the meme.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They are offering it and if you disagree with the way it's being offered to you, you're not entitled to procure it through other means.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

So if you start making chairs using wood you find in a forest close to where you live and selling them on Marketplace, I can come over, enter your garage and just take them without giving you a cent and you won't do a thing because I can tell you "I disagree with your price and your decision to sell them through a Meta platform, but I still want the chairs and I know you can make more of them and you don't pay for the material anyway." and you'll look at me with a smile and tell me "You're right buddy, you're entitled to them if you feel like they should be yours!"

You've got the maturity of a child that acts like the whole world revolves around them and that thinks they're entitled to everything they want no matter the impact on others.

The worst part being that it just shows your lack of conviction, you're unable make the sacrifices that come with what you preach, you would rather have your cake and eat it too and then pretend that it's morally correct so you don't have to feel guilty about having no self control.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

So if you start making chairs using wood you find in a forest close to where you live and selling them on Marketplace, I can come over, enter your garage and just take them without giving you a cent

No, but you're free to come over and use your fancy chair copying machine to make a copy and keep that for yourself while still leaving me the original. If you like the chair, I'd appreciate a donation, most people think $x is a fair amount.

you would rather have your cake and eat it too

That's how digital copies work. You can have your cake and eat it too. You can make infinite cake for essentially free.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I am good friends with someone who works with detained criminals and thats not how most thievery happens. Besides alcohol (but addiction is a different story) baby food is the item most often stolen. Packages of sliced cheese are also common.

The criminal poor don’t go to the store to steal specific items they go to buy food like normal and with every item they are counting if they will have enough on their account. When they get to their budget limit they try to swap some stuff to make It work. If that really doesn’t work they sometimes decide to take a more expansive items from their cart and smuggle it out without paying.

Of course this wont be the exact scenario for all store-theft but its what i hear is most common at least where i live.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What I'm saying is that there's plenty of cheap games you can play, even tons of free ones (one a week on epic) if you don't have enough money. It doesn't make it morally right to pirate games.

I know people do it, I do it too, trying to pass it as being somehow morally right is what I can't accept. I'm at fault, I accept it and don't try to make myself believe that it's ok, it's not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I see where you are coming from.

Doing something wrong and realizing it is wrong is a really important skill to have as its part of the guilt mechanisms which is important in a healthy society.

I am going to settle on i agree on what you say here specifically but i disagree that there isn’t more to discuss within the same topic about what is and isn’t morally right. Which admittedly is something that would requires a much bigger body of people to weigh in on.

Wishing you well!