Here is a question: If I am wealthy, and you stole my watch, and it was my great grandfather's watch, passed down to me over generations, have you done something immoral? It seems as if you are saying any disparity in material wealth is immoral, and thus stealing from those that have more sets things right. Is that correct?
Damnit I never really though of the stealing moral problem, but you make me wake up in the middle of the night. And I hate debating on the internet. But seriously you're obfuscating the problem.
And you doing it by using the oldest trick: appeal to sentiment.
You put an object into existence. By saying it's old you give it some sort of historical value. Plus you add your grandfather for sentimental hook. And you dit not choose a dumb object like a spoon or a dildo, but an object with mystical , almost sacred values as it does the exploit of counting the time itself. You add layers and layers of irrelevant junk to get your point across. If I used the same type of argument, I would add: What if your grandfather was a nazi with thousand of dead on his conscience ?
You see? That's just blurring lines around until nothing is right or wrong, and we should continue to condemn stealing out of inertia. And dont get me started on your second argument : putting opinionated though in my mind to discredit my opinion on the subject as biased. You're a naughty naughty rhetorician! I hope you received stones and pebbles for Christmas.
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:) sorry about that. However, in all honesty, I think we cannot extract such ideas from the messy reality that we want to apply them to when we are judging their merits. Sometimes the medicine is worse than the disease, and I think the onus is on the one suggesting a remedy to provide a rationale that demonstrates the collateral damage is justified. IMO the large disparity in wealth is one of the greatest social ills of our time. However, that's why I commented elsewhere on this thread: It's not enough to demonstrate that stealing is right, or justified. Even when it is, it might not mean that it is the best course of action. This article suggests that since stealing is justified, it should be done. It does not, however, dwell upon the consequences of that approach. Thus, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.If being right was enough, everything would be so much easier.