Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

You think the sanctity of your home and peace of mind is worth another man dying, rather than eating, when your bike could have saved him?

... You and I both know that your bike wasn't robbed to prevent starvation, making your example completely beside the point. If it had been robbed to prevent the starvation of a human, you ought to feel happy rather than violated - your small sacrifice saved a whole life!

America has more than enough wealth to feed everyone on the planet, but 10 million kids are hungry in the US right now. Someone is stealing that wealth, and it isn't muggers. Try to gain some perspective, despite the daily news telling you to be scared of the poor.




Your approach is gross. Blessing theft the way you do creates two victims, the one from whom it is stolen and one who is not steered towards a better way to live.

The US even still has tremendous opportunity to build a life and earn money. Stealing undermines one's ability and focus to build such a life and undermines the surrounding community as well.

You clearly think you're a great guy/gal/whatever for thinking that someone should be thrilled to be stolen from and you're oblivious to the nothing-but-more-misery this approach practically generates.


Come on dude, at least try to read the comment and understand the argument before replying.


I'm kinda on your side here, but you did say "you ought to feel happy" after being robbed by someone who needs it more than you do, which is a bit ridiculous.


The hypothetical situation wasn't "someone who needs it more", it was someone who is literally starving to death.

A contrived situation, no doubt (though not mine). But despite HNers claims to the contrary, some people actually do starve to death because they can't earn for a variety of reasons. And, rather than take care of those people, the US vilifies them.

This leads to a society where tech-bubbled freaks get slightly rabid at the notion that it's morally ok to steal to survive - even going so far as to flag such comments.

I laugh, but the tech community keeps putting up these red flags the last few decades, and it's actually worrying. The disconnect from reality is unfathomable. There's people here claiming that stealing bread to save your life is just as bad as stealing 8 billion dollars - that's unhinged on a level that's hard to imagine.


>>You think the sanctity of your home and peace of mind is worth another man dying, rather than eating, when your bike could have saved him?

Yes, because they could have just asked and I would have given them food. Literally anyone would I'm sure.

The thief in that case choose the path that inflicts psychological damage, because they were too cowardly to just ask for food. In that case they have literally zero of my sympathy. Thieves are the worst people in the society just after murderers and rapists.


While I do agree with some of the things you have previously said, and I sympathize with it, I think that "sacrifice" should be voluntary.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: