"It's OK to steal if nobody knows."

[Jakub324]

This is something I believe in. If you take something of someone else's, it clearly hasn't affected them.
What do you think?

EDIT: I never said I do steal; I don't need to. For example: Say I have some friends coming over, and we want to watch a film. Maybe my sister, who is out for a few days, has a DVD we all like, and I go into her room and take it, then we watch it, then I put it back before she notices it's missing. She hasn't been looking for it. It's being borrowed hasn't affected her at all. See? Oh, and by nobody knowing, I mean nobody being affected.

 

[Girl With One Eye]

In Skyrim, yes. In real life, no.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

You mean as in, you steal something and they never realise you took it?

Well, if they go their whole life and never seek whatever you stole from them, or get inconvienienced in any way from not having the object (or indeed from you having it) then there would be a thin argument for saying that it wasn't wrong as they were not affected negatively, but that will only ever be an entirely hypothetical situation: there is no way to know that they won't need it in the future, so as an argument in the real world this doesn't work.

 

[FamoFunk]

What?

Erm, it's not OK to steal.

Why are you stealing people's stuff?

 

[Broady Brio]

If you steal something, they may eventually find out what was missing. Therefore they would know, making it wrong according to your theory.

Also it's wrong anyways. They worked to a certain degree for it. I'm sure you wouldn't want things taken from you, no matter how forgotten they were.

 

[SilentCom]

In Skyrim, yes. In real life, no.

This for sure. It's fine in a video game because some games are designed to support thievery. In real life however, it is not fine because it can affect other people and the stolen goods are not honestly earned. Eventually someone will find out if they got robbed and it can very much affect their livelihoods if their money or property they utilize goes missing.

 

[senordesol]

It's wrong in any civilized society. There's no lilly livered justification for taking something that IS NOT YOURS.

 

[Insanum]

Once again I Quote UK legislation:

Section One of the Theft Act 1968 Defines theft as:

"A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and ?thief? and ?steal? shall be construed accordingly."

So even if no-one see's you, its theft. No its not OK to steal.

 

[Erttheking]

Uh...no. It's like saying that crime in general is ok so long as someone isn't affecting, therefore plagarism would be acceptable as well. You're still benefitting from someone else's work

 

[Jakub324]

Once again I Quote UK legislation:

Section One of the Theft Act 1968 Defines theft as:

"A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and "thief" and "steal" shall be construed accordingly."

So even if no-one see's you, its theft. No its not OK to steal.

I've highlighted the key word for your convenience. Damn, I keep being really vague about what I mean. Must learn to stop doing that.

 

[Jakub324]

Uh...no. It's like saying that crime in general is ok so long as someone isn't affecting, therefore plagarism would be acceptable as well. You're still benefitting from someone else's work

How does that work? I was talking about borrowing a DVD from a family member for less than 4 hours. You're talking about stealing someone's work permanently. There's a pretty significant difference between the two, don't you think?

 

[Insanum]

Once again I Quote UK legislation:

Section One of the Theft Act 1968 Defines theft as:

"A person is guilty of theft if he [i/]dishonestly[/i] appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and "thief" and "steal" shall be construed accordingly."

So even if no-one see's you, its theft. No its not OK to steal.

I've highlighted the key word for your convenience. Damn, I keep being really vague about what I mean. Must learn to stop doing that.

You've edited since your original post. The example you have given isnt actually theft, but not because of the word you've highlighted. Ive highlighted the correct word in question.

It's your sisters DVD, im sure if you asked her she'd let you, or even if you had it in your possession she wouldnt call the police, she'd just shout and take it back.

What you've said isnt theft/stealing. That being said, You cant just take someone's car and then when you're caught driving say 'but officer, i was going to bring it back[/I]' - Thats not a defense.

 

[Jakub324]

Once again I Quote UK legislation:

Section One of the Theft Act 1968 Defines theft as:

"A person is guilty of theft if he [i/]dishonestly[/i] appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and "thief" and "steal" shall be construed accordingly."

So even if no-one see's you, its theft. No its not OK to steal.

I've highlighted the key word for your convenience. Damn, I keep being really vague about what I mean. Must learn to stop doing that.

You've edited since your original post. The example you have given isnt actually theft, but not because of the word you've highlighted. Ive highlighted the correct word in question.

It's your sisters DVD, im sure if you asked her she'd let you, or even if you had it in your possession she wouldnt call the police, she'd just shout and take it back.

What you've said isnt theft/stealing. That being said, You cant just take someone's car and then when you're caught driving say 'but officer, i was going to bring it back[/I]' - Thats not a defense.

Actually, she guards her possessions jealously. Of course I wouldn't, say, steal someone's car, whether they'd know or not, because it's about a thousand times more valuable than a DVD and any damage would be expensive to pay for and awkward to explain away. No, I'd only take something of little value, and even then only if I knew I'd be able to return it quickly and without any damage being done to it.

 

[gigastrike]

You cant just take someone else's property. If they're not using it you could just point that out and ask if you could have it, but don't go all Robin Hood and take stuff that doesn't belong to you just because.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Actually, she guards her possessions jealously. Of course I wouldn't, say, steal someone's car, whether they'd know or not, because it's about a thousand times more valuable than a DVD and any damage would be expensive to pay for and awkward to explain away. No, I'd only take something of little value, and even then only if I knew I'd be able to return it quickly and without any damage being done to it.

You wouldn't steal a car? But you are defending stealing her DVD?

This video is appropriate:

On a more serious note I would say that borrowing her DVD is an incredibly grey area in this case. But if, as you have implied would protest against your using the DVD while she isn't there, then it is wrong. What would have happened if you accidentally broke the DVD, or scratched it? Even though nothing did go wrong you could not guarantee that the DVD would return in 100% the condition you took it, so it was dishonest and disrespectful of you to do so.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

It is never okay to steal in my mind. Heck, I stole a tiny car from a doctor's waiting room and felt terrible about it as a kid. The next time we went I deposited under a chair when nobody was looking.

Nobody knew. Doesn't make it right.

 

[Esotera]

I don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but I'm not really a fan of materialism, or the concept that someone else can own something else & never let anyone else use it. I'm still respectful of these boundaries generally, as I don't want to offend anyone.

 

[Hazy992]

Well I could use this logic to apply to any crime. 'It doesn't matter that I killed all those people! No-one will find out!'

And what you said isn't stealing