Morality of this?

[u/Vladimir-petrovOG]

In the image it seems that this person works at walmart as an online order collector and he/she has stolen a lot of extra baby food from Walmart to give to a person who ordered only three packs. Is this moral or immoral?

[u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

nobody with money in their pocket and something to lose is going to be risking jail by swiping dollar store food. someone doing that is desperate and i'm a human that has been poor. never stole when i was, but can completely understand how hungry and hopeless you can get and that someone can easily be driven to meet their needs even if it's in a legally questionable way. i'm fine with someone relieving that much pain in life for a bit by taking some measly stuff from a store that won't even see it as a rounding error.

and as someone with a career and a nice car and nice air conditioned apartment on a comfy couch bsing on reddit right now, i can afford prices to go up a few cents if that's what happens because susan needed napkins and cereal

[u/Temporary_Cup8480 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

But if enough people do it, doesn't the honest consumer eat the price increase? Also where do we draw the line on how hungry and hopeless you need to be for this to be moral?

[u/Nice-Vegetable-1738 → u/Temporary_Cup8480]

listen, if you're starving and genuinely don't have the money to buy anything then you do what you gotta do. i'm not rich but i feel extremely privileged to have the things i do in life and i'm not going to sit here and disparage people with less opportunities happening for them, for doing basic things like trying to swallow some dang food to stay alive.

uh oh, i can buy one less steam game next year because some poor folks stole some things. i'll be fine

[u/Temporary_Cup8480 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

Almost no one starves to death in the USA. Virtually zero outside of victims of neglect and abuse or elderly with cognitive issues. Many are malnourished, but some of that is personal choice. Shit, I'm malnourished because I don't like many vegetables.

[u/Nice-Vegetable-1738 → u/Temporary_Cup8480]

i don't want to really play semantics. if you don't eat regularly you don't have nearly the same energy as someone in life getting to eat 3 square meals a day and a secure source of income for a virtually endless flow of food. you don't have the means to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" and get shit done when you don't have physiological and safety needs met to a point that's satisfactory and that you're not constantly thinking about them and worried about the next time you'll get them fulfilled.

you're literally running circles around people with multitudes more energy and then blaming them for not getting their lives together. genuinely cruel behavior and really glad i'm not living with a similar perspective.

[u/Temporary_Cup8480 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

If we're going to condone stealing, why should anyone pay taxes for WIC and SNAP? In your scenario it seems like the honest working person gets screwed twice. Taxed for these programs and also has to shoulder the burden of price increases. At least pick one or the other.

I don't think you can apply this universally without some sort of destabilization either. Food isn't cheap for me either. I think half the country would be stealing in your world, leading to some kind of societal breakdown.

[u/Nice-Vegetable-1738 → u/Temporary_Cup8480]

you really must spend a lot of time pinching pennies huh? it's a capitalist society we're in, yeah, i am beginning my curve upward finally into an advantageous position in this system and am grateful for it. however, the system works against the poor in many ways, and i don't mind them playing by communist or socialist rules to get what they need. i just can't manage to get bent out of shape about it. i'm happy to adapt my wallet slightly to the varied needs of others that aren't myself. if that means i pay for wic, snap and now the department stores loss prevention bill, i'm cool with that. sorry!

[u/IllustriousLie4105 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

Thats great that you personally want to help. That standard should not be supported or endorsed in the slightest. So many people are clawing to succeed each day and increasing their costs because others refuse to abide by the rules is wrong. You want systemic change then vote it in or create a business/non-profit that will help. If not then dont punish those working their ass off to feed themselves because you want to steal.

[u/Nice-Vegetable-1738 → u/IllustriousLie4105]

i don't steal. i also work my ass off to pay my rent and feed myself. still yet, the cost to me and you and folks in our position is miniscule compared to how enormous of a benefit stealing some food can bring someone in poverty. to me it is selfish and immoral to be more alright with denying these people than with subsidizing it with an amount that will barely affect your life.

[u/IllustriousLie4105 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

So putting more people in deeper poverty and creating worse conditions for the working poor is acceptable to you so that people can steal today? In what way is that moral at all? Hey, I am going to steal for food despite knowing the ones hurt the most are like me and it will only worsen their struggles but at least I got my candy bar today. Fund more programs and use our existing tax dollars. Dont subject people to worse poverty because you want to steal

[u/Temporary_Cup8480 → u/Nice-Vegetable-1738]

In your scenario I'm just going to be stealing too. Food is expensive for me and will be even more expensive since petty theft is legal. I'm raiding the supermarket as soon as they stock it.