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Comment by brobdingnagians | Hacker News Reader

There are situations that make it more likely that people will steal, but I don't think it is wise to off-load all of the responsibility to society.

Some people will never steal even to save their own life, because they have principles which guide them in that direction.

I think it is important to recognize that our society has less respect for property laws and is more accepting of dishonesty, theft, and general lack of honor than many previous societies. As the cultural value of integrity declines, people see no reason to refrain from theft and violence, so if a situation presents itself where it seems advantageous to them, they take it, even if it is not advantageous to society or causes great harm to someone else. It seems that empathy is lacking in our society as well.

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> Some people will never steal even to save their own life, because they have principles which guide them in that direction.

Are you sure there are, or do you think there are based on a Disneyesque view of morality?

I'm thinking the same thing. Not stealing to save your own life is just plain stupid.

Stealing because you're dirt poor and want more, while ethically and morally wrong, is understandable.

Stealing even though you could easily afford to buy, that's either a mental illness or a character/education/culture flaw.

I think this is kind of an example of the cyncism the parent was mentioning we can't conceive of the idea of people who places a higher import upon their honor and their good name than upon their needs. It is then further pushed along by the cynical and jaded ridiculing people of principle as suckers, and to be taken advantage of.

I for one would not rob someone or still, even to save my life because my integrity is worth far more to me than that.

Yes, I'm sure of it. If anything, it is the opposite of what you would learn in Disney. There are people in the concentration camps who did not steal or who even gave away the food they had to help others, people who go on hunger strike until they die for principles, there are people who go to certain death in war on principle, lots of examples of people who would die to protect their family rather than abandon them, and there are examples of people helping others get the safety/on the helicopter harness until they themselves die (and that's where saving themselves wouldn't even be viewed negatively or break a personal belief, it's just pure unselfish helping others at the cost of your own life). Those principles, or the resilience of them, may be uncommon or even rare, but it is definitely possible to have a stronger desire to have integrity and comply with a belief system than to live.

> Some people will never steal even to save their own life, because they have principles which guide them in that direction.

Isn't this a restatement of the Fundamental Attribution Error?

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