[That would be my foot sticking out. I’m sure my good neighbor Ted would be willing to get me through…or any one of the thousands of people I’ve infuriated over the years.]
You can read Kwame Anthony Appiah’s answer to the most discouraging question he’s ever been asked (my description, not his) if you like. Essentially “The Ethicist” says (I’m counting here), “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and no!” As usual the New York Times “Ethicist ” is thorough, but he could have written his response in his sleep, as I could have, and if you’re reading an ethics blog, so could you.
Here’s the question, and hold on to your heads…
A close friend of many years whom I’ve always thought of as an extremely honest, ethical person recently confided in me that she shoplifts on a regular basis. She explained that she never steals from small or independently owned businesses, only from large companies, and only when no small business nearby carries the items she needs. She targets companies that are known to treat their employees badly, or that knowingly source their products from places where human rights are violated, or whose owners/C.E.O.s donate to ultraconservative, authoritarian-leaning candidates, etc.
My friend volunteers in her community and has worked her entire life for nonprofit antipoverty and human rights organizations. While she isn’t wealthy, she is able to afford the items she steals and believes that she is redistributing wealth; she says she keeps track of the value of what she’s stolen and donates an equal amount to charity. She thinks of her actions as civil disobedience and says she will accept the consequences if she’s caught.
When she told me, I thought, Stealing is wrong. But as we discussed it, I realized I was oversimplifying a complex moral issue. Is it wrong to steal food to feed your starving children? What if I stole a legally purchased gun from a person I knew was about to commit a mass shooting? Are those who bring office supplies home from their workplace also thieves? I find myself struggling with the question of whether an individual’s actions are morally defensible if they do more good than harm. — Name Withheld
I am depressed. This question could only come from the stunted brain of someone completely devoid of ethics education, consideration, instincts or understanding. What proportion of the public is similarly vulnerable to strained rationalizations like those offered by her self-righteous, sociopathic friend? Obviously, based on the evidence of the last couple years, a dangerous proportion.
Maybe I would feel better if I ran across this on a day when metaphorical tumbleweeds were not rolling down the dusty streets of Ethics Alarms, bringing this song to mind…
Well, here are a couple of observations before I head to Fargo to join Steve Buscemi…
- What kind of a person has a “close friend” like the inquirer whom she regards as an “extremely honest, ethical person” but who would admit to such conduct? I’m guessing it would be a person who doesn’t know ethics from Eczema.
- Is her friend eight? Come to think of it, this would explain the friend’s delusions, but not the questioner’s.
- Gee, I wonder what political party the friend votes for assuming she is an adult, and by that I mean I don’t wonder at all. What does the obvious answer tell you?
- Shoplifting, when rationalized this way, is a hate crime.
- “My friend volunteers in her community and has worked her entire life for nonprofit antipoverty and human rights organizations.” As if this excuses theft! The good things she does are irrelevant to the thieving: the excuse is the bastard child of two rationalizations, the Saint’s Excuse and Ethics Accounting, or the Ruddigore Fallacy.
- “I realized I was oversimplifying a complex moral issue.” No, you idiot, it’s not complex at all, especially from a moral perspective. The most famous and influential moral code states, “Thou shalt not steal,” and it’s an absolute. It doesn’t say, “Thou shalt not steal unless you steal from someone you don’t like or disagree with, in which case it’s hunky-dory.” From an ethics perspective, an analysis from any of the ethics systems available still ends up with the friend’s kind of theft being unethical. Sure, there are extraordinary circumstances where utilitarians would agree stealing is justified, such as when it will save a life, when there are no other alternatives, and when the thief accepts the penalties for doing so. But examining these conflicts is a waste of time with someone like The Ethicist’s inquirer or her freind, who shouldn’t be permitted to speak the word “ethics,” since they debase the field with their participation.
Ethics Alarms 
I was 95% sure you posted on this subject already. Technically it was Sarah B.
https://ethicsalarms.com/2023/11/26/guest-column-shoplifting-ethics/
I’m wondering if this lady’s friend is the former MP referenced here.
I’m also wondering if I read EA too much to know your topics with great familiarity. Ah, just kidding. I love your website. I read it every day. Keep up the good work Jack.
Cross reference here:
https://ethicsalarms.com/2021/02/10/self-checkout-ethics/
And here:
https://ethicsalarms.com/2023/11/20/irony-the-washington-post-telling-cvs-how-to-handle-rampant-shoplifting/
And Here:
https://ethicsalarms.com/2013/11/30/the-golden-rule-distortions/
And here:
https://ethicsalarms.com/2015/09/08/at-target-one-of-lifes-little-ethics-tests/
This question reminded me of the classic rationalization from the Simpsons:
of course, when watching the Simpsons, we know it is a joke.
the fool asking the question might not get the joke.
-Jut
I can believe the friend has worked for non-profits all her life and, I bet, has never worked retail. It’s not the company being hurt by the theft so much as it’s the (in my experience) under-paid manager of the store who is being hurt. The losses affect his/her bottom line, and hence reduces bonuses. I’m sure she thinks managers should be paid a higher salary and not rely on bonuses, but what she thinks should be and what is are two different things. (The same kind of rationalization non-tippers make at restaurants.)
Beyond the wrongness of stealing, by donating an equal amount to the charities of her choice, she is in effect, forcing the companies to donate to those charities. (Or, more accurately, forcing other customers who have to pay higher prices because of her theft to donate to her pet causes.) I bet I know how she votes too.
left a comment with some embedded text.
might have gotten caught in a filter
-Jut
Just got it. Sorry for the delay.
So, he has a friend who is a progressive. He views his progressive friend as extremely honest and ethical because she CARES and she has all the right opinions about abortion, Israel, transitioning children, etc. She would never vote for Trump! Now she is a communist, so she hates businesses, especially big businesses. So, she shoplifts as a form of communist warfare against those businesses. What could be wrong with that? It is completely consistent and laudable in her ethics system. Shoplifting isn’t just OK if you NEED a new pair of Nike’s, it is OK if it is done for ‘social justice’, for ‘equity’, or for ‘reparations’. I doubt that she feels bad about it and probably thinks she should be given a medal for striking a blow against capitalism.
“Shoplifting is a hate crime” has seriously dented my brain, and I’m still a-buzz from my coffee. There’s a part of my brain that thinks this is outrageously funny, but the part that tells me why this is outrageously funny isn’t letting me in on the joke.
I did all of the things that rule out a stroke.
ps, Thanks for mentioning Sid Caesar. I had no idea who he was and the “misogyny/misanthropy” hadn’t been corrected, so I looked to the interwebs to understand how misogynistic comedy works. Bumbled around and ended up discovering the song Prisencolinensinainciusol, which hit the bull’s-eye of my musical tastes. Thank you for unknowingly leading me to it.
I think its fair to say that if nothing else, EA is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.
All right…
I live in a small city and have a correspondingly small social circle. One woman in my circle stole from another member, an old friend of us both, without our mutual friend’s knowledge. I found out about the transgression by accident. He still doesn’t know.
Long story as short as possible, our mutual old friend had sent several hundred dollars to this woman’s adult son (he’s in his early thirties), to cover an unexpected expense. The young man discovered almost right away that he could deal with the expense himself and didn’t need help. But instead of returning the money to his benefactor, he offered it to his mother, and she accepted it. All without a word to our mutual old friend.
Because our city and our social circle are so small, and because of the interconnections, I have said nothing but am basically obliged to spend time with this woman at least once a week, for several hours. Very awkward,.