It's pretty hard to root for a corporation when it's smart individual vs faceless multinational ineptitude. Human nature perhaps?
I think it's more akin to buying terrible cheap seats to a show and moving into a better yet unoccupied section once it starts.
The internet has always seemed to have a lot more moralists than the real world.
Pro tip: Bring candy or snacks for flight attendants on long flights, they appreciate it and may even reciprocate in kind.
Are you that fuzzy on the concept of "stealing" that you don't see the difference here?
Forging a ticket is just not equivalent to asking nicely if you can have something.
And I didn't mean you should bring candy for the FA's solely in expectation of getting something in return. You should really do it because they work surprisingly stressful jobs with absurd hours. They often have to deal with the worst kind of people and could really use a metaphorical hug every once in a while.
Source: Dated a FA for a long time. Know many others.
And GP thinks otherwise.
You are merely stating an opinion.
Tangentially, I really hate buying good seats and getting to a show to find some cheapo sitting in them because they're proactively hoping no one shows up. If you want good seats, buy good seats. Lots of people in the real world feel that way, and respecting other people's wishes (even, and especially, when you think it's unreasonable and can't relate) is a basic part of being a grownup.
As for the tangent, if you can't be bothered to show up for a show by the time it starts you can at least be bothered to say "Hey, these are my seats." I've been on both sides of that interaction many times. Every time it's been resolved immediately and amicably.
That might be too much human interaction though. Maybe we should get further away from humans talking to each other and invent another app to solve this "problem".
If you've really never torrented a song, used a friend's Netflix account, snuck onto the floor of a concert, took an extra travel bottle of shampoo from a hotel maid's cart etc. etc. etc... Then I truly commend you. The world needs more people like you.
But I highly doubt that's the case. Meanwhile I'll be the monster over here creating a terrible society by using some free wifi and a place to charge my laptop to get some work done halfway through a long trip.
No, I stopped doing that kind of stuff around my second year of college after some economics and ethics classes. I objectively evaluated these types of actions and realized in nearly every case where I hand-waved away with "nobody will notice because its trivial", I was basically justifying theft of small amounts of resources by claiming it was negligible.
>Meanwhile I'll be the monster over here creating a terrible society by using some free wifi and a place to charge my laptop to get some work done halfway through a long trip.
I can tell you're trying to be sarcastic, but when people behave like you it does make it miserable for everyone else. You increase the costs for honest people or at a minimum deprive them of some of the value they would have received if you weren't there (more seating, shorter bathroom queues, more available outlets, less congested wifi).
Also, in most clubs it's not free wifi, it's wifi provided for people legitimately allowed access to the club. You are just stealing it.
Do you think "disruption" is a peaceful, happy, 100% beneficial process for everyone involved? Is Uber stealing by taking business from incumbents that play by a different (regulated) rulebook?
Not that sneaking into airport lounges is some huge theft, but acting like it's completely okay isn't cool either.
My personal ethics apply to how my actions impact other living things. I don't lose sleep worrying if I've wronged an entity created solely for the purpose of maximizing shareholder value.
I'm honestly surprised how many people don't agree with that. To each their own I suppose.
Edit: You're totally right about the futility of trying to shove all of us into any one descriptive bucket though. That was a mistake.
You're advocating for stealing from businesses. When enough people like you do this, it results in either higher prices for honest people or the loss of a service entirely.
At some level, most people think everyone else thinks and behaves similarly to them, and are surprised when they find out that they don't. That's why projection is a thing.
Because in the end, even big evil mega-corporations have human stakeholders. For some of them that's their livelyhood. Not everyone is in it out of greed.
Sitting in an airport lounge you shouldn't have access to isn't stealing. Piracy isn't stealing. Using ad blockers on a site that supports itself through ads isn't stealing.
So opposing trespass is now rooting for corporations?
1. Getting into an area you don't have access to: Trespassing.
2. Tricking the security they have in place: Fraud.
3. Taking snacks from the lounge-area: Stealing.
If curious, consult a qualified legal representative in the appropriate jurisdiction.
Theft is wrong for well-known reasons. Most of those same reasons apply to these situations.
What do you think of random people occupying your house while you are gone out to work or grocery store? Is that okay too?
> Using ad blockers on a site that supports itself through ads isn't stealing.
I agree with this because browsers are "user agents" not "website agents".
You are consuming a resource that's finite. You are literally taking value from the provider without asking or paying for it. What do you propose we call this?
Edit: sorry, this was kind of a flippant remark that I made without thinking a lot.
And yes, when the man refused to get off the United plane, he should not have been beaten. Big deal, hundreds of millions of people fly every year. The fact that that happened sucks, but the reality is that 99.99% of people will at worst just deal with incompetent customer service during a cancelled or heavily delayed flight. That doesn't give you justification to steal from the airliner.
This is a discussion I feel you would have with a teenager.
Though, to be a bit more generous, I'd interpret that people hate airlines without really having a conscious reason, so they make something up that's visible and easy to be upset about. E.g. Cost of flying, leg-room, crappy service, "run by evil corporation". I'd posit that they somehow see something wrong with it, yet can't pin-point what that is. In my view, somehow they realize that a government-enabled and enforced monopoly makes the whole thing unfair. And if only we had no intervention and prevention of competition, they'd finally see "nice" airlines. But until they actively "see" that, they'll always think that it's the government that's preventing the really nice peachy happy people from running an airline that they'd enjoy using.