I think the missing piece is the harm being done to others constantly by bad actors (not just people, also institutions, should have clarified that in my first comment). By doing harm to those bad actors, you’ve potentially mitigated harm to others.

Here’s an extreme example, just to take this to its logical conclusion: you’re in nazi Germany, you decide to join the Nazi party and sabotage it in many small ways, generally just gumming up the works. You lie and steal from the party to do it. Is that an unethical thing to do?

I’m not saying that joining a bad company and committing time theft is anywhere near as clear-cut, I’m just curious if you think it’s ever okay to break the golden rule.

Consider that vast majority of people are eating meat. They harm (or somebody else harms for them) animals literally every day. Just like a lot of other living beings on the planet. Maybe cognitive dissonance is the norm? Or harming someone for your own survival is not automatically a bad thing?