It would depend on the necessity. Furthermore, murder is a very risky endeavor and even if you could pull it off, it would then rely on your own personal ability to sustain guilt and maintain a normal life and at the same time managed the continued risk of discovery compared to total benefit earned from the act. Then considering the long term costs and benefits of murder compared with other, less risky methods, it's a pretty low ranking solution. But if I were presented in a situation where I'd have enough to gain and guaranteed to be untracable, where the person is either a complete stranger or a hated enemy, where if I didn't kill him, my family would be in peril, then sure. But that would be an incredibly rare situation. It would be as if it rained ostriches.
You're mistaking something though. I'm not asking if anyone is willing to kill someone to feed his family. That's silly, impractical exaggeration worthy of a middle school debate. I'm saying that he's giving away what he could use to feed his family for a cause that, while unnecessarily cold, would hardly make a difference for the receiver anyway. In that sense, if a man living in a cardboard box decides to give you $10 because you made his day brighter, even though you know that he is going to be much worse off than you better off by that act, how could you accept the money? Now suppose that man living in a cardboard box has to raise a family (for whatever reason) and lives on $1 a day. I'm sure everyone can see the dilemma in question. I'm not saying anyone is living in a cardboard box though. Just an example.
I understand that everyone is entitled to the right to donate and be charitable. We shouldn't be denied our right to assist others just because we lack the means. However, sometimes we should consider that our actions could have been used for better means and as cruel as it may sound, sometimes, the things you don't do is far worse than what you may have intended to do. A $5 donation that is instead used to take your family out is, to me, $5 far better spent.
Concerning Piracy
Here's the second part of my query. The one I'm more puzzled by. Right now, the situation as I understand it is this:
The OP has siblings who are borderline poor. He himself could potentially have financial troubles should any troubles occur to disrupt the budget.
That's how I understand it. Did I get it right?
Here's the question. "Even if we lack the means, are we not allowed to indulge ourselves in our pastimes?"
Spore costs $50. A pirated version costs nothing when downloaded. The OP is not in a situation where $50 is an easy sale as I understand it. If I'm not mistaken, even $20 for gas is a lot of money. This is $50. This money could have gone to a lot more other things, things that do far more than any mere game could do. However, just because we cannot afford such luxuries, does it mean that we aren't allowed to engage in it? A game shouldn't be a Ferrari, a seaside condo, or a diamond necklace.
Remember, this is a game, it's computer software. There are only three costs in software distribution: intellectual, distribution, and advertising. Guess which one is factored in most in the game's price? Unlike, say, refrigerators or luxury cars, there aren't any expensive parts or hours of human labour to produce one extra unit. Even more so with digital distribution.
I guess that's the all important question. Suppose this guy saves the $50 to buy textbooks for his kid. Does that mean that he's forbidden to play and enjoy Spore? It's really more of a moral question than anything and it's well worth asking yourself, even if it doesn't apply to you. I've spent a lot of days thinking about this question, for the inevitable day I foray into business myself, and one day I will be confronted with the same question when my own products go to market questioning whether or not to persecute people who "illegally" use goods produced. I won't doubt that many of you guys will too. It applies to Bay 12 Games too, when the inevitable day comes. So it's well worth asking.
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Topic: Lamentations of Kogan, or, I wish I had spent it supporting Bay 12... (Read 11879 times)