Unpopular Opinions on Theft | Generated by AI
Question: What are some genuinely unpopular opinions about stealing?
Answer:
Here are several unpopular (and often uncomfortable) opinions about stealing that most people reject outright, ranked roughly from “mildly contrarian” to “deeply unpopular”:
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Stealing from large corporations isn’t really immoral.
Many people quietly believe (or act as if) taking small items from megacorporations like Walmart or Amazon is a victimless crime because the losses are absorbed into “shrinkage” and ultimately passed on to consumers anyway. The corporation isn’t “hurt” in any human sense, so the act feels more like redistribution than theft. -
Intellectual property theft is almost never wrong.
A significant subculture (especially in tech and creative fields) argues that copying software, music, movies, designs, or even entire business models isn’t stealing because “information wants to be free” and no physical object is taken. They see copyright as government-enforced monopoly rather than a moral right. -
Stealing to survive or feed your family is completely justified.
While most societies pay lip service to this idea, the unpopular extension is that it remains justified even when non-stealing alternatives exist (e.g., charity, government aid, or slightly dangerous but legal work). The hardline view: if someone is hungry and you have excess, taking it isn’t theft—it’s a moral correction. -
All taxation is theft, and resisting it is legitimate.
A classic libertarian/anarcho-capitalist take: any coerced taking of property (including taxes) is definitionally theft, so tax evasion or even violent resistance can be ethically defended in the same way one defends against a mugger. -
Petty shoplifting actually benefits society.
Some left-leaning radicals argue that widespread petty theft from chain stores forces companies to raise wages, improve security, or even collapse—accelerating systemic change. In this view, the shoplifter is a chaotic agent of justice. -
Most “theft” in poor communities is exaggerated or racially motivated moral panic.
The claim (popular in certain academic and activist circles) is that theft in marginalized communities is statistically minor, heavily policed, and used to justify incarceration, while white-collar and corporate theft dwarfs it but is rarely called “theft” at all. -
If you leave something unattended in public, you’ve effectively abandoned it.
A cold take among some opportunists: finders-keepers overrides ownership once an item is left unsecured. Phones on bar tables, bikes unlocked “for just a minute,” wallets showing in back pockets—the owner assumed the risk. -
Stealing from the rich is a moral good, full stop.
Not just “not wrong,” but actively virtuous—Robin Hood without the giving-to-the-poor part being strictly necessary. The mere act of transferring wealth downward is seen as righteous.
Most of these views are minority positions that would get you shouted down in polite company, which is exactly what makes them unpopular opinions about stealing.